The Pennycandystore Beyond the El

This poem was featured on the Writer's Almanac yesterday, and my friend Old Bull Lee forwarded it to me. I love it because it's more than the sum of it's parts. The pennycandystore is so many images tied together, creating an overwhelming sensory buffet of potential meaning.

The Pennycandystore Beyond the El

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The Pennycandystore beyond the El
is where I first
fell in love
with unreality
Jellybeans glowed in the semi-gloom
of that september afternoon
A cat upon the counter moved among
the licorice sticks
and tootsie rolls
and Oh Boy Gum

Outside the leaves were falling as they died

A wind had blown away the sun

A girl ran in
Her hair was rainy
Her breasts were breathless in the little room

Outside the leaves were falling
and they cried
Too soon! too soon!

"The Pennycandystore Beyond the El" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti from A Coney Island of the Mind. © New Directions Publishing, 1958. Reprinted with permission.