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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: DUHAMEL, DENISE Matches Found: 218 Duhamel, Denise Poet's Biography 218 poems available by this author 13-JUN-95 First Line: The best place to turn thirty-four is in mojacar, spain Last Line: All those decades and centuries and cruelties ago A CONVERSATION IN STEREO Poem Text First Line: There were always two of everything (one for each of us) but Last Line: Tells a joke, how I kept the womb warm for the second one Subject(s): Family Life A FIRST-LOVE POEM Poem Text First Line: The static cracks like whips over lions Last Line: By the precipitation of light falling from his humming tv Subject(s): Hospitals; Love AFTER COUPLES THERAPY First Line: O: sometimes I feel my feminine side so strongly I want to lie down on silk Last Line: Hesitate to go there below the wound-nursing marshmallow ALWAYS LEAVE ONE HAND ON THE BODY First Line: Having always been the one to leave, I wasn't sure how Last Line: I'm reaching out, too, my palm to your warm chest AN ANSWER TO A QUESTION Poem Text First Line: You said that if we could just touch Last Line: To be home wherever we went. Subject(s): Love – Erotic APRIL 18, 1990 Poem Text First Line: My friend has cervical cancer Last Line: That taste like beautiful pollution Subject(s): Aids (disease) ART Poem Text First Line: Because I was brought up in a working class family Subject(s): Paintings & Painters AS I FLEW AWAY First Line: It was all wishbones and wells Last Line: To stand before a mirror cursing AS IF LOVERS, BY VIRTUE OF WHAT THEY ARE CALLED, ARE MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN HUSBANDS OR WIVES OR HOW Poem Text First Line: I still remember john nickels poking me Last Line: He must have thought he'd turn into a frog or something if he'd admit it Subject(s): Teenagers ASSUMPTIONS Poem Text First Line: First, I'm assuming that gravity is working. Last Line: Are close to the same as mine ASSUMPTIONS First Line: First, I'm assuming that gravity is working Last Line: In consectuive order, that your definitions %are close to the same as mine ASTHMA Poem Text First Line: In the stadium theater, a movie about santa claus Last Line: And if I could run up a hill if I were weightless Subject(s): Asthma ASTHMA First Line: In the stadium theater, a movie about santa claus Last Line: Might be like inside an astronaut's helmet - %and if I could run up a hill if I wre weightless BANGUNGOT First Line: Ever since my husband told me about bangungot %and taught me how to say it Last Line: By the time I get them back, %I'm a widow in black ballerina flats BARBIE AS RELIGIOUS FANATIC First Line: Eve, being one of the first born Last Line: She's as free as they every hope to be- %with no toy-apples anywhere in sight BARBIE JOINS A TWELVE STEP PROGRAM First Line: Barbie is bottoming out Last Line: And back of the folding chair and stacked her, with the others, against the wall BARBIE'S GYN APPOINTMENT First Line: Her high arches defy the stirrups %and her legs refuse to open wide Last Line: Each chapter a fashion doll's version of the best science fiction BARBIE'S MOLESTER Poem Text First Line: His penis rises before him, a compulsion. He would take hormones if Last Line: He's doing things he never thought of Subject(s): Popular Culture - United States BARBIE'S MOLESTER First Line: His penis rises before him, a compulsion. He would take hormones if Last Line: He mistakes this for love. Suddenly he's doing things even he's never %thought of Subject(s): Popular Culture - United States BIG BREAK PANTOUM First Line: Picture star search. Ed mcmahon's jaw dropping Last Line: Jammed with her on star search and mcmahon's jaw dropped BIRD Poem Text First Line: Your mother loomed all hips and breasts, Last Line: Coat of feathers grew over you, trying to save you Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters BISEXUAL BARBIE First Line: One of ten barbies is left-handed, %another ten percent are lesbian Last Line: As to let a blond ponytail get in their way? BLACK BARBIE HISTORY First Line: Black barbies look exactly like white barbies Last Line: And redone, only dulled sisterhood and numbed love BLINDFOLDED BARBIE First Line: No one was quite as fun at s&m Last Line: To call the whole thing off BLUEBEARD'S ONE-HUNDREDTH WIFE First Line: This was before battered women's shelters Last Line: This