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The tense American nerve relaxed, I lived
With a gray quietness that let the mind
Grow inward like a root.

— Paul Engle Corn (1939)

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More quotes by Paul Engle

Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words.

I came to that dark water-wandered town,
Where, before proud stone was piled on stone
To mark the frantic limits of the mind,
Oxen forded the mild, midland river.

Corn (1939)

Wytham, Water Eaton, Wolvercote,
Old names worn water-smooth under the tongue.

Corn (1939)

I heard, down the long valley of my bones,
The cry of home run like a calling hound,
And not in word but in the beat of blood
I knew that this would never be my land—
Belly and brain, I lived America.

Corn (1939)

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Attribution

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