PoemHunter.com   
Halley's Comet by Stanley Kunitz   
Search:     
Home Poets Poems Lyrics Quotations Music Forum Member Area Poetry E-Books
 
Stanley Kunitz
Poems   Comments   More Info   Stats  
 
<< prev. poem Poems by Stanley Kunitz : 6 / 23 next poem >>
  
 
Share |

 
Halley's Comet

User Rating:

8.2 /10
(17 votes)



  Miss Murphy in first grade
wrote its name in chalk
across the board and told us
it was roaring down the stormtracks
of the Milky Way at frightful speed
and if it wandered off its course
and smashed into the earth
there'd be no school tomorrow.
A red-bearded preacher from the hills
with a wild look in his eyes
stood in the public square
at the playground's edge
proclaiming he was sent by God
to save every one of us,
even the little children.
"Repent, ye sinners!" he shouted,
waving his hand-lettered sign.
At supper I felt sad to think
that it was probably
the last meal I'd share
with my mother and my sisters;
but I felt excited too
and scarcely touched my plate.
So mother scolded me
and sent me early to my room.
The whole family's asleep
except for me. They never heard me steal
into the stairwell hall and climb
the ladder to the fresh night air.
Look for me, Father, on the roof
of the red brick building
at the foot of Green Street—
that's where we live, you know, on the top floor.
I'm the boy in the white flannel gown
sprawled on this coarse gravel bed
searching the starry sky,
waiting for the world to end.

Stanley Kunitz


Share |


Read poems about / on: school, mother, red, family, father, sad, children, green, sky, world, god, night, sister, child

 
  Comments about this poem (Halley's Comet by Stanley Kunitz )
Click here to write your comments about this poem (Halley's Comet by Stanley Kunitz )
 
  Austin Bailey  (3/2/2009 2:41:00 AM)

I keep a mental inventory of favorite poems and this poem is on that inventory's short list. The poem is what I would call a 'perfect poem.' Perfect in the sense of length, of metaphor and imagery and of pitch. Kunitz, as is the case in Halley's Comet, balances on that fine line of lyricism/memory and sentimentality, or of being overly sentimental. He isn't overly sentimental in my opinion, thus the pitch of the poem is perfect because it has so much emotion packed into it-emotion that comes from recalling a memory and turning that memory of shared event into a complex narrative about life and time and desire and familial relations-without being sappy or over-the-top sentimental. One doesn't get bored or complacent when reading this poem. As aspiring poets, myself being in that reprehensible category, as are, perhaps unfortunately, most avid readers of poetry are, we inevitably read a lot of poetry-and do so daily. Thus we are always hungry for what is currently being written and for new poems that we haven't read and new poets we haven't heard of. Yet, all this stimuli can lead us to both being more active and interested readers and also, at times, at least as far as myself is concerned, restless with the amount of work some contemporary poems demand while at the same time offering very little rewards. Thus, for me, a perfect poem, as I mentioned before, is one that says what it needs to say efficiently and transmits a powerful image and idea with language that is both sturdy and flexible. Sturdy in delivery but flexible in meaning. All the fat has been burned off of this poem. It doesn't read like a meta poetic lecture rather than a poem, as some (and of course not all) contemporary poems do.
  Cody LeGros  (11/16/2006 9:48:00 PM)

I agree with you except that I think there could be another meaning to the poem, depending on how you want to interpret it. I think this poem in is very, very sentimental. When refering to father, I believe he is talking about his own father, who killed himself 6 weeks before he was born. So I think this is yes about the confusion that comes along with childhood, it may show his longing to actually be able to finally meet his father. He talks about feeling excited at dinner and the way in which he describes where he lives might show that he had moved since his dad died, this though is purely speculation. I suggest reading the poem The Portrait after reading this, if one is not familiar with Kunitz.
  Eric Paul Shaffer  (7/22/2005 4:04:00 PM)

This is a clear and honest poem about childhood. There is no sentimentality here, just the familiar misunderstandings we all had when we listened to what adults said about a world to which we were still new. What I like about this poem most is that these lines recall that most of us have never come down from that midnight roof.

Read all 3 comments >>
 
  People who read Stanley Kunitz

 
 
  Classic poets in PoemHunter.Com:

      The complete list >>

 
  Top 500 Poems

  1. Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
  2. Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
  3. If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda
  4. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
  5. Dreams by Langston Hughes
  6. i carry your heart with me by ee cummings
  7. I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You by Pablo Neruda
  8. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
  9. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
  10. I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair by Pablo Neruda
  11. Television by Roald Dahl
  12. One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein
  13. Warning by Jenny Joseph
  14. As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes
  15. A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
  16. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
  17. If by Rudyard Kipling
  18. On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan
  19. Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
  20. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth
  21. Alone by Edgar Allan Poe
  22. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
  23. The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
  24. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
  25. All That is Gold Does Not Glitter by JRR Tolkien
The complete list of Top 500 Poems >>
  Top 500 Poets

  1. Pablo Neruda
  2. Langston Hughes
  3. Maya Angelou
  4. Charles Bukowski
  5. ee cummings
  6. Shel Silverstein
  7. William Shakespeare
  8. Dylan Thomas
  9. Spike Milligan
  10. Billy Collins
  11. Emily Dickinson
  12. Khalil Gibran
  13. Sylvia Plath
  14. Dorothy Parker
  15. Elizabeth Bishop
  16. Ted Hughes
  17. Roald Dahl
  18. Robert Frost
  19. Walt Whitman
  20. Allen Ginsberg
  21. William Blake
  22. Edgar Allan Poe
  23. Mary Oliver
  24. Robert Browning
  25. William Wordsworth
The complete list of Top 500 Poets >>
 
 
  E-MAIL THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND
Found this page interesting? Recommend it to your friend!     Your E-mail:    Friend's Email:      
 

(c) Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge..  About Us | Copyright notice | Privacy statement | Help
11/8/2009 2:33:18 AM. #.1# You Are Here: Halley's Comet by Stanley Kunitz

Home | Poets | Poems | Free Poetry eBooks | Contests | Sites | Submit a Poem | Manage Your Poems | GameGar | Contact Us

Christmas Poems | Love Poems | Pablo Neruda | Death Poems | Sad Poems | Birthday Poems | Wedding Poems | Annabel Lee | Sorry Poems