Chaplinesque

Chaplinesque
by Hart Crane
We make our meek adjustments, Contented with such random consolations As the wind deposits In slithered and too ample pockets. For we can still love the world, who find A famished kitten on the step, and know Recesses for it from the fury of the street, Or warm torn elbow coverts. We will sidestep, and to the final smirk Dally the doom of that inevitable thumb That slowly chafes its puckered index toward us, Facing the dull squint with what innocence And what surprise! And yet these fine collapses are not lies More than the pirouettes of any pliant cane; Our obsequies are, in a way, no enterprise. We can evade you, and all else but the heart: What blame to us if the heart live on. The game enforces smirks; but we have seen The moon in lonely alleys make A grail of laughter of an empty ash can, And through all sound of gaiety and quest Have heard a kitten in the wilderness.
From The Complete Poems and Selected Letters and Prose of Hart Crane by Hart Crane, edited with an introduction and notes by Brom Weber. Copyright © 1933, 1958, 1966 by Liveright Publishing Corporation.

You're Invited!    

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading

WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2006

WHERE: Your blog

WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Bridgid, aka Groundhog Day

HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2.

RSVP: If you plan to publish, will you either leave your blog address as a comment on this post, or send me an email?

Whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow, there will still be many more weeks of winter following February 2. I think it would be nice to have a bunch of bloggers' choice poetry to read until the spring thaw.

Feel free to pass this invitation on to any and all bloggers.