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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: HECHT, ANTHONY Matches Found: 250 Hecht, Anthony Poet's Biography 250 poems available by this author A BIRTHDAY POEM Poem Text First Line: Like a small cloud, like a little hovering ghost Subject(s): Love A CERTAIN SLANT Poem Text First Line: Etched on the window were barbarous thistles of frost Subject(s): Ice; Winter A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR Poem Text First Line: Night, the fat serpent, slipped among the plants, Last Line: Red at the heart, white petals furling out Subject(s): Death; Dead, The A HILL Poem Text First Line: In italy, where this sort of thing can occur Subject(s): Italy; Italians A LETTER Poem Text First Line: I have been wondering Last Line: The endless repetitions of his own murmurous blood Subject(s): Separation A LOVE FOR FOUR VOICES: HOMAGE TO FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Poem Text First Line: Here we have fallen transposingly in love Last Line: Here where we fall transposingly in love Subject(s): Love ADAM Poem Text First Line: Adam, my child, my son Subject(s): Parents; Parenthood ADAM First Line: Adam, my child, my son Last Line: To circle the great globe, %it shall reach you yet Subject(s): Parents AFTER THE RAIN; FOR W.D. SNODGRASS First Line: The barbed-wire fences rust Last Line: Sought with a reckless thirst %a light so pure and just ALCESTE IN THE WILDERNESS Poem Text First Line: Evening is clogged with gnats as the light falls Last Line: Peruked and stately for the final act Subject(s): Exiles ALCESTE IN THE WILDERNESS First Line: Evening is clogged with gnats as the light fails Last Line: Versailles shall see the tempered exile home, %peruked and stately for the final act ALL OUT First Line: This is the way we play our little lgame Last Line: Do what you will, it always ends the same AN OFFERING FOR PATRICIA Poem Text First Line: The work has been going forward with the greatest difficulty, chiefly because I cannot Last Line: Onion and lily work their primal peace Subject(s): Love AND CAN YE SING BALULOO WHEN THE BAIRN GREETS?' First Line: All these years I have known of her despair Last Line: There is no cure for me in the world of men ANTAPODOSIS: 1 First Line: You send us your used weather, the gray serge Last Line: That the great plains and hoagy carmichael %provided: 'you've come a long way from st. Louis.' ANTHEM Poem Text First Line: These birds pursue their errands Last Line: And airs of william byrd Subject(s): Birds ANTHEM First Line: These birds pursue their errands Last Line: Of melodies unheard: %brave philharmonious billings %and airs of william byrd APPLES FOR PAUL STUTTMAN First Line: Chardin, cezanne, they had their apples Last Line: All of our love, and find it in an apple, %my helen, your elisse APPLICATION FOR A GRANT Poem Text First Line: Noble executors of the munificent testament Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers APPLICATION FOR A GRANT First Line: Noble executors of the munificent testament Last Line: But a pad on eighth street and your approbation Subject(s): Labor And Laborers APPREHENSIONS First Line: A grave and secret malady of my brothers Last Line: Until one learns to read between the lines AQNTAPODOSIS: 2 First Line: We send you our used daylight, mildewed dawns Last Line: And what do we hand you but 'the great white way,' %our name in lights, somewhat the worse for where AS PLATO SAID First Line: Although I do not know your name, although Last Line: I do not even know you by your name AT THE FRICK First Line: Before a grotto of blue-tinted rock Last Line: Of the wind's brother francis in the flesh Subject(s): Art And Artists; Bellini, Giovanni (1430-1516); Francis Assisi, Saint (1181-1226); Frick Museum (new York City); Paintings And Painters; Saints AUGURIES OF INNOCENCE' First Line: A small, unsmiling child Last Line: But it needs no greeks or romans %to foresee the ice and snow AUSPICES First Line: Cold, blustery cider weather, the flat fields Last Line: Standing alone among the beggarweeds AUTUMNAL First Line: The lichens, like a gorgeous, soft disease Last Line: A feeble gloria to this cool decay %or casual dirge of birth BALLADE OF THE SALVAGED LOSSES First Line: Where are they now, those tousled glories Last Line: They're all in richard wilbur's verses BEHOLD THE LILIES OF THE FIELD First Line: And now. An attempt Last Line: Yes. I am looking. I wish I could be like them BIRDWATCHERS OF AMERICA First Line: It's all very well to dream of a dove that saves Last Line: With a light frost, crouched an outrageous bird