Ambleside Online Poetry of Carl Sandburg

1 - Jazz Fantasia
Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes,
Sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy tin pans,
et your trombones ooze,
!nd go hushahusha"hush with the slippery sand"paper.
#oan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome tree"tops,
#oan soft like you wanted somebody terrible,
$ry like a racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop,
%ang"bang& you jazzmen,
%ang altogether drums, traps, banjoes, horns, tin cans"
#ake two people fight on the top of a stairway
!nd scratch each other's eyes in a clinch tumbling down the
stairs.
$an the rough stuff ...
(ow a #ississippi steamboat pushes up the night ri)er
*ith a hoo"hoo"hoo"oo ...
!nd the green lanterns calling to the high soft stars ...
! red moon rides on the humps of the low ri)er hills ...
Go to it, O jazzmen.
02 - Under a Tele!one Pole
+ am a copper wire slung in the air,
Slim against the sun + make not e)en a clear line of shadow.
(ight and day + keep singing"humming and thrumming,
+t is lo)e and war and money- it is the fighting and the tears, the
work and want,
Death and laughter of men and women passing through me,
carrier of your speech,
+n the rain and the wet dripping, in the dawn and the shine
drying,
! copper wire.
0" - Fog
.he fog comes
on little cat feet.
+t sits looking
o)er harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then mo)es on.
0# - Flu$
Sand of the sea runs red
*here the sunset reaches and /ui)ers.
Sand of the sea runs yellow
*here the moon slants and wa)ers.
0% - &onotone
.he monotone of the rain is beautiful,
!nd the sudden rise and slow relapse
Of the long multitudinous rain.
.he sun on the hills is beautiful,
Or a captured sunset sea"flung,
%annered with fire and gold.
! face + know is beautiful"
*ith fire and gold of sky and sea,
!nd the peace of long warm rain.
0' - (a)* +ard
Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the lea)es of grass, catalpa and oak,
!ll sil)er under your rain to"night.
!n +talian boy is sending songs to you tonight from an
accordion.
! 0olish boy is out with his best girl-
.hey marry next month-
tonight they are throwing you kisses.
!n old man next door is dreaming o)er a sheen
.hat sits in a cherry tree in his back yard.
.he clocks say + must go"
+ stay here sitting on the back porch
drinking white thoughts you rain down.
Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more sil)er changes.
0, - C!ild &oon
.he child's wonder
!t the old moon
$omes back nightly.
She points her finger
.o the far silent yellow thing
Shining through the branches
1iltering on the lea)es a golden sand,
$rying with her little tongue, 2See the moon&2
!nd in her bed fading to sleep
*ith babblings of the moon on her little mouth.
0- - .o)*s
Strolling along
%y the teeming docks,
+ watch the ships put out.
%lack ships that hea)e and lunge
!nd mo)e like mastodons
!rising from lethargic sleep.
.he fathomed harbor
$alls them not nor dares
.hem to a strain of action,
%ut outward, on and outward,
Sounding low"re)erberating calls,
Shaggy in the half"lit distance,
.hey pass the pointed headland,
3iew the wide, far"lifting wilderness
!nd leap with cumulati)e speed
.o test the challenge of the sea.
0lunging,
Doggedly onward plunging,
+nto salt and mist and foam and sun.
0/ - 0ost
Desolate and lone
!ll night long on the lake
*here fog trails and mist creeps,
.he whistle of a boat
$alls and cries unendingly,
ike some lost child
+n tears and trouble
4unting the harbor's breast
!nd the harbor's eyes.
10 - &argaret
#any birds and the beating of wings
#ake a flinging reckless hum
+n the early morning at the rocks
!bo)e the blue pool
*here the gray shadows swim lazy.
+n your blue eyes, O reckless child,
+ saw today many little wild wishes,
5ager as the great morning.
11 - 1indo2
(ight from a railroad car window
+s a great, dark, soft thing
%roken across with slashes of light.
12 - +oung Sea
.he sea is ne)er still.
+t pounds on the shore
6estless as a young heart,
4unting.
.he sea speaks
!nd only the stormy hearts
7now what it says,
+t is the face
of a rough mother speaking.
