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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: HUDGINS, ANDREW Matches Found: 286 Hudgins, Andrew Poet's Biography poems available by this author A FATHER ON THE MARSH First Line: My older boy said, 'let's make soup' Subject(s): Fathers ADORATION OF THE MAGI First Line: A boy -- okay,it's me -- wears a fringed Last Line: One hand pressed hard into his crotch Subject(s): Christianity; Religion AFTER MUSCLING THROUGH SHARP GREENERY First Line: After muscling through sharp greenery and after Last Line: Azaleas red as every word that jesus uttered AFTER THE WILDERNESS Poem Text First Line: When clifford wasn’t back to camp by nine Last Line: He’d wet his pants. We called it yankee tea Subject(s): Wilderness Campaign (1864) AFTER THE WILDERNESS First Line: When clifford wasn't back to camp by nine AFTERIMAGE OF A GHOST First Line: I woke and saw beyond my feet Last Line: Into his otherness, and gape %in ghostly, futile trespass AGAINST GARDENS First Line: At first, in spring, it hurts to kill AIR First Line: Because I'd seen a man thrust his AIR VIEW OF AN INDUSTRIAL SCENE Poem Text First Line: There is a train at the ramp, unloading people Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; World War Ii; Shoah; Judaism; Second World War AIR VIEW OF AN INDUSTRIAL SCENE First Line: There is a train at the ramp, unloading people Last Line: We're watchers. But if we had bombs we'd drop them Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; World War Ii AIRPORT BOULEVARD First Line: Driving home past the dives on airport boulevard Last Line: To give as presents and he stored it in a covered jar ALL OF US BENEATH RED COWBOY HATS Poem Text First Line: Between his smaller brothers, he Last Line: That child. I'm trying to forgive him Subject(s): Brothers & Sisters; Photography & Photographers ALL OF US BENEATH RED COWBOY HATS First Line: Between his smaller brothers, he ALMOST IN LOVE First Line: All night my neighbor's windchimes keep me up AMEN First Line: This story begins amen APPETITE FOR POISON First Line: We men in lodgings, after supper AROUND THE CAMPFIRE First Line: Around the campfire we sang hymns AS A CHILD IN THE TEMPLE Poem Text First Line: I'm looking forward to my death,' she said Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology AS A CHILD IN THE TEMPLE First Line: I'm looking forward to my death,' she said Last Line: Saved, not for the last time, by my ignorance Subject(s): Christianity; Religion ASHES (1) First Line: Bill gripped the can in both hands and dashed it upward Last Line: And breathed it in and breathed it out and breathed it in ASHES (2) First Line: My left hand joggled johnny's arm, and johnny - jesus! Last Line: And should be honored as the dust they are AT CAMP Poem Text First Line: Everyone says the deep woods are soothing Last Line: Howling for howling, the best kind of howl Subject(s): Camping; Camps; Summer Camps AT CHANCELLORSVILLE: THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS Poem Text First Line: He was an indiana corporal Subject(s): Chancellorsville, Battle Of (1863); Wilderness Campaign (1864) AT CHANCELLORSVILLE: THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS First Line: He was an indiana corporal Last Line: We could have passed for new york infantry Subject(s): Chancellorsville, Battle Of (1863); Wilderness Campaign (1864) AT THE KYMULGA GRIST MILL First Line: The dog runs off to check each breeze AUDUBON EXAMINES A BITTERN Poem Text First Line: A lady brought me a least bittern Last Line: Bedamned if I know what to make of it Subject(s): Birds AUDUBON EXAMINES A BITTERN First Line: A lady brought me a least bittern AWAITING WINTER VISITORS: JONATHAN EDWARDS, 1749 First Line: When thunder fell in tinsley's pasture BABYLON IN A JAR First Line: Driving home past the beer joints on airport boulevard Last Line: To give as presents, and he stored it in a jar BALL First Line: Nose down, the %courses the back yard, searching Last Line: With the exacting genius of her joy BEANS First Line: Mom said I was so dirty I could probably grow Last Line: I won't crush the beans I'm planning to pluck BEGOTTEN First Line: I've never, as some children do Last Line: I stared at my blood-kin, and thought, %'so this, dear god, is what I am.' BEHEMOTH AND LEVIATHAN First Line: Can you draw out leviathan %with a fishhook?' yahweh sneers Last Line: Behermoth and leviathan, %and chaos at the margin BENEATH SEARCHLIGHTS Poem Text First Line: Shop windows glow like fish tanks. Even in twon Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology BENEATH SEARCHLIGHTS First Line: Shop windows glow like fish tanks. Even in twon Last Line: But that's untrue. Too stark. Sometimes - tonight!