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Two Poems

By Elizabeth ArnoldPosted Wednesday, July 11, 2001, at 3:00 AM ET

1. The South

The way she said "correction" (re the dog),
the greed in it,

the glee, told me that she'd do anything
to justify

her feelings, drive them home—her reign, thank heaven,
over only

two provincial acres, slavery gone.

2. Seepage

How is drainage of the blood from tissues
different from the water

seeping out of swamps above the treeline
into streams then rivers?

As much force in us as in an atom's
bindings split.

How different from ideas out of a culture
into actions, us?

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This fall Elizabeth Arnold will begin as an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland.
Click here to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.
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