by Paul Blackburn
Monday morning early
Sunday evening late
A tram goes by, outbound
taking the late drinkers
the restless moviegoers
or the blossoms of girls with their escorts
home
sleep
The conductor on the final run
standing there in his slippers
facing the track
The ladies sit at cafe tables in twos
An old man sits
reading at a table alone
the new day's news
letting his beer get warm
letting the sky be enough ,
Winter 1956-57
Malaga .
[September 1956/1960]
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Paul Blackburn is best known as a Black Mountain Poet because of his role as contributing editor and distributor of the Black Mountain Review: and his subsequent inclusion with the group in Donald Allen’s influential New American Poetry anthology (1960). Many unaware writers and critics fail to discern the complex forms, the sly intelligence, and the reserved elegance of that lyrical gift.... Blackburn was as socially and literarily accessible as lesser poets, and yet he was cut from the fabric of genius.
Last updated December 24, 2014