Slants at Buffalo, New York by Carl Sandburg
A FOREFINGER of stone, dreamed by a sculptor, points to the sky. It says: This way! this way! Four lions snore in stone at the corner of the shaft. They too are the dream of a sculptor. They too say: This way! this way! The street cars swing at a curve. The middle-class passengers witness low life. The car windows frame low life all day in pictures. Two Italian cellar delicatessens sell red and green peppers. The Florida bananas furnish a burst of yellow. The lettuce and the cabbage give a green. Boys play marbles in the cinders. The boys’ hands need washing. The boys are glad; they fight among each other. A plank bridge leaps the Lehigh Valley railroad. Then acres of steel rails, freight cars, smoke, And then … the blue lake shore …Erie with Norse blue eyes … and the white sun.
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