Chapter 1, A Coney Island of the Mind Summary

In the first poem, Goya's scenes represent suffering humanity as if the people in the paintings still exist, and they do although they are changed. Modern man still suffers as we are stranded across the freeways of America. The second poem expresses surprise at the similarities between the original Greek and the modern American democracies. The third poem argues that the poet's eye sees the surface of the world, complete with empty Ellis Islands, Cinerama holy days, materialism and the immigrant's dream come "too true." Poem four depicts a bomb catching the president at his prayers as Nagasaki survivors and lost teacups full of ashes float past. In poem five, a carpenter from Galilee claims to be God's son, stating the proof lies on parchments, located around the Dead Sea. They...