POETRY CLASS –
December 7. 2000.
Today we discuss “symbols” and “myths.” I read
“The Second Coming” out loud,
like I do every year it seems;
and feel the students, Arab and Jew,
catch their breath and amplify private scenes
to Yeats’ terrible vision. Bethlehem
is so near, and from deep in the well
of our lecture hall we know,
no one this year will be sitting
under their vines and fig trees.
Tomorrow I will try to teach
how to create new symbols, new myths.