Alfred Starr
Hamilton
from American
Poetry Review. March/April, 1976
"Art is poor. Poetry is poor. I have been poor for a very long time. I am 61 years old. I couldn't afford an education during the '30's depression. I have been on the road. I have been a hitchhiker through 43 states on no money at all. I am familiar with Salvation Army centers in that manner. I served (subservience) one year in the armed forces. I was A.W.O.L. I got a discharge somehow. I am immune." The Poems of Alfred Starr Hamilton was published by Jargon Press. A new volume of his poems will be published soon by Poetry Project.
Color Lines
what are these
preposterous creatures
who are fighting the rainbow colors
what are these headlong participants
who are fighting the phantasmagoria
what are these horrendous characters
who are rubbing the very specks out of their eyes
what are these preposterous students
who are studying our colors differently
what are these utmost giraffes
who are bending over our color lines
Moon
Didn't you know the
moon was everywhere
Didn't
you know the moon was for everyone
Didn't you know the moon was for a doorknob
Didn't
you know of the number of doorknobs there are on the moon
Didn't
you know all of this and heaven too
Didn't
you know of the moon on the palm of your hand
To Father Coughlin
Do you know of a green
pond?
Do you know of the mists surrounding the pond?
Do you know of the seagulls flying hither and thither?
Do you know of a cold dark lake in Ireland?
Do you remember ourselves?
Do you know of the bitter treaty between ourselves and the police
dragnet?
Do you remember our subway rides here?
Do you know of our promises to a bitter sweetheart?
Do you know of our burial grounds?
Do you know of a cold stone?
Do you know where the sea washes over?
Do you know why our best hopes have never been forgotten?
Pink Ponds
Do you peoples know of
the trail
Do you peoples know of the steeple
Do you peoples knowof a cathedral in the wilds
Do you peoples know of a green trigger
Do you peoples know of the venom of the forests
Do you peoples know of the underbrush
Do you peoples know of the petrified bramble
Do you peoples know of a black triangle
Do you peoples know a pink star on a bush
Do you peoples know of an hour glass
Do you peoples know of a pink pond
Do you peoples know of the pink thread
That has never been broken to this day
Do you peoples know of the uprising
Do you peoples know of the imprints
Do you peoples know of the polished fingertips
Do you peoples know of the knives that dig deeper
Do you peoples know of a pink sailor
Do you peoples know of a girl commandant
Do you peoples know of a girl on the moon
Do you peoples know of a string of jewelry
Do you peoples know of the pink black widow of the forests
Do you peoples know of a steadier hour glass
Do you peoples know of a calendar and daring events
Do you peoples know of a fadeaway
Do you peoples know of a fadeaway to this day
Do you peoples know of rubbing your eyes and remembrances
Do you peoples know of the real Navy artillery