Berenda Slough
by Philip Levine
Earth and water without form,
change, or pause: as if the third
day had not come, this calm norm
of chaos denies the Word.
One sees only a surface
pocked with rushes, the starved clumps
pressed between water and space —
rootless, perennial stumps
fixed in position, entombed
in nothing; it is too late
to bring forth branches, to bloom
or die, only the long wait
lies ahead, a parody
of perfection. Who denies
this is creation, this sea
constant before the stunned eye’s
insatiable gaze, shall find
nothing he can comprehend.
Here the mind beholds the mind
as it shall be in the end.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Creation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Алишер Навои – Соловей, лишенный розы, умолкает, не поет
- Sonnet 6: Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface by William Shakespeare
- Old Tom Again by William Butler Yeats
- Ode on Solitude poem – Alexander Pope
- Омар Хайям – Будь камнем твердым я
- Maple by Robert Frost
- Friday Night At The Royal Station Hotel by Philip Larkin
- Woman by Tala Bar
- About Face poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster
- Malmaison poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Grumpy Old Man by Mary Etta Metcalf
- Summer poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Новелла Матвеева – Будьте, как дети
- On a Portrait of a Deaf Man poem – John Betjeman poems
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
Philip Levine ( 1928 – 2015) was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012