Poem by Wallace Stevens

The Plot against the Giant

First Girl
When this yokel comes maundering,
Whetting his hacker,
I shall run before him,
Diffusing the civilest odors
Out of geraniums and unsmelled flowers.
It will check him.

Second Girl
I shall run before him,
Arching cloths besprinkled with colors
As small as fish-eggs.
The threads
Will abash him.

Third Girl
Oh, la...le pauvre!
I shall run before him,
With a curious puffing.
He will bend his ear then.
I shall whisper
Heavenly labials in a world of gutturals.
It will undo him.

1. Bantams in Pine-Woods
2. To the One of Fictive Music
3. Continual Conversation with a Silent Man
4. Nomad Exquisite
5. Looking across the Fields and Watching the Birds Fly

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