BIRTHDAY POEM First Line: Like a small cloud, like a little hovering ghost Last Line: O that I may be worthy of that look Subject(s): Love BLACK BOY IN THE DARK First Line: Summer. A hot, moth-populated night Last Line: This expendable st. Michael we employ %to stay awake and keep the darkness out? BOOK OF YOLEK First Line: The dowsed coals fume and hiss after your meal Last Line: Though they killed him in the camp they sent him to, %he will walk in as you're sitting down to a me Subject(s): Concentration Camps; Germany; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews BOUNTIFUL HARVEST First Line: As if mistaking a foghorn for the last trump Last Line: And rose again in green (with some scattered grays.) %that went forth, was fruitful, and multiplied CAST OF LIGHT; AT A FATHER'S DAY PICNIC First Line: A maple bough of web-foot, golden greens Last Line: Their shadowy fate's unfathomable design CERTAIN SLANT First Line: Etched on the window were barbarous thistles of frost Last Line: The smooth cool plunder of celestial fire? Subject(s): Ice; Winter CHORUS FROM OEDIPUS AT COLONOS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: What is unwisdom but the lusting after Last Line: Thrashes his sides and breaks over his head Subject(s): Mortality CHRISTMAS IS COMING Poem Text First Line: Darkness is for the poor, and thorough cold Last Line: If you haven't got a ha'penny, god bless you Subject(s): Christmas; Nativity, The CHRISTMAS IS COMING First Line: Darkness is for the poor, and thorough cold Last Line: If you haven't got a ha'penny, god bless you Subject(s): Christmas CLAIR DE LUNE Poem Text First Line: Powder and scent and silence. The young dwarf Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares CLAIR DE LUNE First Line: Powder and scent and silence. The young dwarf Last Line: The heart turns to stone, but it endures Subject(s): Dreams COMING HOME; FROM THE JOURNALS OF JOHN CLARE First Line: They take away our belts so that we must hold Last Line: And fresh and well and beautiful as ever CONFESSION First Line: Patty-cake, patty-cake %vladimir horowitz Last Line: Soll ich nicht spielen, icht %find' sie zu schwer CONGRESS OF VIENNA First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %klemens von metternich Last Line: Abendlandsuntergang. %everything stinks COST First Line: Think how some excellent, lean torso hugs Last Line: Or remember that fifteen-year campaign %won seven years of peace? CROWS IN WINTER First Line: Here's a meeting %of morticians in our trees Last Line: And the wind, a voiceless thorn, %goes over the details, %making a soft promise %to take our breath CURRICULUM VITAE First Line: As though it were reluctant to be day Last Line: Of some departed us, %signing our lives away %on ferned and parslied windows of a bus DEATH AS A MEMBER OF THE HAARLEM GUILD OF ST. LUKE First Line: Not just another hals, all starch and ruff -- Last Line: And settle for a simple box of pine DEATH DEMURE First Line: I am retiring in more ways than one Last Line: Nobody knows how dry (and shy) I.' DEATH IN WINTER First Line: Delicate sensors registered the shock Last Line: The sound of someone laughing through clenched teeth DEATH RIDING INTO TOWN First Line: Here comes clint eastwood riding into town Last Line: Go ahead, make my day!' DEATH SAUNTERING ABOUT First Line: The crowds have gathered here by the paddock gates Last Line: No premium on haste DEATH THE ARCHBISHOP First Line: Ah, my poor erring flock Last Line: I have been given the key DEATH THE COPPERPLATE PRINTER First Line: I turn christ's cross till it turns catherine's wheel Last Line: I'm always grateful for such human aid DEATH THE FILM DIRECTOR First Line: Open with a long shot. Chimneys and spires Last Line: What could be called an inevitable plot DEATH THE HYPOCRITE First Line: You claim to loathe me, yet everything you prize Last Line: Acknowledge me. I fit you like a glove DEATH THE INQUISITOR First Line: My testimonies are wonderful to the ears of the wise Last Line: There is no match for my patience DEATH THE JUDGE First Line: Here's justice, blind as a bat Last Line: And grins and picks his teeth DEATH THE KNIGHT First Line: I am my lady's champion, a knight sans peur Last Line: Defer to her; la belle dame sans merci DEATH THE MEXICAN REVOLUTIONARY First Line: Wines of the great chateaux Last Line: South of the border DEATH THE OXFORD DON First Line: Sole heir to a distinguished laureate Last Line: I gnaw and gnaw the satisfactory bone DEATH THE PAINTER Poem Text First Line: Snub-nosed, bone-fingered, deft with engraving tools Subject(s): Death; Dead, The DEATH THE PAINTER