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Classics
Archibald MacLeish
Collected Poems 1917 to 1982
by Archibald MacLeish
Ars Poetica
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grownβ
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mindβ
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the seaβ
A poem should not mean
But be.
Book:
Collected Poems 1917 to 1982
by Archibald MacLeish
Classics
Archibald MacLeish
1892 - 1982
/
American
(
1892 - 1982
/
American
)
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