THE WORLD IS

by Grant Carrington

The sky is like lead,     slag metal in dead air,     reaping for its harvest only coin.
I walked among the fair
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (where?)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . there,
    a balloon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in the air,     a moon,     June,     buffoon,
and to the fortune teller     I turned my way;
to the fortune teller     I went that day,
and as I came,     she said to me,     fled to me,     bled to me,
"Cross my hand with green,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fellaheen."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Obscene!)

(Through the room the women flit,
talking of T.S. Eliot.)
And over the world is gray,
the night or day sky,
ready to precipitate its hoard.
Sometimes when I'm at the work
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I shirk
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (a jerk)

a machine
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I ply.
I've seen
a dream
it seems,
and then to me a fellow
worker in the place,
then to me a fellow
worker in the race,
has a complaint
to tell me,
to thrill me,
to sell me,
"You can't make any money,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . honey!"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny!)

(I grow young! I grow young!
the world is filled with naught but dung.)
And now the air is black,
a lack of atmosphere:
the banks have erupted.

The world is an endless street
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of feet
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (so fleet!)

and bums
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . are here:
just crumbs
so dumb
I shun
So up there comes this beggar,
his hat in hand;
. up there comes this beggar,

his hat of sand,
. and in his squeaky voice, he asks of me,
he basks in me,
his task is me:"All I need's some dough, Joe"
(So?)
The world is Keroo-whacky.
"The world is,
like, glad,
Dad."
"No, sad,
bad,
MAD!

Copyright 1965. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Duplication of this poetry without permission of the author is forbidden under copyright law.
Please ask permission if you wish to use it for non-commercial purposes.
PROSECUTORS WILL BE VIOLATED.

"The World Is" was first published in Writer's Notes & Quotes, Vol. 14 No. 3 (June 1965), edited by Bill and Lanelle Greer, 142 W. Brookdale Place, Fullerton, California 92632.
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