First Line: Snub-nosed, bone-fingered, deft with engraving tools Last Line: Divested of his testicles and eyes Subject(s): Death DEATH THE PATIENT First Line: ...What am I Last Line: Learn where it's all heading DEATH THE POET A BALLADE-LAMENT FOR THE MAKERS First Line: Where have they gone, the lordly makers Last Line: Here I put off my flesh-disguise %et nunc in pulvere dormio DEATH THE PUNCHINELLO First Line: Two servants were paid to set his house on fire Last Line: As the poet said, 'ce craqpaud-la, c'est moi.' DEATH THE SOCIETY LADY First Line: Money, my dear, is my demosthenes Last Line: While ugliness is no more than skin-deep DEATH THE WHORE First Line: Some thin gray smoke twists up against a sky Last Line: The smoke, my dear, the smoke, I am the smoke DEEP BREATH AT DAWN First Line: Morning has come at last. The rational light Last Line: Perform his mindless fury in our blood DEODAND First Line: What are these women up to? They've gone and strung Last Line: Car je suis la belle france DESTINATIONS First Line: The children having grown up and moved away Last Line: But in the end, he knew, this would be foreplay %to the main event when she'd take him to the cleane DEVOTIONS OF A PAINTER First Line: Cool sinusoties, waved banners of light Last Line: Against the gospel let my brush declare: %'these are the anaglyphs and gleams of love.' DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT'; FOR CYRUS HOY First Line: The discus thrower's marble heave Last Line: We begin with the supreme donnee, the word DILEMMA Poem Text First Line: Dark and amusing he is, this handsome gallant Last Line: And while I hesitate, they both are mine Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers DISCOURSE CONCERNING TEMPTATION First Line: Though learned men have been at some dispute Last Line: It is man's brief and natural estate DOUBLE SONNET Poem Text First Line: I recall everything, but more than all Last Line: Speechless, inept, and totally unmanned Variant Title(s): Double Sonnet: I Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations DOUBLE SONNET First Line: I recall everything, but more than all Last Line: Speechless, inept, and totally unmanned Variant Title(s): Double Sonnet: DOUBLE SONNET: II First Line: It is part of pride, guiding the hand Last Line: Speechless, inept, and totally unmanned. DOVER BITCH; A CRITICISM OF LIFE First Line: So there stood matthew arnold and this girl Last Line: And sometimes I bring her a bottle of nuit d'amour Subject(s): Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888); Poetry And Poets DOWN THERE ON A VISIT First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %gustav von aschenbach Last Line: Soft, antinomian %decadent boys DRINKING SONG First Line: A toast to that lady over the fireplace Last Line: This measuring hand. We are beholden all ECLOGUE OF THE SHEPHERD AND THE TOWNIE First Line: Not the blue-fountained florida hotel Last Line: Those just proportions we hypostatize %not as flat prairies but the city of god END OF THE WEEKEND First Line: A dying firelight slides along the quirt Last Line: Some small grey fur is pulsing in its grip Subject(s): Sex ENVOI First Line: A voice that seems to come from outer space Last Line: Posterity's faint echo of its past, %and payload lifted into haloed air ESCAPE LITERATURE First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %baron von munchausen Last Line: Give me the burroughs boys, %william and abe ET IN ARCADIA EGO First Line: Shepherds, I have got the clap Last Line: Let me hereabouts be praised %as your re pastore EXILE; FOR JOSEPH BRODSKY First Line: Vacant parade grounds swept by the winter wind Last Line: Telling you you are welcome and at home FEAST OF STEPHEN First Line: The coltish horseplay of the locker room Last Line: And hears an unintelligible prayer Subject(s): Men FEAST OF STEPHEN: II First Line: If the heart has its resons, perhaps the body Last Line: The bounced basketball sound of a leather whip. FEAST OF STEPHEN: III First Line: Think of those barren places where men gather Last Line: The rope, the chains, handcuffs and gasoline. FEAST OF STEPHEN: IV First Line: Out in the rippled heat of a neighbor's field, Last Line: And hears an unintelligible prayer. FIFTH AVENUE PARADE First Line: Vitrines of pearly gowns, bright porcelains Last Line: That will lay down its arms at eighty-sixth FIRMNESS First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %mme. De maintenon Last Line: Iconographically, %just what she meant FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU Poem Text First Line: The daily press keeps up-to-date obits Last