| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | People Who Must | | By Carl Sandburg |
| | From “Smoke Nights”
I PUT my easel on the roof of a skyscraper. | |
| I painted a long while and called it a day’s work. | |
| The people on a corner swarmed and the traffic cop’s whistle never let up all afternoon. | |
| They were the same as bugs, many bugs on their way— | |
| Those people on the go or at a standstill; | 5 |
| And the traffic cop a spot of blue, a splinter of brass, | |
| Where the black tides ran around him | |
| And he kept the street. I painted a long while | |
| And called it a day’s work. | | | | |
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