was before lawyers, but the one hundred wives still got the house BOY Poem Text First Line: I run into my old boyfriend's new boyfriend Last Line: Boy, is this guy in for trouble Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians BOY First Line: I run into my old boyfriend's new boyfriend Last Line: And upper lip. He has my goofy kind of smile, %the kind scott always made fun of. %boy, is this guy BUDDHIST BARBIE Poem Text First Line: In the 5th century b.C. Subject(s): Buddhism; Barbie (doll); Buddha; Buddhists BUDDHIST BARBIE First Line: In the 5th century b.C. Last Line: With such a belly could pose, %smiling, and without a shirt BULIMIA Poem Text First Line: A kiss has nothing to do with sex Last Line: But in a dumpster way on the other side of town Subject(s): Bulimia; Eating Disorders BULIMIA First Line: A kiss has nothing to do with sex Last Line: But in a dumpster way on the other side of town Subject(s): Bulimia; Eating Disorders BUYING STOCK Poem Text First Line: I know you won't mind if I ask you to put this on. Subject(s): Aids (disease); Birth Control; Contraception CAPRICE First Line: From the day she met you-know-who, olive oyl was tortured by spinach Last Line: Bounced along the rooftops of sweethaven, the heavens sailorless and spinach-free CASINO Recitation by Author Subject(s): Escalator Accidents CHLAMYDIA Poem Text First Line: Sex was as beautiful as flowers. Last Line: And meant only for one Subject(s): Chlamydia; Love - Beginnings CLASS First Line: It depends on your definition of immortality,' Last Line: It's just what boys his age are, it's not just him CLITORIS Poem Text First Line: Glistening comma Last Line: Mighty red tongue Subject(s): Female Circumcision COCKROACHES Poem Text First Line: That's what my father-in-law calls the american kids Subject(s): Cockroaches COCKROACHES First Line: That's what my father-in-law calls the american kids Last Line: Scurrying fast across the dirty tub we knew as america Subject(s): Cockroaches COMMUNION Poem Text First Line: If daniel rakowitz had only dreamt Last Line: And repentance, no one can ever truly destroy a spirit Subject(s): Cannibalism; Rakowitz, Daniel (b. 1960) CRATER FACE First Line: Is what we called her. The story was Last Line: From the back, sprinting into the future, %fading into tiny gray dots on uhf CRAZY MAN First Line: Kinnaq could not get his penis into any of the normal places Last Line: And began chewing pieces of it DANISH ELUDE ME First Line: Idle men had sue Last Line: Idle sue had men DAVID LEMIEUX Poem Text First Line: My first boyfriend is dead of aids. The one Last Line: To reconnect to the ground. We were the ones Subject(s): Aids (disease); Sickness; Illness DAVID LEMIEUX First Line: My first boyfriend is dead of aids. The one Last Line: To reconnect to the ground. We were the ones Subject(s): Aids (disease); Sickness DAY THE FIRST GRADE VOTED FOR THE DEATH PENALTY First Line: There was a note written in script DELTA FLIGHT 659 Poem Text First Line: I'm writing this on a plane, sean penn, Subject(s): Penn, Sean; Air Travel; Iraq War DEPARTURE TO THE DEPTHS OF HEAVEN, VIA GRAND CENTRAL STATION Poem Text First Line: It's closing, grand central station Last Line: Where nothing looks particularly familiar yet is, like the hospital I can't remember, but in which I Subject(s): Grand Central Station, New York City DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PEPSI AND POPE First Line: I have this blind spot, a dark line, thin as a hair, that obliterates Last Line: In that skinny dark line, how easy it is to get so many things all wrong DREAM, VAGINA DENTATA Poem Text First Line: It has something to do with sex, I've read. Last Line: And incisors from my antarctic mouth Subject(s): Teeth; Toothaches EASY Poem Text First Line: In 1981 I was on a train in milan Last Line: If it was true, if american girls were easy Subject(s): Rape; Virtue EGG ROLLS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I was walking down first avenue and knew Subject(s): Food & Eating; Roommates EGO Poem Text First Line: I just didn't get it Subject(s): Schools; Self; Students ELEGY First Line: She didn't think to ask if there were nuts in the chili Last Line: Dole her such a poisonous apple? EMBARAZAR Poem Text First Line: The dairy association's huge success with the campaign got milk? Prompted them to expand Subject(s): Miscommunication; Language; Words; Vocabulary