Did Wallace Stevens
Did Wallace Stevens really walk to work
for twenty-four
years,
Composing poems (as he went) and gaining fame
among his poor
peers?
Did Wallace Stevens really sell insurance bonds
for massive the-
ings,
While fire-fangled feathers dangled down
from bird-like be-
ings?
And did he whisper in the streets where poems need-
ed to be spok-
en?
And did he linger in the halls where halos need-
ed to be brok-
en?
Alas! he walked, and worked, and whispered warm while oth-
er poets shiv-
ered.
Alas! he fashioned fancy fowl while poet-mid-
wives worlds deliv-
ered.
[Written July 11,1986. Lines inspired by a comic-book history of
Wallace Stevens in Hartford which appeared in The Hartford Courant’s
Northeast Magazine section of June 8, 1986. Note on the reading
of this poem: There should be an emphasis on the next-to-the-last
syllable of each sentence, followed by a pause before the final
syllable which follows. Note on Wallace Stevens: I knew virtually
nothing about his poetry at the time I wrote this poem, but what little
I knew underestimated his great strengths as a poet.]
Copyright (2006) by Arnold Cantor.
All rights reserved.