Larry Levis

Here you will find the Poem The Map of poet Larry Levis

The Map

Applying to Heavy Equipment School 
I marched farther into the Great Plains 
And refused to come out. 
I threw up a few scaffolds of disinterest. 
Around me in the fields, the hogs grunted 
And lay on their sides. 


You came with a little water and went away. 
The glass is still on the table, 
And the paper, 
And the burned scaffolds. 
* 
You were bent over the sink, washing your stockings. 
I came up behind you like the night sky behind the town. 
You stood frowning at your knuckles 
And did not speak. 
* 
At night I lie still, like Bolivia. 
My furnaces turn blue. 
My forests go dark. 
You are a low range of hills, a Paraguay. 
Now the clouds cover us both. 
It is raining and the movie houses are open.