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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: JOHNSON, DENIS Matches Found: 151 Johnson, Denis Poet's Biography 151 poems available by this author 20-APR-69 First Line: When I think that I am watching Last Line: Are disapperng toward their dinners A POEM ABOUT BASEBALL Poem Text First Line: For years the scenes bustled Last Line: And I might strike out Subject(s): Baseball AFTER MAYAKOVSKY First Line: It's after one. You're probably alone Last Line: I swear you'll never see my face again ALL-NIGHT DINERS Poem Text First Line: At another table, some south americans are singing Subject(s): Restaurants; Cafes; Diners ALL-NIGHT DINERS First Line: At another table, some south americans are singing Last Line: Can be shared but not this survival Subject(s): Restaurants BASEMENT First Line: Last night I dreamed Last Line: Who will never walk again BEHIND OUR HOUSE First Line: The cedar mapped with water and hung with rain Last Line: Dark on the day, help me BLESSING First Line: Christ by the dumpster peeling and tossing Last Line: The laughter spilling from our broken necklaces BOARDING First Line: One of these days under the white Last Line: These days, my god, jesus christ, %I'm telling you out of my soul BOY AGED SIX REMEMBERING First Line: This has been a Last Line: Often composed of memories CABINET MEMBER First Line: Wake up %in the mornng: a critical Last Line: I had something in my hands CALIFORNIA First Line: Drove south two days ago Last Line: And you get drunk, and your scars are dancing CHECKING THE TRAPS First Line: Morning %the door opening, changing Last Line: Closing the door CHILD IS BORN IN THE MIDWEST First Line: As I look on your struggle I remember Last Line: Could the womb contain your loneliness CIRCLE First Line: I passed a helicopter Last Line: And involve me forever in their grief COMING OF AGE First Line: Outside the spring Last Line: High music encounters %us before %it begins, and we are dancing COMMUTING First Line: We understand well that we must hold Last Line: And weight, the heart's cinder %turning over CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH First Line: I used to sneak into the movies without paying Last Line: These things speak the clear promise of heaven CONSEQUENCE OF GRAVITY First Line: My wife's voice yelling from Last Line: I will never touch her, hold her CROSSING OVER THE ICE First Line: I should have brought Last Line: Of downward flight under an expanse of snow CROW First Line: Crow shines on a dead branch that may have Last Line: For transgressions we made in ignorance DRINK First Line: When I woke up this morning Last Line: With the wine of next summer DRIVING TOWARD WINTER First Line: Miraculously %there is the sun, coming back Last Line: Distinguished movements of an unusual fish DRUNK IN THE DEPOT First Line: Drunk here in the railway depot Last Line: To get them. It should have been %night, and it is DRY DRY LAND. HERE Last Line: The land, its dry infinitude EMPLOYMENT IN THE SMALL BOOKSTORE First Line: The dust almost motionless Last Line: And now that is all over ENOUGH First Line: The terminal flopped out Last Line: It takes to leave home and then go back again EVENING WITH THE EVENING First Line: The night is very tall Last Line: That precedes him, darkness of which he is he center FALLING First Line: There is a part Last Line: This first last line in weeks FEET First Line: Obedient to the laws of meat we walk Last Line: My name is james man %life sentence FLAMES First Line: In 1972 I crossed kansas on a bus Last Line: Of love and failure making %a speechless church out of your dark %and invisible face FOR JANE First Line: At left, with a net, in a light Last Line: Of these words to be those things FOR THE DEATH OF THE OLD WOMAN First Line: One after another along Last Line: By themselves, can you walk on them FROM A BERKELEY NOTEBOOK First Line: One changes so much Last Line: Rain like mist, among the pines GLIMPSED OLD WOMAN IN THE SUPERMARKET First Line: From the sidewalk I can see her Last Line: Your trembling delicate loins GRAY DAY IN MIAMI First Line: Our love has been Last Line: Gull ocean trembling its boats GROCERY ON VENICE BEACH First Line: Thank you salesperson I see your heart Last Line: Of malibu the cold %small lights HEAT Poem Text First Line: Here in the electric dusk your naked lover Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll HEAT First Line: Here in the electric dusk your naked lover Last Line: The bogus moon of tenderness and magic %you hold out to each prisoner like a cup of light? Subject(s): Music, Rock HEAVENS First Line: From