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More poems by Karl ShapiroKarl Shapiro | Print this page.Print | Order a PoetryNotes Analysis of this poem.Analysis | View and Write CommentsComments (6)

Manhole Covers

Karl Shapiro

The beauty of manhole covers--what of that?
Like medals struck by a great savage khan,
Like Mayan calendar stones, unliftable, indecipherable,
Not like the old electrum, chased and scored,
Mottoed and sculptured to a turn,
But notched and whelked and pocked and smashed
With the great company names
(Gentle Bethlehem, smiling United States).
This rustproof artifact of my street,
Long after roads are melted away will lie
Sidewise in the grave of the iron-old world,
Bitten at the edges,
Strong with its cryptic American,
Its dated beauty.


Anonymous submission.

Added: 12 Aug 2002 | Last Read: 6 Sep 2008 11:53 PM | Viewed: 5372 times

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URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/6171/ | Viewed on 6 September 2008.
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