“so we are told this is the golden age / and gold is the reason for the wars we wage”

[larryhammer]

For Poetry Monday:

A. E. F., Carl Sandburg

There will be a rusty gun on the wall, sweetheart,
The rifle grooves curling with flakes of rust.
A spider will make a silver string nest in the darkest, warmest corner of it.
The trigger and the range-finder, they too will be rusty.
And no hands will polish the gun, and it will hang on the wall.
Forefingers and thumbs will point casually toward it.
It will be spoken among half-forgotten, whished-to-be-forgotten things.
They will tell the spider: Go on, you’re doing good work.


From his 1920 collection Smoke and Steel. The title refers to the American Expeditionary Force that fought in WWI.

—L.

Subject quote from New Year’s Day, U2.

Comments

[cmcmck]

I do like Sandburg's work!

[puddleshark]

Lovely. And a poet whose work I hadn't come across before - thanks!

[mrissa]

Oh wow yes

[larryhammer]

Fair warning: he’s … wildly uneven. When he’s on, he packs a solid punch, but other times he’s barely more than rambly-prose-with-line-breaks.

[larryhammer]

When he’s on, he’s good.

[larryhammer]

He’s uneven at best, but damn good when he’s on.