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Growing City (1956), Eleanor Coen


Eulogies of Motion


To listen for home—

(in appearance at least)


the movement of capital

labor

footsteps or piano keys.


The rebellion of dying is movement


of wrens through the thirsting grass


regardless of border or season


silence hurried 

through the fact 

of people forever leaping


never touching the third rail,

calling out across the distance

with scarves and countries

and drains to unclog.


The rebellion of   movement—


to say I have seen this place before 


to praise the stolen bread

in a pigeon’s beak


to thank each needful wing.


And still

the fact of us

existing stubborn 

as ivy across untended stones—


the rebellion


to name it all home


despite the lateness

of the hour.


 

This poem is written after Trevor Mathison’s soundscape, The Conversation Continues: We Are Still Listening. Italicized phrases are quoted from the piece and the voices it encompasses, including Stuart Hall and Selina Nwulu.

 


ZACHARIAH CLAYPOLE WHITE is a Philadelphia-based writer and educator, originally from North Carolina. He holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, where he was a Jane Cooper Poetry Fellow. His poetry and prose have appeared in or are forthcoming from Bourbon Penn, The Baltimore Review, and The Rumpus, amongst others. Zachariah has received support from the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and his awards include Flying South's 2021 Best in Category for poetry as well as nominations for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Zachariah teaches at the Community College of Philadelphia and the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College.











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