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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: JOHNSON, PETER Matches Found: 133 Johnson, Peter Poet's Biography 133 poems available by this author 19TH HOLE CONDOM POEM First Line: Failed poet completes '19th hole condom poem,' about a Last Line: Will be arriving in the fall in search of the author %of thenow-famous '19th hole condom poem.' Subject(s): Fame; Poetry And Poets; Sex A MADE-FOR-TV ROMANCE Poem Text First Line: After a year of spirited intercourse Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Passion; Romance; Sex; Male-female Relations A MINOR CHARACTER IN AN OBSCURE LEGEND First Line: Once he dated a ukrainian girl Subject(s): Irony; Marriage; Prejudice; Ukraine; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Bias; Intolerance A RITUAL AS OLD AS TIME ITSELF Poem Text First Line: There's a man flying his wife Subject(s): Kites; Man-woman Relationships; Marriage; Unfaithfulness; Male-female Relations; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy ACCOMPLICE First Line: Suicide letters from strangers, stained pages stinking of fear. He Last Line: Instruments they use. He needs to know what kind of service he's %offering, who employs him, why he' Variant Title(s): The Accomplic APPRENTICE First Line: I studied the lives of the great Last Line: Could restore old women to their girlhood Subject(s): Apprentices ARTISTE MANQUEE First Line: Tatyana is unhappy Last Line: Tatyana is lowered into the tank Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death BARCELONA Poem Text First Line: Moonlight softens the hardwood floor. A wind-blown, hundred-year-old Last Line: They are beautiful Subject(s): Barcelona, Spain BARCELONA First Line: Moonlight softens the hardwood floor. A wind-blown, hundred-year-old Last Line: Should tell their stories, someone should tell them they are beautiful Subject(s): Barcelona, Spain BEDTIME STORY Poem Text First Line: When I was twelve, a horse appeared Subject(s): Animals; Childhood Memories; Horses; Imagination; Fancy BEDTIME STORY First Line: When I was twelve, a horse appeared Last Line: Could her the clash of armor when I closed my eyes Subject(s): Animals; Childhood Memories; Horses; Imagination CAIRO Poem Text First Line: Morning proclaimed by the cry of a Last Line: Wet, disheveled companions mount a distant dune Subject(s): Cairo, Egypt; Love CONCERNING KINSHIP OF CAT AND BIRD Poem Text First Line: The cat's on the windowsill Subject(s): Animals; Birds; Cats CONCERNING KINSHIP OF CAT AND BIRD First Line: The cat's on the windowsill Last Line: Both protest and accusation as old as the elements Subject(s): Animals; Birds; Cats COSTA RICA Poem Text First Line: Whatever gigi wants, gigi gets. This Last Line: Sink her teeth into my neck Subject(s): Love - Erotic DEEP FOOTPRINTS OF GOD First Line: Are you ready for the smoke? Are you ready for the mirrors? I dreamt Last Line: Me and say, 'soldier on, boy, soldier on' DOLL First Line: Sits upright in an ancient chest Last Line: A toothless angel who doesn't know better Subject(s): Children; Dolls; Toys DRAWING 101 First Line: Asked about the meaning of his abstract Last Line: Fucking, he says, just fucking Subject(s): Drawing; Sex; Youth EARLENE Poem Text First Line: I want a woman named earlene Subject(s): Machismo; Man-woman Relationships; Marriage; Male-female Relations; Weddings; Husbands; Wives EARLENE First Line: I want a woman named earlene Last Line: The way things are Subject(s): Machismo; Man-woman Relationships; Marriage EASTER, CIRCA 1960 First Line: Such a clattering of black shoes. Mine are very tight and have pointed toes Last Line: To my room. Lie down. Click my cuban heels Subject(s): Loss; Moving And Movers; Refugees; U.s. - Immigration And Emigration EINSTEIN'S BRAIN Poem Text First Line: Because of the certitude of death Subject(s): Einstein, Albert (1879-1955); Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals EINSTEIN'S BRAIN First Line: Because of the certitude of death Last Line: The results promise to be inconclusive Subject(s): Einstein, Albert (1879-1955); Reason ENIGMA OF THE STIGMA, OR VICE VERSA Poem Text First Line: I'm drawn to the ineffable, yet cathedrals leave me empty Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Religion; Spirituality; Male-female Relations; Theology ENIGMA OF THE STIGMA, OR VICE VERSA First Line: I'm drawn to the ineffable, yet cathedrals leave me empty Last Line: Mysteries inviting both penetration and erasure Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Religion; Spirituality EXTENDED FAMILY ROMANCE Poem Text First Line: I was so fat my kids couldn't wrap their arms around Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives