All Afternoon
All afternoon the shadows have been building
A city of their own within the streets,
Carefully correcting the perspectives
With dark diagonals, and paring back
Sidewalks into catwalks, strips of bright
Companionways, as if it were a ship
This counter-city. But the leaning, black
Enjambements like ladders for assault
Scale the façade and tie them to the earth,
Confounding fire-escapes already meshed
In slatted ambiguities. You touch
The sliding shapes to find which place is which
And grime a finger with the ash of time
That blows through both, the shadow in the shade
And in the light, that scours each thoroughfare
To pit the walls, rise out of yard and stairwell
And tarnish the Chrysler’s Aztec pinnacle.
Charles Tomlinson, “All Afternoon” from Selected Poems 1955-1997. Copyright © 1997 by Charles Tomlinson. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Discover this poem’s context and related poetry, articles, and media.
Poet Charles Tomlinson b. 1927
POET’S REGION England
Subjects Cities & Urban Life
Poetic Terms Blank Verse
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Cities & Urban Life
POET’S REGION England
Poetic Terms Blank Verse
If you disagree with this poem's categorization, make a suggestion.
