Nasal intonations of light
and clicking tongues * * *
publicity of windows
stoning me with pent-up cries * * *
smells of abattoirs * * *
smells of long-dead meat.
Some day-end-
while the sand is yet cozy as a blanket
off the warm body of a squaw,
and the jaguars are out to kill * * *
with a blue-black night coming on
and a painted cloud,
stalking the first star-
I shall go alone into the silence * * *
the coiled silence * * *
where a cry can run only a little way
and waver and dwindle
and be lost.
And there * * *
where tiny antlers clinch and strain
as life grapples in a million avid points.
and threshing things
strike and die,
letting their hate live on
in the spreading purple of a wound * * *
I too
will make covert of a crevice in the night,
and turn and watch * * *
nose at the cleft’s edge.
(Lola Ridge)
More Poetry from Lola Ridge:
Lola Ridge Poems based on Topics: Light, Night, Silence, Cry- The Ghetto (Lola Ridge Poems)
- Betty (Lola Ridge Poems)
- The Song Of Iron (Lola Ridge Poems)
- The Everlasting Return (Lola Ridge Poems)
- Frank Little At Calvary (Lola Ridge Poems)
- Celia (Lola Ridge Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Night Poems, Light Poems, Cry Poems, Silence PoemsBased on Keywords: long-dead, avid, nasal, grapples, clinch, publicity, stoning, intonations, jaguars, day-end, abattoirs