Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Poppies

She loves blood-red poppies for a garden to walk in.In a loose white gown she walksand a new child tugs at cords in her body.Her head to the west at..

© Carl Sandburg

Pool

Out of the fireCame a man sunkenTo less than cinders,A tea-cup of ashes or so.And I,The gold in the house,Writhed into a stiff pool.

© Carl Sandburg

Poems Done On A Late Night Car

I. CHICKENSI am The Great White Way of the city:When you ask what is my desire, I answer:"Girls fresh as country wild flowers,With young faces tired..

© Carl Sandburg

Pods

PEA pods cling to stems.Neponset, the village,Clings to the Burlington railway main line.Terrible midnight limiteds roar throughHauling sleepers to..

© Carl Sandburg

Plowboy

After the last red sunset glimmer,Black on the line of a low hill rise,Formed into moving shadows, I sawA plowboy and two horses lined against the..

© Carl Sandburg

Plaster

'I KNEW a real man once,' says Agatha in the splendor of a shagbark hickorytree.Did a man touch his lips to Agatha? Did a man hold her in his arms?..

© Carl Sandburg

Places

ROSES and goldFor you today,And the flash of flying flags.I will haveAshes,Dust in my hair,Crushes of hoofs.Your nameFills the mouthOf rich man and..

© Carl Sandburg

Pigeon

THE FLUTTER of blue pigeon's wingsUnder a river bridgeHunting a clean dry arch,A corner for a sleepThis flutters here in a woman's hand.A singing..

© Carl Sandburg

Picnic Boat

Sunday night and the park policemen tell each other itis dark as a stack of black cats on Lake Michigan.A big picnic boat comes home to Chicago from..

© Carl Sandburg

Pick Offs

THE TELESCOPE picks off star duston the clean steel sky and sends it to me.The telephone picks off my voice andsends it cross country a thousand..

© Carl Sandburg

Personality

Musings of a Police Reporter in the Identification BureauYou have loved forty women, but you have only one thumb.You have led a hundred secret lives..

© Carl Sandburg

People With Proud Chins

I TELL them where the wind comes from,Where the music goes when the fiddle is in the box.Kids-I saw one with a proud chin, a sleepyhead,And the..

© Carl Sandburg

People Who Must

I painted on the roof of a skyscraper.I painted a long while and called it a day's work.The people on the corner swarmed and the traffic cop's..

© Carl Sandburg

Pennsylvania

I have been in Pennsylvania,In the Monongahela and Hocking Valleys.In the blue SusquehannaOn a Saturday morningI saw a mounted constabulary go by,I..

© Carl Sandburg

Pencils

telling where the wind comes fromopen a story.Pencilstelling where the wind goesend a story.These eager pencilscome to a stop.. only.. when the stars..

© Carl Sandburg

Pearl Fog

Open the door now.Go roll up the collar of your coatTo walk in the changing scarf of mist.Tell your sins here to the pearl fogAnd know for once a..

© Carl Sandburg

Peach Blossoms

WHAT cry of peach blossomslet loose on the air todayI heard with my face thrownin the pink-white of it all?in the red whisper of it all?What man I..

© Carl Sandburg

Paula

NOTHING else in this song-only your face.Nothing else here-only your drinking, night-gray eyes.The pier runs into the lake straight as a rifle..

© Carl Sandburg

Passers-By

Passers-by,Out of your many facesFlash memories to meNow at the day endAway from the sidewalksWhere your shoe soles traveledAnd your voices rose and..

© Carl Sandburg

Panels

THE WEST window is a panel of marching onions.Five new lilacs nod to the wind and fence boards.The rain dry fence boards, the stained knot holes..

© Carl Sandburg

Pals

Take a hold nowOn the silver handles here,Six silver handles,One for each of his old pals.Take holdAnd lift him down the stairs,Put him on the..

© Carl Sandburg

Palladiums

IN the newspaper office-who are the spooks?Who wears the mythic coat invisible?Who ****foots from desk to deskwith a speaking forefinger?Who gumshoes..

© Carl Sandburg

Out Of White Lips

OUT of white lips a question: Shall seven million dead ask for their blood a littleland for the living wives and children, a little land for the..

© Carl Sandburg

Our Prayer Of Thanks

For the gladness here where the sun is shining at evening on the weeds at theriver,Our prayer of thanks.For the laughter of children who tumble..

© Carl Sandburg

Ossawatomie

I DON'T know how he came,shambling, dark, and strong.He stood in the city and told men:My people are fools, my people are young and strong, my people..

© Carl Sandburg