'Autumn begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio' by James Wright

James Wright, Pulitzer Prize winning poet was born in Martins Ferry in 1927. He suffered from bipolar disorder and alcoholism and died in 1980.
AUTUMN BEGINS IN MARTINS FERRY, OHIO

 In the Shreve High football stadium, 
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville, 
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood, 
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel, 
Dreaming of heroes. 

 All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home, 
Their women cluck like starved pullets, 
Dying for love. 

 Therefore, 
Their sons grow suicidally beautiful 
At the beginning of October, 
And gallop terribly against each other’s bodies.




















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