- %I satisfy the light that questions me Subject(s): Christianity; Religion BENEATH THE APPLE First Line: The house a-tilt with laughter, jazz Last Line: That moment: dead. Divine BEYOND MY FOOTFALL Recitation by Author BIFF BURGER First Line: I jerked the cokes. At fourteen, it Last Line: Against the wall. First job: the sense %of being airborne violently BLEMISHES First Line: Head tilted back in mom's lap Last Line: And dropped the cool rag on my face BLOWFLY Poem Text First Line: Half awake, I was imagining Last Line: As we made tense, pensive love. Blowfly, blowfly Subject(s): Desire; Imagination; Fancy BLUE DANUBE First Line: As we clung to the corner and catcalled Last Line: Smiled tightly: 'you boys! Let's see what you have learned.' BLUE TREE First Line: A color-wheel lit tinsel branches red Last Line: And the yellow melted. We took the tree apart, %and boxed it. Blue meant the damn thing wouldn't die BLUR Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Storms of perfume lift from honeysuckle, Last Line: And more than understanding I longed for joy Subject(s): Childhood Memories BODIES OF WATER First Line: My shoulder twinges where Last Line: My familiar, unfamiliar hand BOG OF THE FATHERS First Line: In northern germany the bogs dispense BOTTLE TREE First Line: Shards of pink depression glass swayed Last Line: Beyond the confines of our longing BRIGHT LEAF First Line: Some memories I've re-formed from photographs Last Line: Have never known and don't expect to know, %but pleasure, which, with that leaf, I started learning BURIAL DETAIL Poem Text First Line: Between each layer of tattered, broken flesh Subject(s): Graves; Tombs; Tombstones BURIAL DETAIL First Line: Between each layer of tattered, broken flesh Subject(s): Graves BURIAL INSURANCE Poem Text First Line: It came each month from omaha Last Line: Grandmomma took her picture off the wall Subject(s): Brothers & Sisters; Death; Books & Reading; Dead, The BURIAL INSURANCE First Line: It came each month from omaha Last Line: Andrea. Each time we visited, %grandmomma took her picture off the wall CADILLAC IN THE ATTIC First Line: After the tenant moved out, died, disappeared Last Line: And three hard chicks: the cadillac in the attic CASTRATING BULLS WITH MY GRANDPA First Line: The tail, held back along the spine, keeps them CATCHING BREATH First Line: In: pink and salmon %maples bright with dying Last Line: The world's breath back into us. %in: %out. Out: %in CATTAILS First Line: A stand of cattails, brown heads %erupting seed Last Line: The names now never stop, nor the naming CESTELLO ANNUNCIATION First Line: The angel has already said, 'be not afraid' Last Line: Lets her refuse, accept, refuse, and think again Subject(s): Christianity; Religion CHILD ON THE MARSH Poem Text First Line: I worked the river’s slick banks, grabbling Last Line: And heard the earth’s voice under me Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives CHILD ON THE MARSH First Line: I worked the river's slick banks, grappling CHILDHOOD OF THE ANCIENTS First Line: Hard? You don't know what hard is, boy! Last Line: Hot food plopped down in front of you like magic. %you've never even seen a hog cut up CHINABERRY First Line: I couldn't stand still watching them forever Last Line: The green, abandoned tree CHINABERRY TREES First Line: Under the flowering chinaberry Last Line: And open ourselves to opening %under the chinaberry CHOICE THE DRIVER MAKES First Line: Their headlights slash across my face and chest CHRIST AS A GARDENER Poem Text First Line: The boxwoods planted in the park spelled live Subject(s): Christianity; Gardens & Gardening; Jesus Christ; Religion; Theology CHRIST AS A GARDENER First Line: The boxwoods planted in the park spelled live Last Line: Of milkweed, thistle, cattail, and goldenrod Subject(s): Christianity; Gardens And Gardening; Jesus Christ; Religion CHRISTIAN ON THE MARSH First Line: In may, I can't see dogwood bloom CIRCUS IN THE TREES First Line: I love to watch the gray squirrels leap Last Line: Cascading down as sparks Subject(s): Squirrels; Trees CLAIMS First Line: It's boys who find the bodies in the woods CLOUDS First Line: I like to lie out in the yard Last Line: And there's one like a deer! COINS AND ASHES First Line: We