EXTENDED FAMILY ROMANCE First Line: I was so fat my kids couldn't wrap their arms around Last Line: Alcoholic who'd stand half-naked at the window when grandfather shoveled Subject(s): Family Life FAMILY ROMANCE Poem Text First Line: He inherits currency worth half its value Subject(s): Pets FAMILY ROMANCE First Line: He inherits currency worth half its value Last Line: Maternal intervention made more alarming by its ambiguity Subject(s): Pets FAMOUS NEW ENGLAND LEGEND First Line: To the pious and penultimate Last Line: And charming the tiny, painted hearts into bleeding Subject(s): Devil; Evil; Suicide FIESOLE First Line: Intrigues are exhausting, so are pets and professors, photographers and Last Line: Bare-naked in her sky-blue running shoes. I swear it! FIVE SURE WAYS TOWARD SELF-ACTUALIZATION First Line: 1) disclose your mantra to complete strangers at the Last Line: These essays. Send them to your enemies on their birth- %days, wedding anniversaries, valentine's da Subject(s): Jokes; Nonsense FLAMENCO Poem Text First Line: Leave her alone, dad said. She's learning something this time. Last Line: Goes off like this, when I have to prepare myself for another rescue Subject(s): Family Life; Singing & Singers; Relatives; Songs GAMES First Line: My father orders me to run around a giant billiard Last Line: Their tiny, funereal flags Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers GENESIS: A RETROSPECTIVE Poem Text First Line: It began with division Subject(s): Creation; God; Religion; Spirituality; Theology GENESIS: A RETROSPECTIVE First Line: It began with division Last Line: But there'd always be incarnations, innuendos Subject(s): Creation; God; Religion; Spirituality GENEVA Poem Text First Line: Banished from one writer's colony Last Line: Dumbest dreams can astound us Subject(s): Geneva, Switzerland; Love GENIUS First Line: Look out flaubert Last Line: So very hard to pin down Subject(s): Poetry And Poets; Wisdom GUY TALK Poem Text First Line: My son asks, what does it mean when you're Subject(s): Machismo; Men; Reproductive System; Sex Organs; Genitalia GUY TALK First Line: My son asks, what does it mean when you're Last Line: If just for a moment Subject(s): Machismo; Men; Reproductive System HE SAID, SHE SAID Poem Text First Line: Is it something I said Subject(s): Language; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Words; Vocabulary; Male-female Relations HE SAID, SHE SAID First Line: Is it something I said Last Line: And what if it was a trick Subject(s): Language; Love; Man-woman Relationships HELL Poem Text First Line: It's probably like the excitement of your first cigarette Subject(s): Death; Future Life; Hell; Religion; Spirituality; Dead, The; Retribution; Eternity; After Life; Theology HELL First Line: It's probably like the excitement of your first cigarette Last Line: The least weird guy you know Subject(s): Death; Future Life; Hell; Religion; Spirituality HOOLIGAN ZOO First Line: Angry and depressed I take my son to the zoo Last Line: He couldn't hear their yellow heads roaring Subject(s): Parents; Zoos I'M WITH STUPID Poem Text First Line: There's a thumbprint of lamb's blood Subject(s): Ignorance; Social Protest; Dullness; Stupdity I'M WITH STUPID First Line: There's a thumbprint of lamb's blood Last Line: Falling from the sky Subject(s): Ignorance; Social Protest IDIOT First Line: So what if he tears off a dog's head Last Line: Twin with the weird eyes Subject(s): Children; Insanity ILLUD TEMPUS Poem Text First Line: I loved her in another life Subject(s): Life ILLUD TEMPUS First Line: I loved her in another life Last Line: Of a tulip and warned us of the future Subject(s): Life ISTANBUL First Line: It was all for many a rose-lipped maiden,' I explained to the bald cab Last Line: But here, it's dry as hell, even a stamp's hard to come by JOEY Poem Text First Line: Joey seemed better until he started calling everyone Last Line: Pretty good friend to joey Subject(s): Murder JOEY First Line: Joey seemed better until he started calling everyone Last Line: Pretty good friend to joey Subject(s): Murder JUST LISTEN Poem Text First Line: I sit by the window and watch a great mythological bird go down in flames Last Line: Growl like the chorus in an undiscovered greek tragedy Subject(s): Fear KEY WEST First Line: When I feel sad, I thank god I don't have tiny lizards crawling under my Last Line: The shivering of this airplane's unpredictable wing Subject(s): Air Travel; Key West, Florida LATE SHOW First Line: After rain, paint bubbled on a ceiling Last Line: My thoughts are never unanswered Subject(s): Night; Self; Sound LIBRARIAN First Line: The somber librarian believes he's kafka