| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Stevedores | | By John Gould Fletcher |
| | From “Down the Mississippi”
FRIEZE of warm bronze that glides with cat-like movements | |
| Over the gang-plank poised and yet awaiting, | |
| The sinewy thudding rhythms of forty shuffling feet | |
| Falling like muffled drum-beats on the stillness: | |
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| Oh, roll the cotton down— | 5 |
| Roll, roll, the cotton down! | |
| From the further side of Jordan, | |
| Oh, roll the cotton down! | |
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| And the river waits, | |
| The river listens, | 10 |
| Chuckling with little banjo-notes that break with a plop on the stillness. | |
| And by the low dark shed that holds the heavy freights, | |
| Two lonely cypress trees stand up and point with stiffened fingers | |
| Far southward where a single chimney stands aloof in the sky. | | | | |
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