Line: Scored in in sweetly noted higher keys Subject(s): Merrill, James (1926-1995); Death; Dead, The FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU First Line: The daily press keeps up-to-date obits Last Line: Scored in his sweetly noted higher keys FROM THE GROVE PRESS Poem Text First Line: Higgledy-piggledy / ralph waldo emerson Last Line: Based on a volume of / japanese prints Subject(s): Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) FROM THE GROVE PRESS First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %ralph waldo emerson Last Line: Based on a volume of %japanese prints Subject(s): Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882) GARDENS OF THE VILLA D'ESTE First Line: This is italian. Here Last Line: Lead down the garden path to bed %and win us both to may GHOST IN THE MARTINI First Line: Over the rim of the glass Last Line: I touch her elbow, and, leaning toward her ear, %tell her to find her purse Subject(s): Love - Age Differences; Martinis GIANT TORTOISE Poem Text First Line: I am related to stones Subject(s): Turtles; Tortoises GIANT TORTOISE First Line: I am related to stones Last Line: The hard crust getting harder Subject(s): Turtles GLADNESS OF THE BEST;' FOR HAYS ROCKWELL First Line: See, see upon a field of royal blue Last Line: Of all god's mercies, he was less than least GLORY THAT WAS ROME First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %titus andronicus Last Line: Picturing passionate %sexual crime GOING THE ROUNDS: A SORT OF LOVE POEM First Line: Some people cannot endure Last Line: Yourself exhausted and six months big with child, %you saved my son's life GOLIARDIC SONG First Line: In classical environs %deity misbehaves Last Line: Ur-satirist of morals %and mother of our joys GRAPES First Line: At five o'clock of a summer afternoon Last Line: Behind the international date line - %an accident I read about in 'time' GREEN: AN EPISTLE First Line: I write at last of the one forbidden topic Last Line: Writing this very poem - about me HANDICAP First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %judas iscariot Last Line: Known to his buddies as %jude,the obscure HILL First Line: In italy, where this sort of thing can occur Last Line: I stood before it for hours in wintertime Subject(s): Italy HORATIAN VIRTUE Poem Text First Line: A blameless, upright life, an unblemished conscience Last Line: Measuring mabel Subject(s): Innocence HOUSE SPARROWS Poem Text First Line: Not of the wealthy, coral gables class Last Line: "rude canticles of ""summers"", ""summers"", ""summers" Subject(s): Sparrows HOUSE SPARROWS First Line: Not of the wealthy, coral gables class Last Line: And, to the lovely honor of their race, %rude canticles of 'summers, summers, summers' Subject(s): Sparrows HUMORESQUE First Line: From sewage lines, man-holes, from fitted brass Last Line: The shiny rigor mortis of the rails %blends with the exhalations of my love HUNT; FOR ZBIGNIEW HERBERT First Line: A call, a call. Ringbolt clink sat dusk. Shadows wax. Sesame Last Line: Tonight the interrogations begin again I BIDE MY TIME, YOU SEE, I BIDE MY TIME First Line: I bide my time, you see, I bide my time Last Line: I bide my time, you see, I bide my time ILLUMINATION Poem Text First Line: Ground lapis for the sky, and scrolls of gold Last Line: That will find their way to the light through drifts of snow Subject(s): Christmas; Light; Snow; Nativity, The ILLUMINATION First Line: Ground lapis for the sky, and scrolls of gold Last Line: That will find their way to the light through drifts of snow Subject(s): Christmas; Light; Snow IMITATION Poem Text First Line: Let men take note of her, touching her shyness Variant Title(s): The Gift Of Song Subject(s): Beauty IMITATION First Line: Let men take note of her, touching her shyness Last Line: To flush all silence, may she by these songs %know it was love I have looked for at her hands Variant Title(s): The Gift Of Son Subject(s): Beauty IMPROVISATIONS ON AESOP First Line: It was a tortoise aspiring to fly Last Line: Is not that pastoral instruction sweet %which says who shall be eaten, who shall eat? IN MEMORY OF DAVID KALSTONE Poem Text First Line: Lime-and-mint mayonnaise and salsa verde Subject(s): Aids (disease); Critics & Criticism; Sickness; Illness IN MEMORY OF DAVID KALSTONE First Line: Lime-and-mint mayonnaise and salsa verde Last Line: Within the waters of the grand canal, %and writhes and twists, wrinkles and reassembles Subject(s): Aids (disease); Critics And Criticism; Sickness INDOLENCE First Line: Beyond the corruption of both rust and moth Last Line: Consciences of a pure and