by Pa Rock
Poetry Appreciator
Today is the 132nd birthday of American master poet and biographer, Carl Sandburg. I have previously used three shorter works by Sandburg in this space: "A Revolver" in June of 2015 as a response to the senseless murder of several people as they prayed in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, "Buffalo Dusk" in January of 2013 to commemorate me receiving a 1936 buffalo nickel in change when I bought breakfast at a Phoenix McDonald's that morning (a coin that I returned to the worker that had given it to me the following morning - and one which he planned to give to his daughter), and "Manufactured Gods" in September of 2010 which I dedicated to religious charlatans Terry Jones and Shirley Phelps Roper - though at this point I can't remember why.
I have always intended to run Carl Sandburg's powerful poem "Chicago" in this space, but have demurred because the poem's long lines and tricky formatting - combined with space restrictions peculiar to BlogSpot - make it impossible to transport to this space in the form Sandburg intended. But - I have hammered and patched and dabbed with ink plaster and somehow managed to get a close approximation of what the poet intended into this space today.
The following is my favorite Sandburg poem, a historical view of the quintessential American city - the hog butcher for the world!
Chicago
by Carl Sandburg
Poetry Appreciator
Today is the 132nd birthday of American master poet and biographer, Carl Sandburg. I have previously used three shorter works by Sandburg in this space: "A Revolver" in June of 2015 as a response to the senseless murder of several people as they prayed in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, "Buffalo Dusk" in January of 2013 to commemorate me receiving a 1936 buffalo nickel in change when I bought breakfast at a Phoenix McDonald's that morning (a coin that I returned to the worker that had given it to me the following morning - and one which he planned to give to his daughter), and "Manufactured Gods" in September of 2010 which I dedicated to religious charlatans Terry Jones and Shirley Phelps Roper - though at this point I can't remember why.
I have always intended to run Carl Sandburg's powerful poem "Chicago" in this space, but have demurred because the poem's long lines and tricky formatting - combined with space restrictions peculiar to BlogSpot - make it impossible to transport to this space in the form Sandburg intended. But - I have hammered and patched and dabbed with ink plaster and somehow managed to get a close approximation of what the poet intended into this space today.
The following is my favorite Sandburg poem, a historical view of the quintessential American city - the hog butcher for the world!
Chicago
by Carl Sandburg
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 Shoulders:
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:
They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the faces of women and children I have seen the marks of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.
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