Late Moon
by Philip Levine
2 a.m.
December, and still no mon
rising from the river.
My mother
home from the beer garden
stands before the open closet
her hands still burning.
She smooths the fur collar,
the scarf, opens the gloves
crumpled like letters.
Nothing is lost
she says to the darkness, nothing.
The moon finally above the town,
The breathless stacks,
the coal clumps,
the quiet cars
whitened at last.
Her small round hand whitens,
the hand a stranger held
and released
while the Polish music wheezed.
I’m drunk, she says,
and knows she’s not. In her chair
undoing brassiere and garters
she sighs
and waits for the need
to move.
The moon descends
in a spasm of silver
tearing the screen door,
the eyes of fire
drown in the still river,
and she’s herself.
The little jewels
on cheek and chin
darken and go out,
and in darkness
nothing falls
staining her lap.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Robert Burns: A Winter Night :
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Маленькой Женни
- On the Countess of Burlington Cutting Paper poem – Alexander Pope
- The Secret of the Machines by Rudyard Kipling
- Unspoken by Satish Verma
- Put Something In by Shel Silverstein
- The Return by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ships Are Made Ready In Silence by W. S. Merwin
- Good Hours by Robert Frost
- A Poem Upon The Death Of O.C. poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Friend, your white beard sweeps the ground by Stephen Crane
- Robert Burns: It Was A’ For Our Rightfu’ King:
- Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony by Shel Silverstein
- Diya {original title is Greek, Delta-iota-psi-alpha} poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Compensation by Rabindranath Tagore
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