need two hundred bucks! Mom screamed Last Line: But I swallowed them all COLONEL Poem Text First Line: My father lifts the crippled airman's body Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology COLONEL First Line: My father lifts the crippled airman's body Last Line: And I don't want to be a soldier yet Subject(s): Christianity; Religion COME TO HARM Poem Text First Line: We were driving from one state to another, Last Line: There will be laughter Subject(s): Death - Mothers; Dead, The COMMUNION IN THE ASYLUM First Line: We kneel. Some of us kneel better than others Last Line: But we all await the grace that's promised us COMPOST: AN ODE Poem Text First Line: The beauty of the compost heap is not Subject(s): Fertilizer COMPOST: AN ODE First Line: The beauty of the compost heap is not Subject(s): Fertilizer CONSIDER Poem Text First Line: You have considered the lilies of the field Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology CONSIDER First Line: You have considered the lilies of the field Last Line: Beckons the hollow, two-note fluting of an owl Subject(s): Christianity; Religion CORN SNAKE First Line: After fishing all morning - not a bite, not one COUSIN MARBURY'S MARVELOUS BOMBS First Line: We stuff the tennis balls with cups Last Line: We'll hear the booms %as loud as vietnam's CRUCIFIXION: MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA Poem Text First Line: In the hot dark they dug a hole Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology CRUCIFIXION: MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA First Line: In the hot dark they dug a hole Last Line: Or does god simply choose us all? Subject(s): Christianity; Religion CULT OF THE LOST CAUSE First Line: Dear clifford - caballero, brother DAFFODILS ERUPT IN CLUMPS Last Line: My mother was so beautiful DAY JOB AND NIGHT JOB Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: After my night job, I sat in class Last Line: Lt looked the same. Like work Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers DEAD CHRIST Poem Text First Line: There seems no reason he should've died. His hands Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology DEAD CHRIST First Line: There seems no reason he should've died. His hands Last Line: Today, the empty corpse. Most christs return. %but this one's flesh. He isn't coming back Subject(s): Christianity; Religion DOG PILE First Line: Somebody'd yell, 'dog pile on andrew!' I'd drop Last Line: Dog pile on hudgins!' first, everybody froze, %and then my brother started running DRAGONFLY Poem Text First Line: Book says 'most predacious.' book says 'fastest Subject(s): Dragonflies DRAGONFLY First Line: Book says 'most predacious.' book says 'fastest Last Line: Stillness at great speed) %beside still water Subject(s): Dragonflies DYING First Line: The pistol underneath my head ECCE HOMO Poem Text First Line: Christ bends, protects his groin. Thorns gouge Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology ECCE HOMO First Line: Christ bends, protects his groin. Thorns gouge Last Line: O crucify; we sing. O crucify him Subject(s): Christianity; Religion EDGE First Line: Nicked steel wears down the waterstone Last Line: Warmed by the fire of my %expensive failures ELEGY FOR MY FATHER, WHO IS NOT DEAD Poem Text First Line: One day I’ll lift the telephone Last Line: And waving, shouting, welcome back Subject(s): Fathers; Death; Dead, The ELEGY FOR MY FATHER, WHO IS NOT DEAD First Line: One day I'll lift the telephone Last Line: And waving, shouting, welcome back ELEGY FOR THE BEES First Line: At dusk I crouch in greenery and watch the roses Last Line: With which each empire turns into the next? FATHER ON THE MARSH First Line: My older boy said, 'let's make soup' Subject(s): Fathers FEVER First Line: The constant simmer in my lungs FIRE AND ST. FRANCIS Poem Text First Line: As he sat eating by the fire one night Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology FIRE AND ST. FRANCIS First Line: As he sat eating by the fire one night Subject(s): Christianity; Religion FIRST ANNIVERSARY First Line: For our first anniversary father brought by FISHKILL ON THE CHATTAHOCHEE First Line: I pushed a dead fish down and held it under FLAG OF HONEYSUCKLE First Line: From the brush pile I wrestled brittle limbs Last Line: Whipping [or, to whip] this twig of honeysuckle into fragrance FLAMINGOS HAVE ARRIVED IN ASHTABULA Last Line: Flamingos have arrived in ashtabula FLAUTO PRIMO First Line: Amid the orchestra, I thrill