Study for the World's Body: New and Selected Poems

A remarkable collection representing early and recent poems by David St. John, the critically acclaimed author of Hush, The Shore, and No Heaven.

GUITAR

I have always loved the word guitar. 

I have no memories of my father on the patio

At dusk, strumming a Spanish tune,

Or my mother draped in that fawn wicker chair

Polishing her flute;

I have no memories of your song, distant Sister

Heart, of those steel strings sliding

All night through the speaker of the car radio

Between Tucumcari and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Though I've never believed those stories

Of gypsy cascades, stolen hoses, castanets,

And stars, of Airstream trailers and good fortune.

Though I've never met Charlie Christian, though

I've danced the floors of cold longshoremen's halls,

Though I've waited with the overcoats at the rear

Of concerts for lute, mandolin, and two guitars –

More than the music I love scaling its woven

Stairways, more than the swirling chocolate of wood

I have always loved the word guitar. 

Prizewinning poet David St. John is the author of ten collections of poetry, including Study for the World's Body: New and Selected Poems, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, as well as Where the Angels Come Toward Us, a volume of essays, interviews, and reviews. He is the co-editor, with Cole Swenson, of American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology of New Poetry. He teaches at the University of Southern California and lives in Venice Beach.