Last Line: Waxed, pointed, real severe-looking Subject(s): Kafka, Franz (1883-1924); Librarians And Libraries LOVER BOYS First Line: I saw the movie where indiana jones Last Line: We couldn't even share the la-z-boy without fighting Subject(s): Courtship; Fathers And Sons; Love Affairs; Women MADE-FOR-TV ROMANCE First Line: After a year of spirited intercourse Last Line: How lbullish she was on french kissing Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Passion; Romance; Sex MILLENNIUM First Line: In the basement Last Line: At the turn of the century Subject(s): Christmas; Family Life; Holidays; New Year MINOR CHARACTER IN AN OBSCURE LEGEND First Line: Once he dated a ukrainian girl Last Line: Big as a horse Subject(s): Irony; Marriage; Prejudice; Ukraine MOSES Poem Text First Line: I believe in the god of the hebrews Subject(s): Moses; Religion; Theology MOSES First Line: I believe in the god of the hebrews Last Line: Streetlights with each whack Subject(s): Moses; Religion NETTLES Poem Text First Line: She was running in the field with the tall nettles Subject(s): Fields; Fights; Pastures; Meadows; Leas NETTLES First Line: She was running in the field with the tall nettles Last Line: Even I wouldn't come upon it until years later Subject(s): Fields; Fights NEW COUNTRY First Line: I was with my grandfather when the boat landed Last Line: A glimmer in his bloodshot eye Subject(s): Grandparents; Immigrants; Past NEW YORK Poem Text First Line: Night, new york all gussied up. So Last Line: "arms or legs,"" she says, ""even if he were a stump" Subject(s): New York City; Love; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple NIGHT CRAWLER First Line: The last automobile of night passes. I exit, drop to knees on a wet blan Last Line: Suffer wet indignities of dirt for a handful of them Subject(s): Insects; Night OPEN HOUSE Poem Text First Line: It's not easy to love oneself Subject(s): Parents; Schools; Self-doubt; Parenthood; Students OPEN HOUSE First Line: It's not easy to love oneself Last Line: His bloody march across mexico Subject(s): Parents; Schools; Self-doubt PARIS Poem Text First Line: A white poodle named gigi. A fingernail Last Line: To whom shall I give it? Subject(s): Paris, France; Dogs; Love PENATES Poem Text First Line: My father is omniscient Subject(s): Fathers; Wisdom PENATES First Line: My father is omniscient Last Line: Behind her, father's sad eye blinks Subject(s): Fathers; Wisdom PESSIMIST First Line: The pessimist sits at his deak Last Line: If only my pen doesn't run out of ink Subject(s): Life; Pessimism PIRATES Poem Text Recitation First Line: I'm agitated when I read of pirates Subject(s): Pirates; Youth; Piracy; Buccaneers PIRATES First Line: I'm agitated when I read of pirates Last Line: Insatiable they be, and everywhere Subject(s): Pirates; Youth POET LAUREATE Poem Text First Line: They said they'd kill my son if I didn't go Last Line: Wear instead of the customary cap and bells Subject(s): Poetry & Poets POET LAUREATE First Line: They said they'd kill my son if I didn't go Last Line: Crown to wear instead of the customary cap and bells Subject(s): Poetry And Poets POST-MORTEM JACKET COVER First Line: At his funeral, as he hovers above Last Line: Alive and barely kicking Subject(s): Death; Funerals; Life PRETTY HAPPY Poem Text First Line: I have no siblings who've killed themselves Subject(s): Happiness; Life; Joy; Delight PRETTY HAPPY First Line: I have no siblings who've killed themselves Last Line: For the baseball bat I keep hidden under our bed Subject(s): Happiness; Life PRIVATE CITIZEN First Line: He has this dream where he walks Last Line: Him and his wife Subject(s): Dreams; Presidents, United States PROMETHEUS: THE TRUE STORY First Line: Mornming. The sun hardens Last Line: He has no reason to sleep Subject(s): Prometheus PROVIDER First Line: Let's say he's at the company christmas party Last Line: No place to call home Subject(s): Fathers; Houses; Men; Paranoia; Professions; Worry PROVINCETOWN Poem Text First Line: We laughed about the pine tree laying Last Line: Great loss, and that the liquor stores didn't close / until midnight Subject(s): Providence, Rhode Island; Love PROVINCETOWN First Line: We laughted about the pine tree laying its eggs, the blue fright wig I Last Line: Great loss, and that the liquor stores didn't close until midnight QUEST First Line: In the beginning, I was the termite on the tree Last Line: With two fiery arrows from her little red bow Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters; Fathers And Sons; Knowledge READINGS FROM THE BOOK OF EDUARDO First Line: A lonely life that leads to such imaginings...We decide to change Last Line: Raft, disappearing