.he sea is young.
One storm cleans all the hoar
!nd loosens the age of it.
+ hear it laughing, reckless.
.hey lo)e the sea,
#en who ride on it
!nd know they will die
8nder the salt of it
et only the young come,
Says the sea.
et them kiss my face
!nd hear me.
+ am the last word
!nd + tell
*here storms and stars come from.
1" - (aby Fa)e
*hite moon comes in on a baby face.
.he shafts across her bed are flimmering.
Out on the land *hite #oon shines,
Shines and glimmers against gnarled shadows,
!ll sil)er to slow twisted shadows
1alling across the long road that runs from the house.
7eep a little of your beauty
!nd some of your flimmering sil)er
1or her by the window to"night
*here you come in, *hite #oon.
1# - 3old2ing &ot!
! goldwing moth is between the scissors and the ink bottle on
the desk
ast night it flew hundreds of circles around a glass bulb and a
flame wire.
.he wings are a soft gold- it is the gold of illuminated initials in
manuscripts of the medie)al monks.
1% - Prayers of Steel
ay me on an an)il, O God.
%eat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
et me pry loose old walls.
et me lift and loosen old foundations.
ay me on an an)il, O God.
%eat me and hammer me into a steel spike.
Dri)e me into the girders that hold a skyscraper together.
.ake red"hot ri)ets and fasten me into the central girders.
et me be the great nail holding a skyscraper
through blue nights into white stars.
1' - 4mro5ed Farmland
.all timber stood here once, here on a corn belt farm along the
#onon.
4ere the roots of a half mile of trees dug their runners deep in
the loam for a grip and a hold against wind storms.
.hen the axmen came and the chips flew to the zing of steel and
handle the lank railsplitters cut the big ones first, the beeches
and the oaks, then the brush.
Dynamite, wagons and horses took the stumps""the plows sunk
their teeth in""now it is first class corn land""impro)ed
property""and the hogs grunt o)er the fodder crops.
+t would come hard now for this half mile of impro)ed farm
land along the #onon corn belt, on a piece of Grand 0rairie, to
remember once it had a great singing family of trees.
1, - Primer 0esson
ook out how you use proud words.
*hen you let proud words go
+t is not easy to call them back.
.hey wear long boots, hard boots-
.hey walk off proud-
.hey can't hear you calling"""
ook out how you use proud words.
1- - (aby Toes
.here is a blue star, 9anet,
1ifteen years' ride from us,
+f we ride a hundred miles an hour.
.here is a white star, 9anet,
1orty years' ride from us,
+f we ride a hundred miles an hour.
Shall we ride
.o the blue star
Or the white star:
1/ - (as*et
Speak, sir, and be wise.
Speak choosing your words, sir,
like an old woman o)er a bushel of apples.
20 - Fi5e Cent (alloons
0ietro has twenty red and blue balloons on a string.
.hey flutter and dance pulling 0ietro's arm.
! nickel apiece is what they sell for.
*ishing children tag 0ietro's heels.
4e sells out and goes the streets alone.
21 - 3ood 6ig!t
#any ways to spell good night.
1ireworks at a pier on the 1ourth of 9uly
spell it with red wheels and yellow spokes.
.hey fizz in the air, touch the water and /uit.
6ockets make a trajectory of gold"and"blue and then go out.
6ailroad trains at night spell with a smokestack mushrooming a
white pillar.
Steamboats turn a cur)e in the #ississippi crying in a baritone
that crosses lowland cottonfields to a razorback hill.
+t is easy to spell good night.
#any ways to spell good night.
22 - 7ar5est Sunset
6ed gold of pools,
Sunset furrows six o'clock,
!nd the farmer done in the fields
!nd the cows in the barns with bulging udders.
.ake the cows and the farmer,
.ake the barns and bulging udders.
ea)e the red gold of pools
!nd sunset furrows six o'clock.
.he farmer's wife is singing.
.he farmer's boy is whistling.
+ wash my hands in red gold of pools.
2" - 7ats
4ats, where do you belong:
*hat is under you:
On the rim of a skyscraper's forehead
+ looked down and saw, hats, fifty thousand hats,
Swarming with a noise of bees and sheep, cattle and waterfalls,
Stopping with a silence of sea grass, a silence of prairie corn.
