The Sins Of Kalamazoo Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B A C DEFGHIJKL AKMAN O P K K E KKKC M Q R K KSKT KK KUEVKKW XLA KYZKA2B2KKV WC2KKCD2C E2F2G2E2KM MAKH2 MKPEVK KKKEPTHE SINS of Kalamazoo are neither scarlet nor crimson | A |
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The sins of Kalamazoo are a convict gray a dishwater drab | B |
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And the people who sin the sins of Kalamazoo are neither scarlet nor crimson | A |
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They run to drabs and grays and some of them sing they shall be washed whiter than snow and some We should worry | C |
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Yes Kalamazoo is a spot on the map | D |
And the passenger trains stop there | E |
And the factory smokestacks smoke | F |
And the grocery stores are open Saturday nights | G |
And the streets are free for citizens who vote | H |
And inhabitants counted in the census | I |
Saturday night is the big night | J |
Listen with your ears on a Saturday night in Kalamazoo | K |
And say to yourself I hear America I hear what do I hear | L |
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Main street there runs through the middle of the twon | A |
And there is a dirty postoffice | K |
And a dirty city hall | M |
And a dirty railroad station | A |
And the United States flag cries cries the Stars and Stripes to the four winds on Lincoln's birthday and the Fourth of July | N |
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Kalamazoo kisses a hand to something far off | O |
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Kalamazoo calls to a long horizon to a shivering silver angel to a creeping mystic what is it | P |
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'We're here because we're here ' is the song of Kalamazoo | K |
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'We don't know where we're going but we're on our way ' are the words | K |
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There are hound dogs of bronze on the public square hound dogs looking far beyond the public square | E |
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Sweethearts there in Kalamazoo | K |
Go to the general delivery window of the postoffice | K |
And speak their names and ask for letters | K |
And ask again 'Are you sure there is nothing for me | C |
I wish you'd look again there must be a letter for me ' | - |
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And sweethearts go to the city hall | M |
And tell their names and say 'We want a license ' | - |
And they go to an installment house and buy a bed on time and a clock | Q |
And the children grow up asking each other 'What can we do to kill time ' | - |
They grow up and go to the railroad station and buy tickets for Texas Pennsylvania Alaska | R |
'Kalamazoo is all right ' they say 'But I want to see the world ' | - |
And when they have looked the world over they come back saying it is all like Kalamazoo | K |
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The trains come in from the east and hoot for the crossings | K |
And buzz away to the peach country and Chicago to the west | S |
Or they come from the west and shoot on to the Battle Creek breakfast bazaars | K |
And the speedbug heavens of Detroit | T |
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'I hear America I hear what do I hear ' | - |
Said a loafer lagging along on the sidewalks of Kalamazoo | K |
Lagging along and asking questions reading signs | K |
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Oh yes there is a town named Kalamazoo | K |
A spot on the map where the trains hesitate | U |
I saw the sign of a five and ten cent store there | E |
And the Standard Oil Company and the International Harvester | V |
And a graveyard and a ball grounds | K |
And a short order counter where a man can get a stack of wheats | K |
And a pool hall where a rounder leered confidential like and said | W |
'Lookin' for a quiet game ' | - |
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The loafer lagged along and asked | X |
'Do you make guitars here | L |
Do you make boxes the singing wood winds ask to sleep in | A |
Do you rig up strings the singing wood winds sift over and sing low ' | - |
The answer 'We manufacture musical instruments here ' | - |
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Here I saw churches with steeples like hatpins | K |
Undertaking rooms with sample coffins in the show window | Y |
And signs everywhere satisfaction is guaranteed | Z |
Shooting galleries where men kill imitation pigeons | K |
And there were doctors for the sick | A2 |
And lawyers for people waiting in jail | B2 |
And a dog catcher and a superintendent of streets | K |
And telephones water works trolley cars | K |
And newspapers with a splatter of telegrams from sister cities of Kalamazoo the round world over | V |
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And the loafer lagging along said | W |
Kalamazoo you ain't in a class by yourself | C2 |
I seen you before in a lot of places | K |
If you are nuts America is nuts | K |
And lagging along he said bitterly | C |
Before I came to Kalamazoo I was silent | D2 |
Now I am gabby God help me I am gabby | C |
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Kalamazoo both of us will do a fadeaway | E2 |
I will be carried out feet first | F2 |
And time and the rain will chew you to dust | G2 |
And the winds blow you away | E2 |
And an old old mother will lay a green moss cover on my bones | K |
And a green moss cover on the stones of your postoffice and city hall | M |
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Best of all | M |
I have loved your kiddies playing run sheep run | A |
And cutting their initials on the ball ground fence | K |
They knew every time I fooled them who was fooled and how | H2 |
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Best of all | M |
I have loved the red gold smoke of your sunsets | K |
I have loved a moon with a ring around it | P |
Floating over your public square | E |
I have loved the white dawn frost of early winter silver | V |
And purple over your railroad tracks and lumber yards | K |
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The wishing heart of you I loved Kalamazoo | K |
I sang bye lo bye lo to your dreams | K |
I sang bye lo to your hopes and songs | K |
I wished to God there were hound dogs of bronze on your public square | E |
Hound dogs with bronze paws looking to a long horizon with a shivering silver angel a creeping mystic what is it | P |
Carl Sandburg
(1)
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