EMBARAZAR First Line: The dairy association's huge success with the campaign 'got milk?' Last Line: Papermates turned a whole batch of whites blue ERNEST HEMINGWAY, YOUR MOTHER MADE YOU WEAR DRESSES UNTIL YOU WERE THREE Poem Text First Line: Well, maybe that explains everything Last Line: In an antique chair in which antique women actually gave birth? Subject(s): Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961) EVERY MOVIE Poem Text First Line: Today, you say, as though an actor Last Line: It streaked my hand, admittance, the color of my ticket stub Subject(s): Love - Erotic; Teenagers EXQUISITE CANDIDATE Poem Text First Line: I can promise you this: food in the white house Subject(s): Politics And Politicians FACING MY AMYGDALA First Line: I take out my brain and put it in my lap. Last Line: The lover I'm most afraid to lose. FEAR ON 11TH STREET AND AVENUE A, NEW YORK CITY Poem Text First Line: Now the papers are saying pesticides will kill us Last Line: Please, little girl, grow up to be pope or president Subject(s): Fears; Girls FEAR ON 11TH STREET AND AVENUE A, NEW YORK CITY First Line: Now the papers are saying pesticides will kill us Last Line: Please, little girl, grow up to be pope or president FEMINISM Poem Text First Line: All over the world, little bees, star scouts Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Women FEMINISM First Line: All over the world, little bees, star scouts Last Line: Each missing face on the missing child poster %like the fairest of all looking into her mirror Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Women FOR THE ONE MAN WHO LIKES MY THIGHS Poem Text First Line: There was the expensive cream from france Last Line: Then it made all the sense in the world Subject(s): Thighs FOR THE ONE MAN WHO LIKES MY THIGHS First Line: There was the expensive cream from france Last Line: Then it made all the sense in the world FOUND BRA First Line: I dreamed I went to the opera in my maidenform bra Last Line: But I was really a skewer in my maidenform bra FOUR HOURS Poem Text First Line: My sister picks up her daughters at the bus stop Last Line: Who love small animals and only want to help Subject(s): Child Abuse FOUR HOURS First Line: My sister picks up her duaghters at the bus stop Last Line: My sister wonders how to tell her duaghters, %who love small animals and only want to help FRANKENSTEIN First Line: Dr. Frankenstein had an accent, nice Last Line: Timid, he'd dance at single bars all alone FROM LORCA'S DELI, NEW YORK CITY Poem Text First Line: The cashier who usually winks at me was watching the hanging tv over my shoulder - Last Line: Now, that it was kind of like watching tv Subject(s): Robbery FUTURE OF VAGINAS AND PENISES First Line: Descendants of darwin predict a longer penis Last Line: Of awkward groping partners before them. GEORGIE PORGIE, PUDDING AND PIE, KISSED THE GIRLS... First Line: His face was round Last Line: There I was, a goner, %a plum on his thumb HAMBURGERS AWEIGH First Line: Olive's as mighty as superman when Last Line: Rare cartoon moment, he kisses the goil HEART First Line: From the inside looking out Last Line: This is just the shape of my face HELLO KITTY (A DOUBLE SESTINA) First Line: You probably have never seen mimi Last Line: Kissing presidents and slaves instead of frogs HIGH SCHOOL REUNION Poem Text First Line: The troublemaker has become a monk Last Line: Of wishing suzy any harm at all Subject(s): Reunions HIM-WHOSE-PENIS-NEVER-SLEPT First Line: There was a husband who married a wife he found so beautiful Last Line: It vanished, his semen a liquid ghost dripping down a lonely snow wall HIS DEATH First Line: Rodney lays out the teeth before me, big yellowing nobs Last Line: Than anyone, rodney who by now has forgotten HOLLOW MEN First Line: The land of island ice was forbidden Last Line: To their sleeping cots %so they wouldn't float away HOW MUCH IS THIS POEM GOING TO COST ME? First Line: It's not something I like to burden my readers with as a rule Last Line: There are envelopes, bottles of wite-out, stamps, and disks HOW THE SKY FELL First Line: Some said it was just an acorn. Others, a teeny meteorite Last Line: As the clothespins that held up her sky rotted away HOW TO HELP CHILDREN THROUGH WARTIME First Line: Mister rogers says to tell her your american young Last Line: Each other with the crimson bits. Allow this: %confetti, bloodshed, red