PERSONS HALF KNOWN

Chicago Poetreal 112K | 56K | 28K | 14K (3:07)
I SALUTED a nobody.
I saw him in a looking-glass.
He smiled--so did I.
He crumpled the skin on his forehead,
  frowning--so did I.
Everything I did he did.
I said, "Hello, I know you."
And I was a liar to say so.

Ah, this looking-glass man!
Liar, fool, dreamer, play-actor,
Soldier, dusty drinker of dust--
Ah! he will go with me
Down the dark stairway
When nobody else is looking,
When everybody else is gone.

He locks his elbow in mine,
I lose all--but not him.

 [Carl Sandburg]
from the Sandburg Photo Gallery
© 1958 Dale Humphrey
(Galesburg Register-Mail)
--Carl Sandburg, 1918, Cornhuskers

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.

audio © The Wandering Jew
music by Skyward
(Radio premiere: NPR All Things Considered,
January, 6, 1998, Sandburg's 120th birthday.)


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