niveous white IT NEVER RAINS... First Line: Patty-cake, patty-cake, %jupiter pluvius Last Line: All over danae's %succulent lap IT OUT-HERODS HEROD. PRAY YOU, AVOID IT' Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Tonight my children hunch Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War IT OUT-HERODS HEROD. PRAY YOU, AVOID IT' First Line: Tonight my children hunch Last Line: Who could not, at one time, have saved them from the gas Subject(s): World War Ii JAPAN Poem Text First Line: It was a miniature country once Subject(s): Japan; Japanese JAPAN First Line: It was a miniature country once Last Line: And like such clever tricks, %it shall be buried in excelsior Subject(s): Japan JASON First Line: The room is full of gold Last Line: Triumphs in gardens full of marigold LA CONDITION BOTANIQUE Poem Text First Line: Romans, rhuematic, gouty, came Last Line: His daily and all-nourishing bread Subject(s): Plants; Planting; Planters LA CONDITION BOTANIQUE First Line: Romans, rheumatic, gouty, came %to bathe in ischian springs Last Line: And in his streaming face manly to earn %his daily and all-nourishing bread LA-BAS: A TRANCE First Line: From silk route samarkand, emeralds and drugs Last Line: Comes to him from the turkish word for turban LATE AFTERNOON: THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVE Poem Text First Line: At this time of day Last Line: The puddled oil was a miracle of colors Subject(s): Love LATE AFTERNOON: THE ONSLAUGHT OF LOVE First Line: At this time of day Last Line: The puddled oil was a miracle of colors LE JET D'EAU Poem Text First Line: My dear, your lids are weary Subject(s): Eyes; Tears LE JET D'EAU First Line: My dear, your lids are weary Last Line: Falls like an opulent glistening %of tears Subject(s): Eyes; Tears LE MASSEUR DE MA SOEUR First Line: My demoiselle, the cats are in the street Last Line: The man-in-the-moon's microphalic grin? LETTER First Line: I have been wondering Last Line: The endless repitions of his own murmurous blood LIFE OF CRIME First Line: Burdened from birth with a lean methodist Last Line: The pockets of all the elegantly clothed LIZARDS AND SNAKES Poem Text First Line: On the summer road that ran by our front porch Last Line: And swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail Subject(s): Lizards; Snakes; Family Life; Serpents; Vipers; Relatives LIZARDS AND SNAKES First Line: On the summer road that ran by our front porch Last Line: And swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail LOT OF NIGHT MUSIC First Line: Even a pyrrhonist Last Line: Blooms in a world made innocent again LULL; FOR ALLEN TATE First Line: Through a loose camouflage Last Line: But for the moment the whole world is real MAN WHO MARRIED MAGDALENE; VARIATION THEME LOUIS SIMPSON First Line: I have been in this bar Last Line: But verily I tell you, %she hath her reward MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE Poem Text First Line: I would invoke that man Last Line: The ass will learn to sing Subject(s): Religion; Theology MATISSE: BLUE INTERIOR WITH TWO GIRLS -- 1947 First Line: Outside is variable may, a lawn of immediate green Last Line: Of the small brief sad ambitions of the flesh MEDITATION Poem Text First Line: The orchestra tunes up, each instrument Subject(s): Meditation MEDITATION First Line: The orchestra tunes up, each instrument Last Line: And every gathered voice, every amen, %join to compose the sacred conversation Subject(s): Meditation MEMORY First Line: Sepia oval portraits of the family Last Line: The dusty gleam of temporary wealth MESSAGE FROM THE CITY First Line: It is raining here Last Line: The faint, fresh %smell of iodine MORE LIGHT! MORE LIGHT!' Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Composed in the tower before his execution Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Shoah; Judaism MORE LIGHT! MORE LIGHT!' First Line: Composed in the tower before his execution Last Line: Ghosts from the ovens, sifting through crisp air %and settled upon his eyes in a black soot Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews MURMUR Poem Text First Line: A little sibilance, as of dry leaves Last Line: Through the great crowds, “remember you are mortal” Subject(s): Mortality MURMUR First Line: A little sibilance, as of dry leaves Subject(s): Mortality MYSTERIES OF CAESAR First Line: Known to the boys in his latin class as 'sir,' Last Line: Which is the pitiless bliss of solitude Subject(s): Caesar, Julius (100-44 B.c.); Schools; Translating And Interpreting NAMING THE ANIMALS Poem Text First Line: Having commanded adam to bestow