| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Night Landing | | By John Gould Fletcher |
| | From “Down the Mississippi”
AFTER the whistle’s roar has bellowed and shuddered, | |
| Shaking the sleeping town and the somnolent river, | |
| The deep-toned floating of the pilot’s bell | |
| Suddenly warns the engines. | |
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| They pause like heart-beats that abruptly stop: | 5 |
| The shore glides to us, in a wide low curve. | |
| And then—supreme revelation of the river— | |
| The tackle is loosed, the long gang-plank swings outwards; | |
| And poised at the end of it, half naked beneath the searchlight, | |
| A blue-black negro with gleaming teeth waits for his chance to leap. | 10 | | | |
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