snow, bombs I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK First Line: Asthma attacks and astigmatism. It doesn't sound like much, but I knew what Last Line: My body bag so fast I'M DEALING WITH MY PAIN First Line: He's about 300 pounds and knows martial arts, boxing and wres- Last Line: To chase and embrace us, the outlaw we sometimes love to chase and %embrace ID Poem Text First Line: I'm having coffee at the last stop with amy Last Line: Of the article advised, so you should paraphrase Subject(s): Plath, Sylvia (1932-1963); Poetry & Poets INTERVIEW WITH A COMIC STRIP DIVA First Line: Ms: ms. Oyl, you've been called the skinniest thing in boots, do you find this Last Line: Oppenhaim's tea cup covered in fur, the way art has sex with life and %vice versa INVISIBLE MEN First Line: These tribes of men were never seen Last Line: Voices even more invisible than usual, %sobbing their disembodied grief JUNG SAYS THE SOUL IS ROUND Last Line: A floppy parasol, doing what it can, %over the fair round and round-freckled redhead JUNG SAYS THE SOUL IS ROUND (TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK) Poem Text First Line: Jung says the soul is round Last Line: Over the fair round and round-freckled redhead Subject(s): Tompkins Square Park (new York City) JUST SAYING Poem Text First Line: Since aids, a rape is worse than rape, Last Line: Through a front door Subject(s): Rape KINKY Poem Text First Line: They decide to exchange heads Last Line: Their mirrored desires bubbling from the most unlikely places Subject(s): Love - Erotic KINKY First Line: They decide to exchange heads Last Line: Their mirrored desires bubbling from the most unlikely places Subject(s): Erotic Love KITCHEN Poem Text First Line: I'm jealous when my mother touches anything else. Last Line: As though it were a chicken Subject(s): Mothers KITCHEN First Line: I am jealous when my mother touches anything else Last Line: There was a mohter in the newspaper this week %who cooked her baby & served it to her husband %as th LAST PAGE OF A JENNY CRAIG SEMINAR BOOKLET First Line: Abacus: ancient device of torture used to count food groups Last Line: Zither: the harmony of strings you hear when you lose your first %pound LAWLESS PANTOUM Poem Text First Line: Men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, Subject(s): Sexism LAWLESS PANTOUM First Line: Men are legally allowed to have sex with animals Last Line: Everyone's having sexual relations with a male animal LET ME EXPLAIN First Line: It was easy for tom to take off his clothes Last Line: Their paternal regard. We were busy leaving them LIMITED EDITION PLATINUM BARBIE First Line: Ever since marilyn monroe %bleached her hair so it would photograph better Last Line: To remind themselves of who they'll never be, %of what they'll never have LITERARY BARBIE First Line: When barbie reads kafka's the metamorphosis Last Line: She whispers no to it all. And wakes up, immobile, %plastic, looking entirely like somebody else LONG DRIVE HOME First Line: The over and over background in a hanna-barbera cartoon LORCA'S DELI, NEW YORK CITY, SELS First Line: The cashier who usually winks at me was watching the hanging tv Last Line: Through the glass, and he said it was ok now, that it was kind of like %watching tv LORD OF THE FLIES First Line: It's not easy to kill a pig first shot Last Line: That informed their waking, their atomic hearts LORD OF THE FLIES 2 First Line: Jack merridew was born to villainy Last Line: Imagined himself bloated with victory LOTUS POSITION First Line: Take a deep breath and accept Last Line: Especially your bombed-out soul-- %and all of those who came before you LOVE POEM First Line: P: I loves ya from the bottom of me spinach-enrichked heart! Last Line: O: you left me there, now sink LOVE-STRUCK IN NEW YORK Poem Text First Line: I kiss a homeless woman on the lips, Last Line: Towards him, well, they don't change Subject(s): Love MAKING MONEY First Line: It was gertrude stein who said Last Line: Images of eatinf feces will bring wealth. %no prior experience required, but lucid dreaming is a plu MARRIAGE First Line: Barbie wonders if it's cheating %when she dreams of fashion doll boyfriends Last Line: From the rest of us, juggling gratitude, %ambition, passivity, and guilt MARY MOPPET'S DAYCARE CENTER Poem Text First Line: I call the police to report the bruises, on my way to work buy a few boxes