Poem by Wallace Stevens

The Planet on the Table

Ariel was glad he had written his poems.
They were of a remembered time
Or of something seen that he liked.

Other makings of the sun
Were waste and welter
And the ripe shrub writhed.

His self and the sun were one
And his poems, although makings of his self,
Were no less makings of the sun.

It was not important that they survive.
What mattered was that they should bear
Some lineament or character,

Some affluence, if only half-perceived,
In the poverty of their words,
Of the planet of which they were part.

1. Earthy Anecdotes
2. To the Roaring Wind
3. The Idea of Order at Key West
4. Peter Quince at the Clavier
5. The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm

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