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OP On the train up from the World Trade Center last night, from the PATH and the lost world of Newark New Jersey, I read this poem on an ad board posting of the MTA. The author, 14, was the winner of the 6-8 grade category of a poetry contest commemorating 100 years of subway "service."
I am charmed by silver
snake-like trains slithering
contently in black-pitted dens,
corridors flooded by taut masses
have beautifully woven, diverse peoples
A boundless threshold of adventure fulfilled
with the simple slide
of a card
Kesi Augustine
St. Clare School
Queens, NY
Whatever it's merits -- and I do like it -- I was interested in the writer's use of the word "contently," instead of "contendedly" in connection with subway trains; in the interpolation to charmer snakes; in various possible oxymorons: the metaphors of 'taut floods,' and 'boundless thresholds.' And I wondered at the comma, whether it was intentional, merely nervous, or a teacher's besmirching. (Though the last two lines are unfortunate, I assume they were an entrance requirement of the contest.) A young adolescent walks the boundary of naive and elegant, or all deliberate?
To sleep, perhance to dream
of Yogi Berra.
("Yogi"?)
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Mist Subways inselpeter 04/15/05 10:38 AM Re: Mist Subways Jackie 04/15/05 09:11 PM Re: Mist Subways Dgeigh 04/16/05 03:48 AM Re: Mist Subways maverick 04/16/05 07:47 PM Re: Mist Subways of troy 04/16/05 11:21 PM
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