the
mood
in which
the poem speaks
is on an instant open
for the words
come from the street
as spoken there
by workless men
with hands now tied
to useless tasks
"one time
we were the salt of earth
but now we are its jerks"
says one
"and slaves
to bankers interest"
someone laughs
beside a box
to which another
swift replies:
"we built a bank
we built the bank
and now that bank
it owns us"
Enjoyed that. Shades of The Hollow Men.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dominic. Poem was prompted by a quote from Robert Creeley: An American (sic) may choose as John Ashbery did . . . poems . . . from the diction of Wall Street Journal . . . but it is his own necessity . . . not . . . rigidity of literary taste". So prompted by the reference to Ashberry and Wall Street I took the view of those now homeless whom Wall Street had ground down. Obviously I placed it in another location. The concrete form I have used for the first verse tries to show that particular place.
ReplyDeleteSadly this poem speaks the truth Gwil.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Pat and Tod.
ReplyDelete