of cookie Last Line: Meg leaves mary moppet's when she gets enough gigs. Angela goes to mexico. She's getting married, wa Subject(s): Day Care MöBIUS STRIP: TRUE OR FALSE Poem Text First Line: I'm pretty MEETING MEN AGAIN First Line: Oh cactus snake spine Last Line: But I don't want to be touched MELVINA, PAULINA, AND LUNT First Line: Here's the joke olive heard when she was a girl in chicago Last Line: The moral of this story has something to do with chaos theory, %how one minute you don't and the nex MIA AND DARGER, ASHBERY AND GINA First Line: When mia saw my darger poster, she said, 'oh wow! Look patrick, darger' Last Line: And at the same time both said, 'what are you two talking about?' MIDDLE AGE First Line: The closer I get to death, the less I think about it Last Line: The oxygen, boz scaggs sounded like heaven MILLE ET UN SENTIMENTS (PREMIERS CENTS) Poem Text First Line: 1. I feel as though something is terribly wrong Last Line: I feel the humming of my hummingbird-heart, the one they gave me by mistake during the transplant Subject(s): Thought; Thinking MOBIUS STRIP: LOVE SEX FOOD DEATH First Line: Nick %said, 'don't worry, I won't %ever die on you, ok?' Last Line: Floor to pick up that metal %question mark MORMON BARBIE First Line: When she takes the tour in salt lake city Last Line: No longer misunderstood at every turn MR. DONUT Poem Text First Line: They tumble from closing bars into here. Last Line: Quiet hours before dawn Subject(s): Waiters & Waitresses MR. DONUT First Line: They tumble from closing bars into here Last Line: But they all leave big bills under the saucers, %and I get to fread the few %quiet hours before dawn MRS. SHAW'S CADILLAC Poem Text First Line: When cindy shaw told me Last Line: Sometimes as big as car fins Subject(s): Women; Middle Age; Childhood Memories MY GRANDMOTHER IS MY HUSBAND First Line: I was left alone with only grandmother Last Line: Her magic spell-man or woman, it's all the same %when a person dies alone MY MOTHER DREAMS: IF HER HUSBAND DIES, WHO WILL CUT THE LAWN First Line: My mother drags her money across the street Last Line: In a rocking chair. My mother's head rests %on my right knee, my fahter's on my left MY MOTHER DREAMS: IF HER HUSBAND DIES, WHO WILL CUT THE LAWN? Poem Text First Line: My mother drags her money across the street Last Line: On my right knee, my father's on my left Subject(s): Mothers NAP ON THE AFTERNOON OF MY 39TH BIRTHDAY First Line: A man sits between my husband and me in the movies, then puts his Last Line: Century sepia gentleman's postcard NEARLY DROWNING AT SIX Poem Text First Line: The blue of bill's pet shop fish tank was all Last Line: Sweet jesus. Her feet, I must kiss her feet Subject(s): Drowning; Childhood Memories NEW YEAR'S RESORBTION First Line: I'll write every day and writhe every day, swim every day Last Line: I'll make time for myself and make time immemorial for %mythomania NICK AT NITE First Line: When growing up, nick never saw the brady bunch Last Line: Is really about singing without tears, not the virtues of corn chips NO HOME-WRECKER First Line: When I was twenty, I kissed a man Last Line: He had no money so I wound up covering our diner check %emptying the last of my change on the table NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE NOW BETWEEN THE SKY AND THE LAKE Poem Text First Line: My father slides into third base Last Line: Without gloves and a lit cigar in his mouth Subject(s): Fathers; Illness ODE TO THE FERRIS WHEEL, ON ITS NINETY-NINTH BIRTHDAY Poem Text First Line: Oh, mr. Ferris, what an invention! Last Line: The luck of the circle and the sun Subject(s): Ferris Wheels OLIVE'S WAR EFFORT First Line: Olive seldom slept more than four hours %after ballroom dancing in the forties Last Line: And margaritas irresistible in her crumpled sheets OLIVE'S WAR EFFORT: 2 First Line: Olive loved the chunggg chunggg sound Last Line: Sailor talk so bad segar stole a rib and called it popeye ON BEING BORN THE SAME EXACT DAY OF THE SAME EXACT YEAR AS BOY GEORGE Poem Text First Line: We must have clamored for the same mother, hurried for the same womb. Last Line: But I can set it straight. Subject(s): Birthdays; George, Boy (b. 1961); Baby Boom Generation; Women ON BEING BORN THE SAME EXACT DAY OF THE SAME EXACT YEAR AS BOY GEORGE First Line: We must have clamored for the same mother, hurried for the same womb Last Line: Well, don't be alarmed. There has been %but I can set it straight Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Women ON THE M104 Poem Text First Line: The longing we know that does not have a name Last Line: Their appearances so short, their bodies so small Subject(s): Buses ONE AFTERNOON WHEN BARBIE WANTED TO JOIN THE MILITARY First Line: It was a crazy idea, she admits now Last Line: That if he kept it up, gi joe would %never get that honorable discharge ORIENTAL BARBIE First Line: She could be from japan, hong kong, china Last Line: Of american commerce and trade understand ORIGIN OF OLIVE OYL First Line: When olive was an embryo, she curled her thumbs Last Line: Olive, so many dots of color, rearranging herself like nomenclature Subject(s): Comic Strips; Popeye (comic Strip); Women OYL ON: SEX AND CHOCOLATE First Line: I have a sexy green salty kind of name Last Line: That made me bite into my pink satin sheets, %that made me bite my own tongue OYL ON: VOODOO DOLLS AND ZOMBIE SLAVES First Line: The guy who ran the occult bookstore asked Last Line: Walked as steadily in my own shoes %as eleanor roosevelt PEEP SHOW STAGEPLAY First Line: Yellow peep (one of those sugary chick-shaped Last Line: Pink peep's head. %the end PLAYA NATURISTA First Line: We're brave, but we're not that brave %so we go in the morning, arrive by 8:30 Last Line: My husband wearing only %his seaweed tie and I, a boa of kelp POET IS THE WORST First Line: She really thinks people care how her mind works Last Line: Wish they could leave their troubled makers %wish they could be dancers instead of the dance POLLUTION Poem Text First Line: As a child visiting hampton beach, Last Line: Of mutant delicious ultraviolet apples Subject(s): Pollution POPEYE'S DOUBLE TROUBLE First Line: The sea hag pretends she's olive oyl Last Line: Olive bobbypins her bun back into place POPEYE'S FIX-IT SHOP (1960) First Line: Olive kicks the greasy toolbox aside Last Line: To whip up a feta-cheese omelette POPEYE'S PEP-UP EMPORIUM First Line: Olive eats the spinach to save herself Last Line: Gulps it down and flips to safety like a gymnast PORK Poem Text First Line: No one warned me he'd long for loins and hocks Last Line: I look down at my fuzzy slippers and feel better. Uncle waldo hated pig's feet Subject(s): Marriage; Food & Eating; Weddings; Husbands; Wives PRAYER, OR NOSTALGIA FOR HEAVEN Poem Text First Line: Please, just give me a map, and I'll follow it. Last Line: On all of us, on each earth-bound beauty's sleeping cheek Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Death; Death; Depressions, Economic; Gambling; Modern Man PROBLEM WITH WOODY ALLEN First Line: (even before soon-yi) %is that he breaks up with people Last Line: All the way from grand forks to the upper east side? PUTTING AWAY OF DOLLS First Line: This is what they called the day Last Line: Her hands never to touch skins that small again RAGWEED First Line: The first night I stayed at my reluctant boyfriend's apartment Last Line: He said to call him back when I looked normal again Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Women RAPING OF THE SUN First Line: The dance house went dark %when a wind blew out all the lamps Last Line: She stays as far away as possible %from her brother, the cold dim moon RAW MATERIAL First Line: When I finished my first novel Last Line: I'll write second or third novels REMINDED OF MY BIOLOGICAL CLOCK -- WHILE LOOKING AT GEORGIA O'KEEFE'S PELVIS ONE Poem Text First Line: I see so many things, a primitive ring, Last Line: They can stay as long as they like Subject(s): Pelvis REMINDED OF MY BIOLOGICAL CLOCK-WHILE LOOKING AT GEORGIA O'KEEFFE'S.. First Line: I see so many things, a primitive ring Last Line: They can stay as long as they like RIDING THE SUBWAY IN NEW YORK, I REMEMBER Poem Text First Line: The time I was ten and walking Last Line: Wherever I wanted Subject(s): Dogs RUMPLESS ONES First Line: Back then only sun woman had a vagina Last Line: Gobbled down food and gulped up love SELL OUT VILLANELLE First Line: Doc martens offered oyl an endorsement deal Last Line: And mcdonald's raised the price of happy meals SEX POEM First Line: P: shiver me down. Blow me timbers Last Line: O: clog me from above! Dry heave my root, you sap! SEX WITH A FAMOUS POET Poem Text First Line: I had sex with a famous poet last night Subject(s): Sex; Poetry & Poets SEX WITH A FAMOUS POET First Line: I had sex with a famous poet last night Last Line: For instance, he writes a mean iambic. %otherwise, what was I doing in his arms? SHORE, SELS First Line: Michele and I pull out our feet from the mud, and begin Last Line: Can't I have one goddamn minute alone?' SIX-FINGERED SESTINA First Line: When I was six %I thought sex %was a kiss Last Line: Six tic-tacs, watching a commercial for cross-your-heart bras SKELETON SONG First Line: The joy of the skeleton making music Last Line: The skeleton who is singing along SKINNY CENTO First Line: Her toes are not %the lobes of autobiography Last Line: Made of untinted butter frosting happy name day, blue jay, staggering %feeling like a girl SLEEPING BEAUTY'S DREAMS First Line: One hundred years is a long time Last Line: Dark and small like dustpans' hang holes SMILE! Poem Text First Line: My dentist was doctor alexander. Last Line: Only their smiles left to grin and bear it Subject(s): Dentists SOMETIMES THE FIRST BOYS DON'T COUNT Poem Text First Line: Walking home through the woods from a movie at the plaza Last Line: I swallowed like a brave girl, taking her medicine Subject(s): Love - Beginnings SOMETIMES THE FIRST BOYS DON'T COUNT First Line: Walking home through the woods from the movie at the plaza Last Line: I swallowed like a brave girl, taking her medicine SONG FOR ALL THE WOULD-HAVE-BEEN PRINCESSES Poem Text First Line: Song for all the would-have-been princesses Last Line: Desire itself is shameful STAR-SPANGLED BANNER First Line: I was sure then, as I sang along Last Line: Ricky's accent so much like how she remembers yours Subject(s): Loss; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration STARVING BABY First Line: Chief oohmelik decided to have a big feast Last Line: And harmless, so it seemed, on the surface, %a soup stock without any meat STORIES FROM THE BODY Poem Text First Line: He hopes I'm not squeamish about scars Last Line: In the dark, on 11oth street, in august Subject(s): Race Awareness; Human Body STRANGER First Line: She looks so old now and gray as you tower over her Last Line: Just a big glowing rectangle and muzak SUMMER First Line: My mother's wet feet left paw prints on the deck Last Line: Then she slept in the lounge chair all afternoon SURGERY First Line: I sleep for so many days like a princess who's eaten poison Last Line: Then floats through the gauze, above the sheets, a full set of the tiniest possible teeth TEN QUALITIES AS A COSMO GIRL I REALLY WANT IN MY MAN Poem Text First Line: I want a boyfriend with antlers. Last Line: As calm and easy to take care of as no-iron sheets TESTAMENT OF SEX Poem Text First Line: Every saturday the saxophone sage Last Line: The sound before a great war Subject(s): Music & Musicians THAT'S GOING TO MEAN SOMETHING LATER ON Poem Text First Line: See the way she fumbles for her keys while he keeps talking Last Line: And someone watching knows all of this means something Subject(s): Relationships THE BIG BLACK BOOK IS NOT IN HEAVEN Poem Text First Line: Once, late at night my lover and I drove into the desert. Last Line: Like neighbors, like light-oblivion shadows Subject(s): Erotic Love; Nature THE BOTTOM Poem Text First Line: I stopped drinking on my way down the hill Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking; Wine THE BOY WHO DIMMED LIGHT BULBS Poem Text First Line: For phil that's the way it started. Last Line: Cleared his throat Subject(s): Boys THE JET LAG OF THE NEWLY DEAD Poem Text First Line: One definition of jet lag is the process of the soul Last Line: About me than anyone, but you're quickly forgetting Variant Title(s): The Therapist's Funera Subject(s): Future Life; Jet Lag; Retribution; Eternity; After Life THE NIGHT BEFORE FATHER'S DAY Poem Text First Line: The fireflies might have been bouncing balls in a sing-along. Last Line: Regardless of me, regardless that I was planning my escape Subject(s): Love - Age Differences THE ORIGIN OF OLIVE OYL Poem Text First Line: When olive was an embryo, she curled her thumbs Last Line: Sometimes popeye smoked a pipe and sometimes he didn’t Subject(s): Comic Strips; Popeye (comic Strip); Women THE PINK BUBBLE TECHNIQUE Poem Text First Line: On shakti gawain's self help tape Last Line: Left, for better, for worse, to fend for itself Subject(s): Gawain, Shakti (b. 1948); Meditation THE SKY SINGS Poem Text First Line: The sky sings in plurals. Last Line: Reaping, always