GARDEN CHANGES First Line: When I was young, I grew GIFT First Line: They hung the lambs and cut t heir white throats. Blood Last Line: Almost eager now that you had no choice Subject(s): Christianity; Religion GLYPHS First Line: I sleep on messages I've left GOAT First Line: Though reverence may not save us Last Line: Stopped laughing, laughing and laughing %because we cannot laugh GOAT First Line: You who eat milled grain Last Line: Wish you were choking on it, and not your own blood GOAT GOD First Line: At twilight, pale twilight Last Line: Sweetly, without bitterness GOSPEL VILLANELLE Poem Text First Line: Jesus will always be there. He's waiting. It's true.' Subject(s): Christianity; Jesus Christ; Public Worship; Religion; Church Attendance; Theology GRAND EXPENSIVE VISTA Poem Text First Line: As we sipped and mingled, Last Line: Glass table, hunger was our guide Subject(s): Money GRANDMOTHER'S SPIT First Line: To wipe the sleep-grains from my eyes or rub HAIL First Line: Begonias and impatiens: %snapped. The hostas Last Line: And the cold white stones seep into pounded grass HAMMER AND SCOURGE First Line: Look in my eyes, vile rodents, and befoul Last Line: Death to the field mouse, destroyer of the gray squirrel HANGING GARDENS First Line: Gone: the palace of forty columns. Gone Last Line: Or understood. I see her and I do not see her HAWK ABOVE THE HOUSE First Line: The hawk hung low above the house, %appraising Last Line: And here I am to tell him so HE IMAGINES HIS WIFE DEAD First Line: I'd just leapt quickly to the curb HEAT LIGHTNING IN A TIME OF DROUGHT Poem Text First Line: My neighbor drunk, stood on his lawn and yellled Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology HEAT LIGHTNING IN A TIME OF DROUGHT First Line: My neighbor drunk, stood on his lawn and yellled Last Line: I wish my soul were larger than it is Subject(s): Christianity; Religion HEAVEN First Line: Between my back fence and the drainage ditch Last Line: From my blade, my %advancing paradise HEREAFTER First Line: Some people as they die grow fierce, afraid HIS IMAGINARY FRIEND First Line: I meet her twice a day for tea Last Line: Before I consummate my love %in kleenex facial tissue Subject(s): Friendship; Hearts; Kisses; Love HIS WIFE Poem Text First Line: My wife is not afraid of dirt Last Line: She smells of mint and lemon balm Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Mariage HIS WIFE First Line: My wife is not afraid of dirt HOLE IN THE TENT First Line: The chemical smell of skunk drifts past my tent HOLOFERNES REMINISCES AFTER THREE THOUSAND YEARS First Line: Mine is the oldest story HORNETS' NEST First Line: We may have been just nine or ten, but still HOT AUGUST NIGHTS First Line: The men downstairs are making love HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER First Line: Where will you spend eternity HOUSE ON DENMEAD STREET First Line: When I walk down the street - my street HOW SHALL WE SING THE LORD'S SONG IN A STRANGE LAND? Poem Text First Line: We crept up, watched a black Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology HOW SHALL WE SING THE LORD'S SONG IN A STRANGE LAND? First Line: We crept up, watched a black Last Line: But it will never feel like home Subject(s): Christianity; Religion HOW TO STOP First Line: Through the cracked door I saw Last Line: Who'd done me a kindness when I needed one HUMOR INSTITUTE First Line: Officials at the humor institute are sick Last Line: They don't believe you're really seeking knowledge HUSBAND ON THE MARSH First Line: I'm lost. Which is the point. That's why I THINK OF BEING IN THE GRAVE First Line: I think of being in the grave Last Line: At least compared to there IN ALESIA First Line: In alesia, our last town, our final stronghold Last Line: And if he were roman, he'd never have made us choose IN SAN ANTONIO First Line: I've left behind the beef-blood cure IN THE GAME First Line: From deep left field I watch the hitter Last Line: I edge off second, feint, and try %to judge the steal. %we're one behind, %with one man, me, on base IN THE NIGHT GARDEN First Line: It's cooling down - summer IN THE RED SEATS First Line: High in the red seats Last Line: Red rows, easing past strangers, %excusing myself IN THE WELL First Line: My father cinched the rope, %a noose around my waist Last Line: Then light. Then hands. Then breath JACOB First Line: In the rose and pale gold of %declining light Last Line: And limp home in the freshly fallen dark JIM THE CAR Poem Text First Line: He sputters his lips with a guttural rumble Last Line: He's a 440 hemi with a glass-pack exhaust Subject(s): Automobile Drivers JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN Poem Text First Line: On the prison's tramped-hard alabama clay Last Line: Then race, hand in hand, for shelter, laughing Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Women; Convicts JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN First Line: On the prison's tramped-hard alabama clay Last Line: Then race, hand in hand, for shelter, laughing KEYS First Line: Freed %from my winter coat giddy Last Line: Door breached, the windows at my mercy KISS GRANDMOTHERS GOOD NIGHT Recitation by Author Subject(s): Grandparents; Kissing; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers LAST TIME I SAW GENERAL LEE First Line: After we'd sung a song, the general LATE SPRING IN THE NUCLEAR AGE; FOR CLARE ROSSINI Poem Text First Line: The fish hit water nymphs, breaking surface Last Line: That our deaths will not be the last. Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Death; Nuclear War; Survival; Nuclear Freeze; Dead, The; Atomic Bomb; Hydrogen Bomb LIAR'S PSALM: HOMAGE TO THE FOX LIAR'S PSALM: REPENTANCE First Line: I repent the actual. It has never got me anywhere Last Line: A word to say. Forgive me now my finger in the wound, and knuckle deep Subject(s): Christianity; Religion LIGHTNING TREE First Line: While mary rakes the coals, leans fatwood chips LISTEN! THE FLIES First Line: I went there early with a bamboo fan LIVES AND STORIES First Line: After workshop we drifted to the union Last Line: His ardent songs and her elusive twitter LOVE LETTER FROM THE GRAVE: SIDNEY LANIER, 1881 First Line: I'm out of this. But you're still scoured by Subject(s): Lanier, Sidney (1842-1881) LOVE LETTER FROM THE GRAVE: SIDNEY LANIER, 1881 First Line: I'm out of this. But you're still scoured by Subject(s): Lanier, Sidney (1842-1881) MADONNA OF THE POMEGRANATE Poem Text First Line: The crowd the blue triangle of the madonna Last Line: Or says goodbye because he will live forever Subject(s): Statues MADONNA OF THE POMEGRANATE First Line: They crowd the blue triangle of the madonna MAGNOLIAS First Line: Alabama: the first, a girl child Last Line: Turning brown in the shape of fingertips MANGO First Line: The slippery flesh slides underneath the knife Last Line: I dream. I dream I enter and abide MARY MAGDALENE'S LEFT FOOT Poem Text First Line: I saw the picture in newsweek or time Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology MARY MAGDALENE'S LEFT FOOT First Line: I saw the picture in newsweek or time Last Line: Will ever know of where we place our lips Subject(s): Christianity; Religion MEMORIES OF LOOKOUT PRISON First Line: When john grew ill and couldn't eat MENDING SOCKS First Line: Late. Dad asleep and johnny carson on Last Line: Soon as I turned the corner, I'd peel them off %and walk to school bare-ankled, which was the style MILTON First Line: In the white bear inside the huge spread eagle Last Line: And consumed white bear, spread eagle, all hallows, bread street, %and a small house he'd leased the MINE First Line: Work in a mine and become a mine Last Line: And cannot relax. With each deep %probing cough, they are mining MOSTLY MY NIGHTMARES ARE DULL Poem Text First Line: Mostly my nightmares are dull. On autumn nights Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology MOSTLY MY NIGHTMARES ARE DULL First Line: Mostly my nightmares are dull. On autumn nights Last Line: As if I'll only -- fat chance -- live it once Subject(s): Christianity; Religion MY FATHER'S CORPSE Poem Text First Line: He lay stone still, pretended to be dead Last Line: To have the resurrected bastard back Subject(s): Fathers & Sons MY FATHER'S HOUSE First Line: From a second-story window in my father's house MY MOTHER PREDICTS TRAVEL TO EXOTIC DESTINATIONS First Line: Shut up and study harder Last Line: When you eat your final meal MY MOTHER'S HANDS Poem Text First Line: Yawning, she yanks the shuttle through the frame Last Line: Stuck motionlless and never moved Subject(s): Mothers; Family Life; Hands; Relatives MY MOTHER'S HANDS First Line: Yawning, she yanks the shuttle through the frame MYSTERY First Line: Returning the polished silver to its place NIGHT CLASS First Line: He'd pull a yellow clipping from his wallet Last Line: Till I could bear my own voice, and its silence NOVEMBER GARDEN: AN ELEGY Poem Text First Line: The zinnias - cut-and-come-again Last Line: To the first hard freeze. They cannot stop Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening OLD JOKE: CHRIST AND THE WOMAN TAKE IN ADULTRY First Line: She'd been clubbed to her knees when christ ON SENTIMENTALITY First Line: The first time I saw limelight, it didn't move me ON THE KILLING FLOOR First Line: The cows moaned deep bass lows that rumbled in ONE OF SOLOMON'S CONCUBINES, DYING, EXULTS IN HER VIRGINITY First Line: They tell me it's a fever. So ONE THREW A DIRT CLOD AND IT RAN First Line: One threw a dirt clod and it ran, and when it paused Last Line: So they could follow it forever, weeping and hurling stones OUR NEIGHBOR'S LITTLE YAPPY DOG Last Line: I want to feed him-tail-first, slowly- %into the yard man's chipper-shredder PACIFIST First Line: I said I was a pacifist Last Line: I said. Then, hell, I went outside, %and covered snails with salt PATCHWORK First Line: From the scrap barrel at work I pilfered scraps Last Line: These big loose stitches. I'd sew you tighter. She grinned,%and with a lipless peck she kissed the s PERSISTENCE OF NATURE IN OUR LIVES First Line: You find them in the darker woods Last Line: In june, beneath the yearning trees Subject(s): Nature PLANT TWO SEEDS First Line: Plant two seeds, pluck the weaker seedling Last Line: Plant two seeds. Death is never wasted PLAYING DEAD Poem Text Recitation First Line: Our father liked to play a game. Last Line: I’m way too young to quote ’em Subject(s): Fathers; Family Life; Death; Relatives; Dead, The PLUNGE First Line: I lumbered from the river and worked my way up the slippery bank Last Line: My footprints waited for my wet feet to obliterate and renew them POEM First Line: We were simply talking, probably work Last Line: And why do we always, always have to speak POEM First Line: Blunt daffodil spikes Last Line: The dead world's constant simmer POEMS FOR BAD CHILDREN First Line: We buried the bird but the cat dug her up Last Line: No matter how he begs and pleads %and tries to tell you why POET ASSERTETH NOTHING First Line: The poet asserteth nothing. This elegy's Last Line: And a lie, a beautiful and true, life-changing lie POSTCARDS OF THE HANGING First Line: Clifford, we've grown too far apart PRAYER First Line: The preacher had us get down on our knees PRAYER BEFORE BED Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Of course I pray for mommy's health Last Line: Let daddy bring it home Subject(s): Prayer; Fathers PRAYER FOR AN EX-WIFE First Line: Outside, wind whips green limbs of willow, loud Last Line: The willow, bless the bee, the wind, the pollen. %god bless the bedsheets and the salmon moon PRAYING DRUNK Poem Text First Line: Our father who art in heaven, I am praying drunk Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology PRAYING DRUNK First Line: Our father who art in heaven, I am praying drunk Last Line: He goes. As I fall past, remember me Subject(s): Christianity; Religion PSALM AGAINST PSALMS PURPLE First Line: As a boy I'd lie in bed and try Last Line: Divide and redivide, %accelerating RAIN First Line: It's raining women here in cincinnati Last Line: Eternity's a ball, history is a stick RAKING OUT THE NEST First Line: The ladder tilted. I took a deep Last Line: I eased down off the tilted ladder. %the clean house settled into silence RAPPROCHEMENT WITH DEATH First Line: I knew for sure on january seventeenth RAVEN DAYS First Line: These are what my father calls REBUILDING A BIRD First Line: The ape stared at the bird, then pulled Last Line: To hold, some day, beneath the knife RECURRING DREAM OF BATS First Line: Like shards of blood-warm darkness broken off REFLECTIONS ON COLD HARBOR First Line: It's after dawn the third of june RETURNING HOME TO BABYLON First Line: The eunuch who loves daniel - ashpenaz SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 1. AT THE PIANO Poem Text First Line: One night two hunters, drunk, came in the tent Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 1. AT THE PIANO First Line: One night two hunters, drunk, came in the tent Last Line: Which was rouged crimson with red clay and blood Subject(s): Christianity; Religion SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 2. EVE'S SIN First Line: Some summer nights when we were on the road Last Line: An undershirt clenched hard between my thighs SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 3. WHERE THE RIVER JORDAN ENDS First Line: She put two flowered hair clasps in my hair Last Line: I wanted to be saved again. Again SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 4. LOOSE CHANGE Poem Text First Line: We'd sip our water and wait till supper came Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 4. LOOSE CHANGE First Line: We'd sip our water and wait till supper came Last Line: Take this, you slut, I've stolen it for you Subject(s): Christianity; Religion SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 5. THE SOUTHERN CRESCENT WAS ON TIME First Line: I played piano while my daddy knelt Last Line: But what, I didn't ask or want to know SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 6. A KISS IN CHURCH First Line: I had to giggle at the way he sang Last Line: Nothing. I hope nothing. Nothing at all SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 7. GLOSSOLALIA First Line: There was one sagging bed, all his. We slept Last Line: Too much imagination? Not enough? SAINTS AND STRANGERS: 8. SAINTS AND STRANGERS First Line: You teach a baptist etiquette, she turns Last Line: And daddy takes the bowl and helps his plate SATAN First Line: Do you have satan in your heart? Last Line: I softly whispered, 'bang!' SENTIMENTAL DANGERS Poem Text First Line: When out of work and fierce with self-pity Last Line: And the river smelled like a wet, unwanted dog Subject(s): Unemployment; Dogs SENTIMENTAL DANGERS First Line: When out of work and fierce with self-pity Last Line: I thought of this today when I crossed the bridge %and the vier smelled like a wet, unwanted dog SERENADES IN VIRGINIA First Line: When we heard of a lady who SEVENTEEN First Line: Ahead of me, the dog reared on its rope Last Line: Then scattered through coarse orange and purple weeds SIDNEY LANIER IN MONTGOMERY: AUGUST 1866 Poem Text First Line: A walk abroad our sunday streets Last Line: As we do the stars an hour later Subject(s): Lanier, Sidney (1842-1881) SIDNEY LANIER IN MONTGOMERY: AUGUST 1866 First Line: A walk abroad our sunday streets Subject(s): Lanier, Sidney (1842-1881) SIGNS OF A CHANGE IN WEATHER First Line: The jackdaw chatters late, the chaffinch pipes at dawn Last Line: And honeysuckle reeks of burning rubber SNAKE First Line: When we open, %the snake opens %with us-old Last Line: Hungering %in the blood garden SOCIAL ORDER First Line: When I came home from first grade, mom Last Line: Let jesus love them all. Let jesus %love every goddamn one of us SOLDIER ON THE MARSH First Line: On leave, I sat on marsh grass, watched SOMETHING WAKES ME UP SONG OF THE DRUNKARDS WHOSE THROATS WILL BE CUT IN A MOMENT First Line: When the knife is through and our throats cleanly cut, let red wine Last Line: When it returns to work among the singers. %let us drink SOTTO VOCE First Line: I'm standing in the university SOUTHERN LITERATURE First Line: She hunched in the backseat and smoked Last Line: I chambered awe. I pulled the trigger STEPPINGSTONE Poem Text First Line: Home (from court square fountain Last Line: Grace, grace can’t contain Subject(s): Home STOKER'S SUNDAY MORNING First Line: The curate drones about abednego STUMP First Line: The gray wood of the oak stump, dappled brown, stopped Last Line: And merged once more our two diverging laughters SUFFICIENT WITNESS First Line: When I skip meals, it doesn't bother me SUMMER OF THE DROUGHT First Line: He wasn't right. We all knew that. His head SUPPER First Line: We shared our supper with the flames Last Line: How chaste the bright flame, because it can SWORDFISH Poem Text First Line: My fingertips marveled at the silvery shimmer, Last Line: Her azure eyelids shimmering with jade Subject(s): Relationships TELLING First Line: Dawn overtook scheherazade and she fell silent Last Line: And, lucky andrew, baptist boy - he read, %he lost himself, he made the trip to mecca THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI Poem Text First Line: A boy -- okay,it's me -- wears a fringed Last Line: One hand pressed hard into this crotch Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology THE CESTELLO ANNUNCIATION Poem Text First Line: The angel has already said, 'be not afraid' Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology THE CIRCUS IN THE TREES Poem Text First Line: I love to watch the gray squirrels leap Subject(s): Squirrels; Trees THE COW Poem Text First Line: I love the red cow Last Line: With her own creamy butter Subject(s): Cows THE FUNERAL SERMON Poem Text First Line: Almost droll / in its assault on magisterial Subject(s): Funerals; Fathers; Burials THE GIFT Poem Text First Line: They hung the lambs and