Subject(s): Animals; Bible; Names; Religion; Theology NAMING THE ANIMALS First Line: Having commanded adam to bestow Last Line: And shyly ventured, 'thou shalt be called 'fred'' Subject(s): Animals; Bible; Names; Religion NOMINALISM First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %juliet capulet Last Line: Save that all montagues %stink in god's nose ODDS First Line: Three new and matching loaves Last Line: A tiny settlement among those powers %that shape our world, but that are never ours ON TRANSLATION Poem Text First Line: Robert, how pleasantly tempting to surmise Last Line: Me, signor hecate Subject(s): Translating & Interpreting; Fitzgerald, Robert Stuart (1910-1985) ORIGIN OF CENTAURS; FRP DIMTRI HADZI First Line: This mild september mist recalls the soul Last Line: Those powerful, clear hoofprints on the path Subject(s): Animals OSTIA ANTICA First Line: Given this light Last Line: And symbols of endurance, whispers %'this is love' OVERVIEW First Line: Here, god-like, in a 707 Last Line: The wounded, orphaned, indigent, %the dying and the comatose PARADISE LOST, BOOK 5. AN EPITOME Poem Text First Line: Higgledy-piggledy / archangel raphael Subject(s): Milton, John (1608-1674) PARADISE LOST, BOOK 5. AN EPITOME First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %archangel raphael Last Line: Given to lewdness and %rodomontade Subject(s): Milton, John (1608-1674) PEEKABOO First Line: Go hide! Go hide! But through the latticework Last Line: Black is the color of my true love's clothes PERIPETEIA Poem Text First Line: Of course, the familiar rustling of programs Subject(s): Love PERIPETEIA First Line: Of course, the familiar rustling of programs Last Line: Shakespeare or I or anyone ever dreamed Subject(s): Love PERSISTENCES First Line: The leafless are feathery Last Line: Writ crosswise on their arteries, %the burning, voiceless jews PIG Poem Text First Line: In the manger of course were cows and the child himself Subject(s): Pigs; Boars; Hogs PIG First Line: In the manger of course were cows and the child himself Last Line: O swine that takest away our sins %that takest away Subject(s): Pigs PLACE OF PAIN IN THE UNIVERSE First Line: Mixture of chloroform and oil of cloves Last Line: The pain is lifelike in that waxwork tear Subject(s): Pain PLEDGE First Line: Beauty of face, of body, and of spirit Last Line: The air is sweetest that a thistle guards POEM FOR JULIA First Line: Held in her hand of 'almost flawless skin' Last Line: Or its own ramified complexity POEM WITHOUT ANYBODY First Line: Mid-ocean. Nightfall. No one. The sea spray Last Line: Into horizonless indifference, %the cold, blank rock-face of a sunless day POINT OF VIEW First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %marcus aurelius Last Line: Meaning both 'stoic,' and, %possibly, dumb PROFESSIONALISM First Line: Higgledy-piggledy, %quintus tertullian Last Line: Boring his near ones and %dear ones to death PROSPECTS First Line: We have set out from here for the sublime Last Line: I have no doubt we shall arrive on time PROUST ON SKATES First Line: The alpine forests, like huddled throngs of mourners Last Line: Steeped in a sip of tea RARA AVIS IN TERRIS First Line: Hawks are in the ascendant. Just look about Last Line: A quarter-century of faultless love RETREAT First Line: Day peters out. Darkness wells up Last Line: The sun flings mycenaean gold %against a neigbor's window-pane RIDDLES First Line: Where the wind listeth, there the sailboats list Last Line: That signified to belshazzar the end %of all his hopes and the issue of his loins RITES AND CEREMONIES: 1. THE ROOM First Line: Father, adonoi, author of all things Last Line: And he has heard me out his holy hill Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews RITES AND CEREMONIES: 2. THE FIRE SERMON First Line: Small paw tracks in the snow, eloquent of a passage Last Line: Is blown past the sheepfold %out of hearing RITES AND CEREMONIES: 3. THE DREAM First Line: The contemplation of horrors is not edifying Last Line: Or wait for the next heat, the buffaloes RITES AND CEREMONIES: 4. WORDS FOR THE DAY OF ATONEMENT First Line: Merely to have survived is not an index of excellence Last Line: To thee as it is prophesied, and say, %'he shall come down like rain upon mown grass' ROMAN HOLIDAY First Line: I write from rome. Last year, the holy year Last Line: The blood of remus whispers out of wells ROME First Line: Just as foretold, it wall was there Last Line: At length, utterly graveled RUMINANT First Line: Out of the urdu, into our instant ken Last Line: And wisdom's legate RUSSIAN SOUL First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %rodya