H.B. Armitage - 2 Short Poems (1926-27)

Forgotten Poems #86 || Reissue #3

    
               —: Evolution :—
   
       I think a child should take a monkey's hand,
               And say, “Whatever comes, we have it, you and I . . .
       		                (ee-e-e-k, eek!)
           Let us be restless, chatter, squeal and shriek,
               Swing by our tails, and do indelicate things—
                   See the poor, desolate houses, made of brick.”
    

     
               —: Parenthesis :—

       Have done with many knowledges—
       this gamin music,
       and the harmonica, de courte haleine,
       ensigns of sound the night flutters
            in the street below—

       I testify this goodness.

       This is a tune we know—
       like other songs that memory blends
       with frogs and soft spring noises.
       We sat the bridge rail, then.
               (And the wide night was gracious.
                    It was a friend)

       Here you have me. I speak saying:

       I should not fit you at equating senators.
       Connive with someone else to parse a bank.
     

H.B. Armitage published just two poems that I know of, one in The Double Dealer (1926) and another in the Paris-based poetry magazine Transition (1927), founded by Eugene Jolas, Maria McDonald, and Elliot Paul.

“Engaged in publicity for the publisher Houghton Mifflin & Co.; Graduate of Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. Armitage has tried a number of occupations since graduation.” (The Double Dealer, 1926) Other than this, nothing more is known of their life, or poetry.

     
         —: After H.B. Armitage :—
                     by Dick Whyte

                           ❖

              A Note On Birth

       open mouth like bird like—sing

                           ❖

              A Note On Life

       breathe, breathe, breathe,
       breathe, breathe,
       breathe—

                           ❖

              A Note On Death

       inhale, exhale, inhale, ex—
     

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More poems about children . . .

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