mind to mind Last Line: Like the drowned out of our shirts Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism HONOR First Line: At a party in a spanish kind of tiled house Last Line: In barrooms before a vast audience of the dead Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism IN A LIGHT OF OTHER LIVES First Line: It's raining, and the streetlights on the wet Last Line: It is the examiner who is a fist IN A RENTED ROOM Poem Text First Line: This is a good dream, even if the falling is Subject(s): Hotels; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses IN A RENTED ROOM First Line: This is a good dream, even if the falling is Last Line: Darknesses before I strike the correct sleep, and dream Subject(s): Hotels IN PRAISE OF DISTANCES First Line: As the winter slips up under Last Line: Will never be sorted out INCOGNITO LOUNGE First Line: The manager lady of this Last Line: And were married to a deep %comprehension and terror Subject(s): Popular Culture - United States INNER WEATHER First Line: This is the middle of the night Last Line: Of the weather, that something falling burns on them IOWA CITY First Line: The stifled musk of wood beneath linoleum Last Line: In a silence and in a tiny souvenir KILLED IN THE WAR I DIDN'T GO TO First Line: I have seen you walking out Last Line: And fishes in my eyes and my feet moving through the world LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW POEM Poem Text First Line: The sounds of traffic Last Line: It shines so Subject(s): City & Town Life; Social Commentary LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW POEM First Line: The sounds of traffic Last Line: With some lubricant %it shines so MAN AMONG THE SEALS First Line: At night here in the park it is different Last Line: Under balloons through the lighted park MAN WHO WAS KILLED First Line: Whatever the wind says that divides Last Line: Through the rain, dreaming after his life MINUTES First Line: You and I - we agitate Last Line: Suffering without end MONK'S INSOMNIA First Line: The monastery is quiet. Seconal Last Line: Flying in their airplanes in the dark MOURNING IN THE HALLWAY First Line: My neighbor's voice occurs within the hall, sadly Last Line: Away with, I leap to hold my own son MOVIE WITHIN A MOVIE First Line: In august the steamy saliva of the streets of the sea Last Line: For now they are in another world NIGHT First Line: I am looking out over Last Line: Life. I am desolate. %what is happening to me NOW First Line: Whatever the foghorns are Last Line: I am what it says NUDE Poem Text First Line: My luck has been so all but Last Line: Soft skin could be managed? Subject(s): Desire NUDE First Line: My luck has been so all but Last Line: Soft skin could be managed OCEAN AND WILSHIRE First Line: The jogging women Last Line: While you prayed ON A BUSY STREET A MAN WALKS BEHIND A WOMAN First Line: There is the chance that you will step Last Line: Do it, I didn't do it ON THE MORNING OF A WEDDING First Line: At the barber Last Line: When he kills me ON THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA First Line: Stranger, to one like you Last Line: Already stupefied, toward oblivion ORCHARD First Line: I was a child Last Line: Nothing -- a trick of twilight, wind, and flowers OTHER AGE First Line: A petal dripping off a dead flower, dew on the benches, a dead shoe Last Line: And they are afraid OUR SADNESS First Line: There's a sadness about looking back when you get to the end Last Line: They'll have %sadness, sadness, sadness OUT THERE WHERE THE MORNING First Line: Out there where the morning Last Line: As it grinds and echoes against the metal PALO ALTO First Line: Ever day I have to learn more about shame Last Line: And we told one another we ought to be ashamed PASSENGERS First Line: The world will burst like an intestine in the sun, Last Line: Over my life, and I will never die. PAST First Line: I will always love you Last Line: I'll be wounded along scars POEM Poem Text First Line: There was something I can't bring myself POEM First Line: Loving you is every bit as fine Last Line: Of light the speed of light the speed of light POEM First Line: There was something I can't bring myself Last Line: I pulled to the side of the road and wrote this poem Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Exiles; Marginality, Social POEM ABOUT BASEBALLS First Line: For years the scenes bustled Last Line: And I might strike out POEM QUESTIONING THE EXISTENCE OF THE SEA First Line: In exactly the same Last Line: Rain over this desert PRAYER: THAT WE MAY BE GIVEN THIS DAY THE USUAL BUSINESS First Line: Some days the automobiles are smiling Last