raskolnikov Last Line: Beaten, said he, by re- %ligion and sax SAMUEL SEWALL Poem Text First Line: Samuel sewall, in a world of wigs Subject(s): Sewall, Samuel (1652-1730) SAMUEL SEWALL First Line: Samuel sewall, in a world of wigs Last Line: Madam, your humble servant, samuel sewall Subject(s): Sewall, Samuel (1652-1730) SARABANDE ON ATTAINING THE AGE OF SEVENTY-SEVEN First Line: Long gone the smoke-and-pepper childhood smell Last Line: Bone-deep and numbing as I should know by now %diminishing the cast, like musical chairs SAUL AND DAVID Poem Text First Line: It was a villainous spirit, snub-nosed, foul Last Line: .......And make saul cease to tremble Subject(s): Saul (bible) SEE NAPLES AND DIE: 1 First Line: I can at last consider those events Last Line: Is to remember happiness once it's passed. %I am too numb to know whether he's right SEE NAPLES AND DIE: 2 First Line: Over the froth-white cowls of our morning coffee Last Line: From the skilled legerdemain of those adept, %tapered, manicured, bejewelled hands SEE NAPLES AND DIE: 3 First Line: See, what a perfect day. It's perhaps three Last Line: An irritation I must not let damage %what yet remains of this holiday of ours SEE NAPLES AND DIE: 4 First Line: Two days of rain. Confining. Maddening Last Line: Among the pale profusions of azaleas, %the brilliant reds of the geraniums SEE NAPLES AND DIE: 5 First Line: Somewhere along in here, deeply depressed Last Line: Havoc about them, the discourse of guides, %the bewildered tourists, acres of desolation SEE NAPLES AND DIE: 6 First Line: Marriages come to grief in many ways Last Line: Giant sea-worms bright with a glittering slime, %crabs limping in their pheumatoid pavane SESTINA D'INVERNO Poem Text First Line: Here in this bleak city of rochester Subject(s): Rochester, New York; Winter SESTINA D'INVERNO First Line: Here in this bleak city of rochester Last Line: That is neither to our mind nor of our making Subject(s): Rochester, New York; Winter SEVEN DEADLY SINS: AVARICE First Line: The penniless indian fakirs and their camels Last Line: And frankincense and myrrh Variant Title(s): Avaric SEVEN DEADLY SINS: ENVY First Line: When, to a popular tune, god's mercy and justice Last Line: Thou shalt not toil nor spin SEVEN DEADLY SINS: GLUTTONY First Line: Let the poor look to themselves, for it is said Last Line: And eat the word out of the parchment face SEVEN DEADLY SINS: LUST First Line: The phoenix knows no lust, and christ, our mother Last Line: Not be such as one is to be other SEVEN DEADLY SINS: PRIDE First Line: For me almighty god himself has died,' %said one who formerly rebuked his prid Last Line: The mercy by which each of us is tried SEVEN DEADLY SINS: SLOTH First Line: The first man leaps the ditch Last Line: Consider, and be wise SEVEN DEADLY SINS: WRATH First Line: I saw in stalls of pearl the heavenly hosts Last Line: The dead-white phosphorus of sacred hearts SHORT END First Line: Here the anthem doth commence Last Line: Fire-engine red, the red of valentines, %of which she is herself the howling center SISTERS First Line: How like a golden floating benediction Last Line: Like spinnakers, flame-white tongues of cyclamen SOMEBODY'S LIFE First Line: Cliff-high, sunlit, in the tawny warmth of youth Last Line: Like easter trinkets of the tzarevitch SONG OF THE FLEA First Line: Beware of those who flatter Last Line: I live upon your blood SOURCES OF JUVENILE CRIME First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %alfred, lord tennyson Last Line: Fosters our growing de- %linquency rate SPRING FOR THOMAS HARDY Poem Text First Line: These are the weathers hardy praised Last Line: He chiefly sings Subject(s): Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928); Spring STEP FORWARD, PLEASE! MAKE ROOM FOR THOSE IN BACK First Line: Step forward, please! Make room for those in back Last Line: Step forward, please! Make room for those in back STILL LIFE First Line: Sleep-walking vapor, like a visitant ghost Last Line: Just before dawn, somewhere in germany, %a cold, wet, garand rifle in my hands SWAN DIVE First Line: Over a crisp regatta of lights, or a school Last Line: Of catatonia, for which his body yearns TARANTULA OR THE DANCE OF DEATH First Line: During the plague I came into my own Last Line: That was the black winter when I came %into my own TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH Poem Text First Line: During the plague I came into my own Last Line: Into my own Subject(s): Plague; Death; Dead, The TERMS First Line: Holidays, books and lives draw to their close Last Line: Grows ominously, a