4ats, tell me your high hopes.
2# - 0anguages
.here are no handles upon a language
*hereby men take hold of it
!nd mark it with signs for its remembrance.
+t is a ri)er, this language,
Once in a thousand years
%reaking a new course
$hanging its way to the ocean.
+t is mountain efflu)ia
#o)ing to )alleys
!nd from nation to nation
$rossing borders and mixing.
anguages die like ri)ers.
*ords wrapped round your tongue today
!nd broken to shape of thought
%etween your teeth and lips speaking
(ow and today
Shall be faded hieroglyphics
.en thousand years from now.
Sing"and singing"remember
;our song dies and changes
!nd is not here to"morrow
!ny more than the wind
%lowing ten thousand years ago.
2% - &anual System
#ary has a thingamajig clamped on her ears
!nd sits all day taking plugs out and sticking plugs in.
1lashes and flashes")oices and )oices
calling for ears to pour words in
1aces at the ends of wires
asking for other faces at the ends of other wires,
!ll day taking plugs out and sticking plugs in,
#ary has a thingamajig clamped on her ears.
2' - Peole 1!o &ust
+ painted on the roof of a skyscraper.
+ painted a long while and called it a day's work.
.he people on a corner swarmed
and the traffic cop's whistle ne)er let up all afternoon.
.hey were the same as bugs, many bugs on their way"
.hose people on the go or at a standstill-
!nd the traffic cop a spot of blue, a splinter of brass,
*here the black tides ran around him
!nd he kept the street. + painted a long while
!nd called it a day's work.
2, - Potoma) To2n in February
.he bridge says,
$ome across, try me- see how good + am.
.he big rock in the ri)er says,
ook at me- learn how to stand up.
.he white water says,
+ go on- around, under, o)er, + go on.
! kneeling, scraggly pine says,
+ am here yet- they nearly got me last year.
! sli)er of moon slides by on a high wind calling,
+ know why- +'ll see you to"morrow-
+'ll tell you e)erything to"morrow.
2- - Sea-1as!
.he sea"wash ne)er ends.
.he sea"wash repeats, repeats.
Only old songs:
+s that all the sea knows:
Only the old strong songs:
+s that all:
.he sea"wash repeats, repeats.
2/ - Summer Stars
%end low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long arm man can pick off stars,
0ick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum"strumming.
"0 - C!i)ago
"Everyone who is anyone says this should be included in any
collection of Carl Sandburg's poetry; it is vivid, bold, brash,
very American, very Sandburg, and my mother tells me that
Sandburg is Chicago and Chicago is Sandburg." !endi
Capehart
4og %utcher for the *orld,
.ool #aker, Stacker of *heat,
0layer with 6ailroads and the (ation's 1reight 4andler-
Stormy, husky, brawling,
$ity of the %ig Shoulders,
.hey tell me you are wicked and + belie)e them, for + ha)e seen
your painted women under the gas lamps luring the farm boys.
!nd they tell me you are crooked and + answer, ;es, it is true +
ha)e seen the gunman kill and go free to kill again.
!nd they tell me you are brutal and my reply is, On the faces of
women and children + ha)e seen the marks of wanton hunger.
!nd ha)ing answered so + turn once more to those who sneer at
this my city, and + gi)e them back the sneer and say to them,
$ome and show me another city with lifted head singing so
proud to be ali)e and coarse and strong and cunning.
1linging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on job, here
is a tall bold slugger set )i)id against the little soft cities-
1ierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning as a
sa)age pitted against the wilderness,
%areheaded,
Sho)eling,
*recking,
0lanning,
%uilding, breaking, rebuilding,
8nder the smoke, dust all o)er his mouth, laughing with white
teeth,
8nder the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man
laughs,
aughing e)en as an ignorant fighter laughs who has ne)er lost
a battle,
%ragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse, and
under his ribs the heart of the people,
aughing&
aughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of ;outh, half"
naked, sweating, proud to be 4og %utcher, .ool #aker, Stacker
of *heat, 0layer with 6ailroads and 1reight 4andler to the
(ation.