[Galway Kinnell “Vapor Trail Reflected in the Frog Pond” Print]
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Vapor Trail Reflected in the Frog Pond
by Galway Kinnell
1
The old watch: their
thick eyes
puff and foreclose by the moon. The young, heads
trailed by the beginnings of necks,
shiver,
in the guarantee they shall be bodies.
In the frog pond
the vapor trail of a SAC bomber creeps,
I hear its drone, drifting, high up
in immaculate ozone.
2
And I hear,
coming over the hills, America singing,
her varied carols I hear:
crack of deputies’ rifles practicing their aim on stray dogs at night,
sput of cattleprod,
TV going on about the smells of the human body,
curses of the soldier as he poisons, burns, grinds, and stabs
the rice of the world,
with open mouth, crying strong, hysterical curses.
3
And by paddies in Asia
bones
wearing a few shadows
walk down a dirt road, smashed
bloodsuckers on their heel, knowing
flesh thrown down in the sunshine
dogs shall eat
and flesh flung into the air
shall be seized by birds,
shoulder blades smooth, unmarked by old feather-holes,
hands rivered
by blue, erratic wanderings of the blood,
eyes crinkled shut at almost seeing
the drifting sun that gives us our lives.
The Peace Posters Series: In 1970, Sam Maitin created a series of prints highlighting contemporary poems, each of which grapples with injustice, for an exhibition dedicated to world peace. Maitin’s “Peace Posters” series is characteristically colorful, but the shades are more varied than in his other poetry prints. Rather than using primary colors and clear, solid shapes, Maitin introduced oranges and purples and sketchy color blocks that seem to move across the page, as though the ink were still wet. These stylistic choices capture the messy, gusty process of working toward a more peaceful world.