Sheldon Kranz
Poet, Writer, Aesthetic Realism Consultant  (1919-1980)



Sheldon Kranz, Aesthetic Realism Consultant, Writer, Poet
Photo by Lou Bernstein

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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