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The steel worker on the girder
Learned not to look down, and does his work
And there are words we have learned
Not to look at,
Not to look for substance
Below them. But we are on the verge
Of vertigo.

— George Oppen

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More quotes by George Oppen

Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the Most beautiful thing in the world, A limited, limiting clarity I have not and never did have any Motive of poetry But to achieve clarity.

things explain each other,
Not themselves.

This in Which (1965)

'O city ladies'
Your coats wrapped,
Your hips a possession
Your shoes arched
Your walk is sharp
Your breasts
Pertain to lingerie

They have lost the metaphysical sense
Of the future, they feel themselves
The end of a chain
Of lives, single lives
And we know that lives
Are single
And cannot defend
The metaphysic
On which rest
The boundaries
Of our distances.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: George Oppen (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.