Introducing Irony (Version 2)

<h2 class="nobreak">SUMMER EVENING: NEW YORK SUBWAY-STATION</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse"><div class="drop-cap3">PERSPIRING violence derides</div> </div> <div class="verse">The pathetic collapse of dirt.</div> <div class="verse">An effervescence of noises</div> <div class="verse">Depends upon cement for its madness.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">Electric light is taut and dull,</div> <div class="verse">Like a nauseated suspense.</div> <div class="verse">This kind of heat is the recollection</div> <div class="verse">Of an orgy in a swamp.</div> <div class="verse">Soiled caskets joined together</div> <div class="verse">Slide to rasping stand-stills.</div> <div class="verse">People savagely tamper</div> <div class="verse">With each other&#8217;s bodies,</div> <div class="verse">Scampering in and out of doorways.</div> <div class="verse">Weighted with apathetic bales of people</div> <div class="verse">The soiled caskets rattle on.</div> <div class="verse">The scene consists of mosaics</div> <div class="verse">Jerkily pieced together and blown apart.</div> <div class="verse">A symbol of billowing torment,</div> <div class="verse">This sturdy girl leans against an iron girder.</div> <div class="verse">Weariness has loosened her face</div> <div class="verse">With its shining cruelty.</div> <div class="verse">Round and poverty-stricken</div> <div class="verse">Her face renounces life.</div> <div class="verse">Her white cotton waist is a wet skin on her breast:</div> <div class="verse">Her black hat, crisp and delicate,</div> <div class="verse">Does not understand her head.</div> <div class="verse">An old man stoops beside her,</div> <div class="verse">Sweat and wrinkles erupting</div> <div class="verse">Upon the blunt remnants of his face.</div> <div class="verse">A little black pot of a hat</div> <div class="verse">Corrupts his grey-haired head.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Two figures on a subway-platform,</div> <div class="verse">Pieced together by an old complaint.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />