Oh I was right! It +was+ the phrase 'marxist and sweaty' that said
Shapiro to me. I knew it couldn't be one of the Thirties Brits, and
the anapaestic romp said sometime not quite post-war. I certainly
hadn't read the poem before.
As for the question, I'd reckon it was time to take a bath, but not in
Sydney harbour!
Best
Dave
2008/6/21 Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>:
> Curses, first guess in is just too good to be what I call a guess.
>
> It is in Shapiro's V-Letter and Other Poems - 1945 Pulitzer Prize.
>
>
> On 21/6/08 6:06 PM, "David Bircumshaw" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I'm taking a guess here Max: would it be Karl Shapiro? 1940s?
>>
>> 2008/6/21 Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>:
>>> Sydney Bridge
>>>
>>>
>>> Though I see you, O rainbow of iron and rivetted lace
>>> As a dancer who leaps to the music of music and light,
>>> And poised on the pin of the moment of marvelous grace
>>> Holds her breath in the downfall and curve of her motionless flight;
>>>
>>> Though you walk like a queen with the stays of your womanly steel
>>> And the pearls of your bodice are heavy with sensual pride,
>>> And the million come under your notice and graciously kneel,
>>> As the navies of nations come slowly to moor at your side;
>>>
>>> Yet your pace is the pace of a man's, and your arms are outspread
>>> In a trick of endurance to charm the demand of the bays,
>>> And your tendons are common - the cables are coarse on your head,
>>>
>>> You are marxist and sweaty! You grin for the labor of days;
>>> And O sphinx of our harbor of beauty, your banner is red
>>> And outflung at the end of the world like a silvery phrase!
>>>
>>> - you are invited to nominate an author and a likely date for this poem...
>>>
>>
>>
>
> --
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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