cut t heir white throats. Blood Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology THE GLASS HAMMER Poem Text First Line: My mother's knickknack crystal hammer Last Line: Who hammered me – goddamn 'er Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives THE GREEN CHRIST Poem Text First Line: So long they almost touch Last Line: Or take me when he returns Subject(s): Jesus Christ; Trees THE IMAGINED COPPERHEAD Poem Text First Line: Without intending to hide, Last Line: And his priesthood. Subject(s): Snakes; Childhood Memories; Imagination; Serpents; Vipers; Fancy THE LIAR'S PSALM: REPENTANCE Poem Text First Line: I repent the actual. It has never got me anywhere Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Theology THE PERSISTENCE OF NATURE IN OUR LIVES Poem Text First Line: You find them in the darker woods Subject(s): Nature THE TOOTH FAIRY Poem Text First Line: Each time another tooth falls out Subject(s): Love - Complaints THESE PRIVILEGES DOTH THE WOLF HOLD TO THIS HOUR First Line: The wolf is neither faithful nor unfaithful Last Line: The wolf eyes everything. He's merely choosing THEY MUST BE POETRY First Line: A pigeon-colored dawn, and two generals march %are marched Last Line: They must be poetry THUMPING OF THE BED First Line: The thump, thump, thump of the hideous bed Last Line: Bang-a-bang, a-bang, a-bang, bang THUS First Line: I've never wanted childhood back TOOLS: AN ODE Poem Text First Line: The cheap / screwdriver reams the cheap Last Line: Not unmagisterial, / chorale Subject(s): Tools TOOLS: AN ODE First Line: The cheap %screwdriver reams the cheap Last Line: Each smile between old lovers TOOTH FAIRY First Line: Each time another tooth falls out Last Line: I only get a dime Subject(s): Love - Complaints TRANSISTOR RADIO First Line: Summer nights I huddled under Last Line: To older worlds, in the hot %dark of my own slow breathing TRICKS OF THE BODY First Line: Eyes rolled back in his head, my brother Last Line: The teeth, in their first slippage, grew whiter, %the half-grin grinning at its other half TWO EMBER DAYS IN ALABAMA First Line: Out with my dog at dawn - we couldn't sleep Last Line: The starting over. And then the never-ending TWO STRANGERS ENTER SODOM First Line: Those who'd seen them told the others Last Line: In our god-dazzled night TWO WORLDS OF SLEEP First Line: Someone old has come to live with us UGLY FLOWERS First Line: Brown fields freeze, unfreeze VERSIFICATION OF A PASSAGE FROM PENTHOUSE First Line: So he'd be sure to see me, we came in late Last Line: He yelled. It does sound pretty stupid now, %but what do I care. I sucked elvis preley's cock WALKING THE IDIOTS First Line: It seldom varies. Soon as they're out the door WAR'S END First Line: Birds trilled as if it were their last WEB First Line: Except for tennis shoes, I was naked when, walking from the WHAT A GRAND WORLD IT WOULD BE! First Line: Between us, miz porter tapped her yardstick hard Last Line: Miz porter kept on shouting, louder, louder! WHAT LIGHT DESTROYS Poem Text First Line: Today I'm thinking of st. Paul -- st. Paul Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Troy; Theology WHAT LIGHT DESTROYS First Line: Today I'm thinking of st. Paul -- st. Paul Last Line: That if the moon were my blue coin, I'd never spend it Subject(s): Christianity; Religion; Troy WHEN I WAS SAVED First Line: Do you still have a demon in your heart?' Last Line: Who was reborn each night, like lazarus, %by my own hand, beneath the sweat-drenched sheets WHEN THE WEAK LAMB DIES First Line: When the weak lamb %dies, the shepherd skins Last Line: As we choke, %gag, gulp, gag, %gorge ourselves WHY STOP? First Line: Why stop? The dancers are %still dancing Last Line: To start again when we are stronger WILD SWANS SKIP SCHOOL First Line: We beat wings. We %fly rings. We Last Line: Won't stay. We %fly 'way WIND First Line: Wind shook the dead but not-yet-fallen leaves Last Line: The leaves sang, dying, don't die, and I've obeyed them WISDOM AND ADVICE First Line: Sit straight and don't slouch. Don't whine Last Line: The world's not made to happy. %so put that in your pipe and smoke it WORLD OF TURTLES First Line: Despite the stink I keep on going back YELLOW STEEPLE First Line: On my way home from work, I jumped the fence YOUNG OAKS First Line: In rose and gold declining light Last Line: In the rose and pale gold dusk ZELDA SAYRE IN MONTGOMERY: 1942 First Line: I've put my easel on the patio |
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