Line: Driven by bright fire PRAYERS OF THE INSANE First Line: The crocuses are all closed up; the spring is cold Last Line: I bow my head to pray, and they are what I see PROPOSAL First Line: The early inhabitants of this continent Last Line: In the danger that carries us like a mother QUICKLY AGING HERE Poem Text First Line: Nothing to drink in Last Line: South, into the kitchen, into / nowhere? Subject(s): Middle Age QUICKLY AGING HERE First Line: Nothing to drink in Last Line: South, into he kitchen, into %nowhere RADIO First Line: He bears a rakish feather Last Line: I am only beginning to understand %whose orphanhood, whose tears RED DARKNESS First Line: Endeavor is that of seeking to be understood Last Line: That I shall not have to suffer any change RETIREMENT First Line: I would like to be just an old man with my gin Last Line: Very drunk, when I did not lie to you RISEN First Line: How sad, how beautiful Last Line: The angels stand up inside themselves ROCKEFELLER COLLECTION OF PRIMITIVE ART First Line: Solter my neighbor rocks his lover through the human night Last Line: Why can't I imagine this Subject(s): Art And Artists SAINT First Line: I'm drinking tea, looking out over santa monica Last Line: All around it, and organizations weeping SKEWBALD HORSE First Line: I wish to tell about a time Last Line: Oh, it was summer! But it was dusk SOMEONE THEY AREN'T First Line: Of all the movies that have made me sweat Last Line: Someone to make them feel betrayed one more time SONG First Line: The small, high wailing Last Line: By our lives of failure, %spent looking everywhere %for someone to say these words SONNETS CALLED ON THE SACREDNESS First Line: Close by the jerkwater rancheros tonight, the round Last Line: The boy in the cub scout uniform settles down and eats SPACEMAN TOM AND COMMANDER JOE First Line: I will never be his father. He will never be my son Last Line: You are my father. I am your son SPECTACLE First Line: In every house Last Line: Stranger %oh! Stranger SPRING First Line: By now even the ground Last Line: Moving in his own shadow against the next STORY First Line: Dunking one %adjacent a disturbed Last Line: I will know by these signs STORY First Line: Dunking one Last Line: I will seek these things, %I will know by these signs STREET SCENE First Line: Everything is water Last Line: Surface over the falling deep, only water STUDENTS First Line: They hold out their hands crushed Last Line: She feels as though she begins, now, to fly SUPERMARKETS OF LOS ANGELES First Line: The supermarkets Last Line: What mouths are saying SURREPTITIOUS KISSING Poem Text First Line: I want to say that Last Line: Holding us up now Subject(s): Desire SURREPTITIOUS KISSING First Line: I want to say that Last Line: Holding us up to now SURVIVORS First Line: Yes, it slips down to this time, dissolves Last Line: Of graves with no one in them SWAY Poem Text First Line: Since I find you will no longer love Last Line: And ends I did not know who she was Subject(s): Male-female Relationships SWAY First Line: Since I find you will no longer love, Last Line: And ends I did not know who she was. TALKING RICHARD WILSON BLUES, BY RICHARD CLAY WILSON Poem Text First Line: You might as well take a razor Last Line: Ultrahigh frequency station. And it goes like this Subject(s): Love - Complaints; Male-female Relationships TALKING RICHARD WILSON BLUES, BY RICHARD CLAY WILSON First Line: You might as well take a razor Last Line: Ultrahigh frequency station. And it goes like this TELLING THE HOUR First Line: If you want to know Last Line: Have I killed an animal' TEN MONTHS AFTER TURNING THIRTY First Line: We've been to see a movie, a rotten one Last Line: Of jerusalem knowing things we never learned THE BOARDING Poem Text First Line: One of these days under the white Last Line: I’m telling you out of my soul Subject(s): City & Town Life; Social Commentary THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH Poem Text First Line: I used to sneak into the movies without paying Last Line: These things speak the clear promise of heaven Subject(s): Heroism; Travel; Crime & Criminals; Death; Soldiers; Heroes; Heroines; Journeys; Trips; Dead, The THE FLAMES Poem Text First Line: In 1972 I crossed kansas on a bus Last Line: A speechless church out of your dark / and invisible face Subject(s): Buses; Farm Life; Agriculture; Farmers THE HEAVENS Poem Text First Line: From mind to mind Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse THE HONOR Poem Text First Line: At a party in a spanish kind of tiled house Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse THE INCOGNITO LOUNGE Poem Text First Line: The manager lady of this Subject(s): Popular Culture - United States THE ROCKEFELLER COLLECTION OF PRIMITIVE ART First Line: Solter my neighbor rocks his lover through the human night Subject(s): Art & Artists THE STORY Poem Text First Line: Dunking one Last Line: I will know by these signs Subject(s): Reality THE WHITE FIRES OF VENUS Poem Text First Line: We mourn this senseless planet of regret Last Line: Of the person one meant to become Subject(s): Aliens; Extraterrestrials THE WORDS OF A TOAST Poem Text First Line: The man wants to make love to the crippled man's sister Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse THERE ARE TRAINS WHICH WILL NOT BE MISSED First Line: They tell you if you write great poems Last Line: Distances deliberately like a train THIS IS THURSDAY. YOUR EXAM WAS TUESDAY' First Line: It is a fine, beautiful Last Line: That has nourished me THRONE OF THIRD HEAVEN OF NATIONS MILLENNIUM GEN. ASSEMBLY First Line: I dreamed I had been dreaming Last Line: And I command you not to fear TO ENTER AGAIN First Line: For the first few instants in Last Line: Toward us, toward our distant perfection TOMORROW First Line: I take Last Line: That the weather tomorrow in %the mountains will be unprecedented TRAVELING First Line: When I was waiting for a haircut at joe's Last Line: In the chair said 'he can't hear a word of nothing' TWO First Line: The airplane is like silver Last Line: Contained, but coming, going ULYSSES First Line: The hull of the knife and the surf Last Line: And the archipelago %of the mirror UPON WAKING First Line: At the far edge of earth, night Last Line: Has come to peace in this new room VEIL First Line: When the tide lay under the clouds Last Line: And you'd know. You would know goddamn it. And never be able to say VESPERS First Line: The towels rot and disgust me on this damp Last Line: Memory and peace -- the grip of chaos VICTORY First Line: The woman whose face has just finished breaking Last Line: Only face, this time, again, I haved not won VIETNAM Poem Text First Line: I bought a pair of ray bans from the devil Last Line: And I'm still laughin Subject(s): Vietnam VISITS First Line: Today, carl and I took Last Line: I just want you to smell the rain %on this straw WHAT THIS WINDOW OPENS ON First Line: Several of those faces on the avenue Last Line: What the voices must mean when they are singing WHERE THE FAILED GODS ARE DRINKING First Line: Virgin stranded on the tennis court Last Line: And the trees too are beautiful and dead WHITE FIRES OF VENUS First Line: We mourn this senseless planet of regret Last Line: Of the person one meant to become WHITE, WHITE COLLARS Poem Text First Line: We work in this building and we are hideous Subject(s): Office Employees; Clerks WHITE, WHITE COLLARS First Line: We work in this building and we are hideous Last Line: And break, and I see my previous lives Subject(s): Office Employees WHY I MIGHT GO TO THE NEXT FOOTBALL GAME Poem Text First Line: Sometimes you know Last Line: Was wide open! The end was wide open . . . Subject(s): Youth; Love - Beginnings WHY I MIGHT GO TO THE NEXT FOOTBALL GAME First Line: Sometimes you know Last Line: Was wide open! The end was wide open WILLITS, CALIFORNIA First Line: Meadows that wreck with a solitude Last Line: Waiting under the beautiful eyes of billboards WINTER First Line: On the streets, which have gutters Last Line: There! Emphasizing on the tabletop WOMAN First Line: There's nobody here Last Line: The dark grows, and the time comes Subject(s): Restaurants WOMAN AT THE SLOT MACHINE First Line: If the children were not locked Last Line: The radio, it's jack benny and he's playing %the violin WOMAN IN THE MOON First Line: Who wouldn't have been afraid Last Line: And nothing %will ever bring you back. %and nothing will ever get rid of you WOMAN IS WALKING ALONE LATE AT NIGHT First Line: No one can know through what silence she moves. For long Last Line: Was lost, gone to the air, was really gone WORDS OF A TOAST First Line: The man wants to make love to the crippled man's sister Last Line: What can I do for you but drink this glass of water? Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism WORKING OUTSIDE AT NIGHT Poem Text First Line: The moon swells Last Line: My heart just lies down, / a stone Subject(s): Night; Nature; Bedtime WORKING OUTSIDE AT NIGHT First Line: The moon swells Last Line: My heart just lies down %a stone YEAR'S FIRST SNOW First Line: Emptying into Last Line: Has been descending YOU First Line: You were as blind to me Last Line: Not even if you came out %of a prison, and begged me |
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