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Derek Walcott – Poetry
This is Fame: Sundays,
an emptiness
as in Balthus,
cobbled alleys,
sunlit, aureate,
a wall, a brown tower
at the end of a street,
a blue without bells,
like a dead canvas
set in its white
frame, and flowers:
gladioli, lame
gladioli, stone petals
in a vase. The choir's
sky-high praise
turned off. A book
of prints that turns
by itself. The ticktock
of high heels on a sidewalk.
A crawling clock.
A craving for work.
"Fame" from THE ARKANSAS TESTAMENT by Derek Walcott.
Copyright © 1987 by Derek Walcott.
Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
All rights reserved.
CAUTION: Users are warned that this work is protected under copyright laws and downloading is strictly prohibited. The right to reproduce or transfer the work via any medium must be secured with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Poem selected by Lars Rydquist, head librarian,
Nobel Library of the Swedish Academy. |
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