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"—Here, the flag snaps in the glare and silence
Of the unbroken ice. I stand here,
The dogs bark, my beard is black, and I stare
At the North Pole. . .
And now what? Why, go back.
Turn as I please, my step is to the south."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. 90 North (l. 9-14). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"I wrung from the darkness—that the darkness flung me—
Is worthless as ignorance: nothing comes from nothing,
The darkness from the darkness. Pain comes from the darkness
And we call it wisdom. It is pain."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. 90 North (l. 30-33). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"A filmy trash
Litters the black woods with the death
Of men; and one last breath
Curls from the monstrous chimney. . . ."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Camp in the Prussian Forest (l. 30-33). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"One year
They sent a million here:
Here men were drunk like water, burnt like wood.
The fat of good
And evil, the breast's star of hope
Were rendered into soap."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Camp in the Prussian Forest (l. 15-20). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"The soul has no assignments, neither cooks
Nor referees: it wastes its time.
It wastes its time."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Girl in a Library (l. 33-35). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"The blind date that has stood you up: your life."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet. A Girl in a Library (l. 87). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"The firelight of a long, blind, dreaming story
Lingers upon your lips; and I have seen
Firm, fixed forever in your closing eyes,
The Corn King beckoning to his Spring Queen."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Girl in a Library (l. 104-107). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"These calves, grown muscular with certainties;
This nose, three medium-sized pink strawberries"
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Girl in a Library (l. 9-10). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"An object among dreams, you sit here with your shoes off
And curl your legs up under you;"
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Girl in a Library (l. 1-2). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
"bars of that strange speech
In which each sound sets out to seek each other,
Murders its own father, marries its own mother,
And ends as one grand transcendental vowel."
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), U.S. poet, critic. A Girl in a Library (l. 13-16). . .
The Complete Poems [Randall Jarrell]. (1969; repr. 1989) Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
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