Muriel Rukeyser

Muriel Rukeyser was born in New York City on December 15, 1913, and lived most of her life there. Her poetry expresses the beauty and passion in the confrontation between the individual and her constantly changing

Trial, The

by Muriel Rukeyser (1913–80)

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16

 The South is green with coming spring; revival 
 flourishes in the fields of Alabama. Spongy with rain, 
 plantations breathe April: carwheels suck mud in the roads, 
 the town expands warm in the afternoons. At night the black boy 
 teeters no-handed on a bicycle, whistling The St. Louis Blues, 
 blood beating, and hot South. A red brick courthouse 
 is vicious with men inviting death. Array your judges; call your jurors; come, 
 here is your justice, come out of the crazy jail. 
 Grass is green now in Alabama; Birmingham dusks are quiet 

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Poets Book of Days

December 15

Charlotte Mew born, 1869

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

What British poet was considered as Lord Alfred Tennyson's successor to the Laureateship, only to fall out of favor with Queen Victoria when he penned the following lines: "'Ave you 'eard o' the Widow at Windsor / With a hairy gold crown o'er head? / She 'as ships on the foam--she 'as millions at 'ome, / An' she pays us poor beggars in red"?

Answer

Rudyard Kipling

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