towards joy. Subject(s): Sounds THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER Poem Text First Line: I was sure then, as I sang along Last Line: Ricky's accent so much like how she remembers yours Subject(s): Loss; Moving & Movers; Refugees; United States - Immigration & Emigtration THE THREAT Poem Text First Line: My mother pushed my sister out of the apartment door with an empty Subject(s): Family Life; Drugs & Drug Abuse; Relatives; Narcotics; Opium; Cocaine; Crack; Heroin THE UGLY STEPSISTER Poem Text First Line: You don't know what it was like Last Line: Pressing hot match tips into her palm Subject(s): Stepsisters THE WOMAN WITH TWO VAGINAS Poem Text Last Line: That he then cries out into her barren palms Subject(s): Genitalia THREE WISHES First Line: Imagine the pressure. You're a poor woodcutter Last Line: You stay where you are. If you went back you're sure you'd %screw things up TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD First Line: Scout wore gingham and boo radley wore plaid Last Line: Tongues and all the ways we might be saved TORNADO-DRAWER First Line: We sit for the portrait and the painter says Last Line: He disappears every time Subject(s): Tornadoes UGLY STEPSISTER First Line: You don't know what it was like Last Line: Pressing hot match tips into her palm Subject(s): Stepsisters UNTITLED First Line: 501. I feel midway like I've made a mistake-that's it's crazy to try Last Line: 600. I feel, in the end, that I am right UPSIDE DOWN First Line: A long time ago, before women had individual wombs Last Line: An explorer some kind of a king, a rich man, %a man of great discovery VAGINA First Line: One day a fisherman's penis got tangled up in his harpoon line Last Line: The orphan went to search for seals and whales and blubber on his own VARIATIONS ON THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY First Line: I think I love you, so what am I so afraid of? Last Line: I am frightened of being happy. That's it WARNING First Line: Do not swallow Last Line: The reading of this poem does not enable you to fly WEAPONS INSPECTORS' CHECKLIST First Line: Do they have nerve gas? Last Line: Do they have the nerve? WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK Poem Text First Line: David didn't come to school tuesday, Last Line: The best of definitions we could come up with Subject(s): Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK First Line: Billy didn't come to school tuesday, %the day his essay was due Last Line: Billy stood up and bowed, %the best of definitions we could come up with WHAT SHE FEELS LIKE WITHOUT HER BREASTS First Line: I wear a boa and I have a beak Last Line: And pass me my wig WHEN I WAS A LESBIAN First Line: I went out with a woman %more macho than any of my boyfriends Last Line: The one time lightning was meant to strike WHOLE First Line: I learned to masturbate late Last Line: Some even lined up to do it again and again WHY, ON A BAD DAY, I CAN RELATE TO THE MANATEE Poem Text First Line: The manatee tries a diet of only sea grass, but still stays fat. Last Line: And believes in mating for life Subject(s): Manatees WHY, ON A BAD DAY, I CAN RELATE TO THE MANATEE First Line: The manatee tries a diet of only sea grass, but still stays fat Last Line: On some level that she is endangered %and believes in mating for life WISH YOU WERE HERE First Line: I'm writing to you from inside a red m&m. Josh and the Last Line: Don't get out of bed anymore WOMAN WITH TWO VAGINAS First Line: The woman with two vaginas tried her best Last Line: That he then cries out into her barren palms WOMAN'S STORY COMES TO LIFE First Line: This woman had no children but she had a unipkaaq Last Line: Never to bother tikigaq again YES Poem Text First Line: According to culture shock: / a guide to customs and etiquette Last Line: What he means by his yes Subject(s): Loss; Moving & Movers; Refugees; United States - Immigration & Emigtration YES First Line: According to culture shock: %a guide to customs and etiquette Last Line: Then study his lips, wondering if I'll be able to decipher %what he means by his yes Subject(s): Loss; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration ZEN OF ALICE First Line: Alice is pushing 40, her sprawling hips so sprawled that when she Last Line: Yorkshire pudding, whose %zits have long faded into zilch |
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