The Refinery Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AB CDEFGHIJKL MNOP QRSTUVWXYQZA2 B2C2 D2QE2F2G2 WUQQ H2I2QJ2Q QH2F2YX K2PL2NQPQ

our language forged in the dark bycenturies of violentA
pressure underground out of the stuff of dead lifeB
-
Thirsty and languorous after their long black sleepC
The old gods crooned and shuffled and shook their headsD
Dry dry By railroad they set outE
Across the desert of stars to drink the worldF
Our mouths had soakedG
In the strange sentences we madeH
While they were asleep a pollen tintedI
Slurry of passion and lapsedJ
Intention whose imaginedK
Taste made the savage deities hiss and snortL
-
In the lightless carriages a smell of snakeM
And coarse fur glands of lymphless breathN
And ichor the avid stenches ofO
Immortal bodiesP
-
Their long train clicked and sighedQ
Through the gulfs of night between the planetsR
And came down through the evening fogS
Of redwood canyons From the trainT
At sunset fiery warehouse windowsU
Along a wharf Then dusk a gash of neonV
Bar Black pinewoods a junction crossing glimpsesW
Of sluggish surf among the rocks a moanX
Of dreamy forgotten divinity calling and fadingY
Against the windows of a town InsideQ
The train a flashZ
Of dragonfly wings an antlered browA2
-
Black night again and thenB2
After the bridge a palace on the waterC2
-
The great Refinery impossible city of lightsD2
A million bulbs tracing its turretedQ
Boulevards and mazes The castle of a personE2
Pronounced alive the Corporation a fictionalF2
Lord real in lawG2
-
Barbicans and torchesW
Along the siding where the engine slowsU
At the central tanks a wardQ
Of steel palisades valved and chandelieredQ
-
The muttering godsH2
Greedily penetrate those bright pavilionsI2
Libation of Benzene Naphthalene AsphaltQ
Gasoline Tar syllablesJ2
Fractioned and cracked from unarticulatedQ
-
Crude the smeared keep of life that fedQ
On itself in pitchy darkness when the godsH2
Were new inedible volatileF2
And sublimated afresh to stingY
Our tongues who use it refined from oil of stoneX
-
The gods batten on the vats and drink upK2
Lovecries and memorized Chaucer lines from moviesP
And songs hoarded in mortmain exiles' charmsL2
The basal or desperate distillates of breathN
Steeped brewed and spentQ
As though we were their aphids or their beesP
That monstered up sweetness for them while they dozedQ

Robert Pinsky



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