Donald Justice Time Poems
- 1. Love's Stratagems
All these maneuverings to avoid
The touching of hands,
These shifts to keep the eyes employed
On objects more or less neutral
... - 2. American Sketches
CROSSING KANSAS BY TRAIN
The telephone poles
Have been holding their
... - 3. Banjo Dog Variations
Tramps on the road: floating clouds. OLD CHINESE POEM
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... - 4. A Birthday Candle
Thirty today, I saw
The trees flare briefly like
The candles on a cake,
As the sun went down the sky,
... - 5. Pantoum Of The Great Depression
Our lives avoided tragedy
Simply by going on and on,
Without end and with little apparent meaning.
Oh, there were storms and small catastrophes.
... - 6. Nostalgia Of The Lakefronts
Cities burn behind us; the lake glitters.
A tall loudspeaker is announcing prizes;
Another, by the lake, the times of cruises.
Childhood, once vast with terrors and surprises,
... - 7. Men At Thirty
Thirty today, I saw
The trees flare briefly like
The candles upon a cake
As the sun went down the sky,
...