Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Chicago Poet

I saluted a nobody.I saw him in a looking-glass.He smiled--so did I.He crumpled the skin on his forehead, frowning--so did I.Everything I did he..

© Carl Sandburg

Chicago

Hog Butcher for the World,Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;Stormy, husky, brawling,City of the Big..

© Carl Sandburg

Chasers

THE SEA at its worst drives a white foam up,The same sea sometimes so easy and rocking with green mirrors.So you were there when the white foam was..

© Carl Sandburg

Chamfort

There's Chamfort. He’s a sample.Locked himself in his library with a gun,Shot off his nose and shot out his right eye.And this Chamfort knew how to..

© Carl Sandburg

Cartoon

I AM making a Cartoon of a Woman. She is the People.She is the Great Dirty Mother.And Many Children hang on her Apron, crawl at herFeet, snuggle at..

© Carl Sandburg

Carlovingian Dreams

COUNT these reminiscences like money.The Greeks had their picnics under another name.The Romans wore glad rags and told their neighbors, 'What of it?..

© Carl Sandburg

Calls

BECAUSE I have called to youas the flame flamingo calls,or the want of a spotted hawkis called-because in the duskthe warblers shoot the..

© Carl Sandburg

California City Landscape

On a mountain-side the real estate agentsPut up signs marking the city lots to be sold there.A man whose father and mother were IrishRan a goat farm..

© Carl Sandburg

Cahoots

PLAY it across the table.What if we steal this city blind?If they want any thing let 'em nail it down.Harness bulls, dicks, front office men,And the..

© Carl Sandburg

Cadenza

THE KNEESof this proud womanare bone.The elbowsof this proud womanare bone.The summer-white starsand the winter-white starsnever stop circlingaround..

© Carl Sandburg

Caboose Thoughts

IT'S going to come out all right-do you know?The sun, the birds, the grass-they know.They get along-and we'll get along.Some days will be rainy and..

© Carl Sandburg

Buttons

I have been watching the war map slammed up for advertising in front of thenewspaper office.Buttons—red and yellow buttons—blue and black buttons—are..

© Carl Sandburg

Buffalo Dusk

THE BUFFALOES are gone.And those who saw the buffaloes are gone.Those who saw the buffaloes by thousands and how they pawed the prairie sodinto dust..

© Carl Sandburg

Buffalo Bill

BOY heart of Johnny Jones-aching to-day?Aching, and Buffalo Bill in town?Buffalo Bill and ponies, cowboys, Indians?Some of us knowAll about it..

© Carl Sandburg

Buckwheat

THERE was a late autumn cricket,And two smoldering mountain sunsetsUnder the valley roads of her eyes.There was a late autumn cricket,A hangover of..

© Carl Sandburg

Bronzes

IThe bronze General Grant riding a bronze horse in Linc-oln ParkShrivels in the sun by day when the motor cars whirrby in long processions going..

© Carl Sandburg

Broken-Face Gargoyles

ALL I can give you is broken-face gargoyles.It is too early to sing and dance at funerals,Though I can whisper to you I am looking for an undertaker..

© Carl Sandburg

Broken Tabernacles

Have I broken the smaller tabernacles, O Lord?And in the destruction of these set up the greater and massive, the everlastingtabernacles?I know..

© Carl Sandburg

Broadway

I shall never forget you, BroadwayYour golden and calling lights.I’ll remember you long,Tall-walled river of rush and play.Hearts that know you hate..

© Carl Sandburg

Bringers

Cover me overIn dusk and dust and dreams.Cover me overAnd leave me alone.Cover me over,You tireless, great.Hear me and cover me,Bringers of dusk and..

© Carl Sandburg

Bricklayer Love

I thought of killing myself because I am only a bricklayerand you a woman who loves the man who runs a drug store.I don't care like I used to; I lay..

© Carl Sandburg

Brass Keys

JOY ... weaving two violet petals for a coat lapel ... painting on a slab of nightsky a Christ face ... slipping new brass keys into rusty iron locks..

© Carl Sandburg

Branches

The long beautiful night of the wind and rain in April,The long night hanging down from the drooping branches of the top of a birchtree,Swinging..

© Carl Sandburg

Boy And Father

THE BOY Alexander understands his father to be a famous lawyer.The leather law books of Alexander's father fill a room like hay in a barn.Alexander..

© Carl Sandburg

Bones

Sling me under the sea.Pack me down in the salt and wet.No farmer’s plow shall touch my bones.No Hamlet hold my jaws and speakHow jokes are gone and..

© Carl Sandburg