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Photo of James Wright

Wright, James

One of the most beloved American poets of the second half of the 20th century.. American poet father of Franz Wright; 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Email Poem - Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, OhioEmail Poem

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Ohio

 In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home.
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Therefore,
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other's bodies.



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