malign, ingrown %melanoma, softly spreading its dark tide THE BOOK OF YOLEK Poem Text First Line: The dowsed coals fume and hiss after your meal Subject(s): Concentration Camps; Germany; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Germans; Shoah; Judaism THE DOVER BITCH; A CRITICISM OF LIFE Poem Text Recitation First Line: So there stood matthew arnold and this girl Subject(s): Arnold, Matthew (1822-1888); Poetry & Poets THE END OF THE WEEKEND Poem Text First Line: A dying firelight slides along the quirt Subject(s): Sex THE FEAST OF STEPHEN Poem Text First Line: The coltish horseplay of the locker room Subject(s): Men THE GHOST IN THE MARTINI Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Over the rim of the glass Subject(s): Love - Age Differences; Martinis THE MYSTERIES OF CAESAR Poem Text First Line: Known to the boys in his latin class as 'sir,' Last Line: Which is the pitiless bliss of solitude Subject(s): Caesar, Julius (100-44 B.c.); Schools; Translating & Interpreting; Students THE ORIGIN OF CENTAURS; FRP DIMTRI HADZI Poem Text First Line: This mild september mist recalls the soul Last Line: Those powerful, clear hoofprints on the path Subject(s): Centaurs THE PLACE OF PAIN IN THE UNIVERSE Poem Text First Line: Mixture of chloroform and oil of cloves Subject(s): Pain; Suffering; Misery THE PLATE Poem Text First Line: Now he has silver in him. When sometime Last Line: Where in his head the fire is most alive. Subject(s): Death; Dead, The THE TRANSPARENT MAN Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I'm mighty glad to see you, mrs. Curtis, Last Line: And sat here and let me rattle on this way Subject(s): Sickness; Illness THE VENETIAN VESPERS Poem Text First Line: What's merciful is not knowing where you are Last Line: Who was never even at one time a wise child Subject(s): Venice, Italy THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %ludwig mies van der rohe Last Line: Carry stress better than %lintel and post THIRD AVENUE IN SUNLIGHT Poem Text Recitation by Author Last Line: My bar is somewhat further down the street Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking; Wine THIRD AVENUE IN SUNLIGHT First Line: Third avenue in sunlight. Nature's error Last Line: My bar is somewhat further down the street THOUGHTFUL ROISTERED DECLINES THE GAMBIT First Line: I'm not going to get myself shot full of holes Last Line: It won't be the cannon's mouth, in any case THREE PROMPTERS FROM THE WINGS First Line: He rushed out of the temple Last Line: And never had a loverm %responsible for this TO FORTUNA PARVULORUM First Line: As a young man I was headstrong, willful, rash Last Line: That stirred me as a boy TO L.E. SISSMAN, 1928-1976 First Line: No 'a spring breath of lux across the charles' Last Line: The wisdom and the wit of raquel welch, %'and connoisseurs of california wines.' TO PHYLLIS Poem Text First Line: If thou must wander in these woods Last Line: The shift of multiplicity Subject(s): Conduct Of Life TRANSPARENT MAN First Line: I'm mighty glad to see you, mrs. Curtis Last Line: And I take it very kindly that you came %and sat here and let me rattle on this way UPON THE DEATH OF GEORGE SANTAYANA First Line: Down every passage of the cloister hung Last Line: Freezes with traitors in the ultimate pit VENETIAN VESPERS First Line: What's merciful is not knowing where you are Last Line: Foolish and muddled in later years, %who was never even at one time a wise child VENETIAN VESPERS: INTRODUCTORY POEM; FOR HELEN First Line: Whatever pain is figured in these pages Last Line: Gold these base matters floated in suspension %are due alone to you VICE Poem Text First Line: Higgledy-piggledy / thomas stearns eliot Last Line: Zeugmas, and rhymes he de-/plored in his prose Subject(s): Eliot, Thomas Stearns (1888-1965); Eliot, T. S. VICE First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %thomas stearns eliot Last Line: Zeugmas, and rhymes he de- %plored in his prose Subject(s): Eliot, Thomas Stearns (1888-1965) VOICE AT A SEANCE First Line: It is rather strange to be speaking, but I know you are there Last Line: I think I may already have said too much VOW First Line: In the third month, a sudden flow of blood Last Line: Your younger brothers shall confirm in joy %this that I swear WHIRLIGIG OF TIME First Line: They are fewer these days, those supple, suntanned boys Last Line: To cluster in unswept corners, fouling doorways WISE First Line: Who are the wise? Those heavy-lidded sages Last Line: The quoted, the belaurelled, the much feted? %or we, the spouses of unrivalled cooks? |
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