what is to be done?

Res Publica: 'The Poets Lie'

words, the words older
than I

clumsiest

of poets the rain's small

pellets small

fountains that live
on the face

of the waters

dilations

of the heart they say
too much the heart the
heart of the republic skips

a beat where they touch it


from George Oppen, Two Romance Poems


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