Sheldon
Kranz
Poet, Writer,
Aesthetic Realism
Consultant (1919-1980)
Photo by Lou
Bernstein
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NO TICKETS
by Sheldon Kranz
The rude voice announces
That those without tickets
Must leave the train immediately.
People quickly fumble in purses
And bring out small, bright objects
They have carefully tucked into corners.
Mementos delicately wrapped in tissue
Appear and are disregarded;
Pockets are turned inside out.
And the clear voice announces
That those without tickets
Will kindly prepare to descend.
Some are angry and declare
They will sue the railroad
For this humiliation.
Others stare quietly down at their empty hands.
The conductor hurries along the aisle;
His eyes are sad--
They do not understand.
On the crowded platform, the people avoid each other's gaze
And watch with puzzled, angry eyes
As the shining locomotive moves swiftly out of sight,
While the clear voice politely directs the people
To the nearest exit.
Sheldon
Kranz, one of America's true poets and important
writers was, early, a student of Aesthetic Realism with Eli
Siegel and became a consultant, teaching Aesthetic Realism, in
1971.
We publish here a courageous story of his from 1944
about race, and another about a son and mother that's been presented
dramatically at the Aesthetic
Realism Foundation in NYC. In classes with Mr. Siegel Sheldon Kranz
learned what made him, authentically, a poet, and Aesthetic Realism
enabled him to see new meaning
in literature. As a result he taught the course Literature and the Self in the
1970s.
"The
question, What is
poetry?--is as
alive today as ever...for it is felt
increasingly that what poetry is deeply and immediately concerns what
our lives are....."
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