into the frozen darkness of my skull RIO First Line: Scrimmaging with a fat-calved bossa novan,' is how it came to me in Last Line: Bodies suggested the 'I's' had won the day Subject(s): Rio De Janeiro RITE OF PASSAGE First Line: After my friend tom passed a kidney stone Last Line: We laughed, peed out the fire, and went home Subject(s): Pain; Revenge; Sickness RITUAL AS OLD AS TIME ITSELF First Line: There's a man flying his wife Subject(s): Kites; Man-woman Relationships; Marriage; Unfaithfulness SANDALS First Line: So hot today I wear my new sandals. It's been a tough morning at Last Line: Patrolled by a burly security guard hired to keep us riffraff out SCAVENGERS Poem Text First Line: My birdfeeder, pagoda of weathered wood Last Line: Slab of concrete, the hot, august sun just now on the rise Subject(s): Birds SCAVENGERS First Line: My birdfeeder, pagoda of weathered wood Last Line: August sun just now on the rise Subject(s): Birds SCHOLAR First Line: There's an imaginary line between his living room and Last Line: Wondering, just wondering, if it might miss a beat Subject(s): Scholarship And Scholars SCOTLAND Poem Text First Line: We started out highbrow, riding the royal scotsman, curling through Subject(s): Scotland SCOTLAND First Line: We started out highbrow, riding the royal scotsman, curling through Last Line: I say, as I approach the apparition, heroically adjusting my kilt, 'all this %commotion makes me ser Subject(s): Scotland SHADOWBOXING Poem Text First Line: I'm telling my story to this couple who're over for dinner, they're friends, though not best friends Last Line: It takes some getting used to Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Marriage; Theater & Theaters; Motor Vehicle Bureaus; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Stage Life SIBLING RIVALRY Poem Text First Line: I have no older sister Subject(s): Brothers & Sisters SIBLING RIVALRY First Line: I have no older sister Last Line: The one I can't remember Subject(s): Brothers And Sisters SOMEBODY'S FOOL First Line: He walks barefoot on thumbtacks Last Line: On little fog feet Subject(s): Poetry And Poets SONNET First Line: Out of this world's imperial terror STRANGE MEN First Line: She said, I am heaven, thou art earth Last Line: Now climbing through her bedroom window Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Men; Sex TARANTULA First Line: I'm drinking coffee with an olive-skinned woman Last Line: But the memory of the tarantula, its proximity, defeats me Subject(s): Insects; Man-woman Relationships; Spiders TATTOO Poem Text First Line: There's a tattoo of a tiny gun on my hand symbolic of the tiny wars I Last Line: My other hand until I fall asleep Subject(s): Self-criticism; Tattoos TATTOO First Line: There's a tattoo of a tiny gun on my hand symbolic of the tiny wars I Last Line: Bed, where I stare at the tiny doorknob tattooed on my other hand %until I fall asleep Subject(s): Self-criticism; Tattoos TESTIMONY Poem Text First Line: Today I learned 'gomez' meant ox urine Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers; Relatives TESTIMONY First Line: Today I learned 'gomez' meant ox urine Last Line: Hardening at the mere thought of 'drink' Subject(s): Family Life; Fathers TEX-MEX Poem Text First Line: Moonlight softens the hardwood Last Line: Home with the wrong gigi Subject(s): Identity TEX-MEX First Line: Everything in this world passes, but love will last forever.' if this is Last Line: Seems as cruel as hunger-the price to pay for going home with the %wrong gigi THE ANGRY MAN Poem Text First Line: Six o'clock and caleb pulls up, out of breath from his eight block trip Last Line: Just driven it into the upper lever of the bleacher seats Subject(s): Anger; Revenge THE APPRENTICE Poem Text First Line: I studied the lives of the great Last Line: Could restore old women to their girlhood Subject(s): Apprentices THE HOOLIGAN ZOO Poem Text First Line: Angry and depressed I take my son to the zoo Subject(s): Parents; Zoos; Parenthood THE LIBRARIAN Poem Text First Line: The somber librarian believes he's kafka Subject(s): Kafka, Franz (1883-1924); Librarians & Libraries; Library; Librarians THE MILLENNIUM Poem Text First Line: In the basement Subject(s): Christmas; Family Life; Holidays; New Year; Nativity, The; Relatives THE NEW COUNTRY Poem Text First Line: I was with my grandfather when the boat landed Last Line: Glimmer of a glimmer in his bloodshot eye Subject(s): Grandparents; Immigrants; Past; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration THE QUEST Poem Text First Line: In the beginning, I was the termite on the tree Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Fathers & Sons; Knowledge THE WATCHERS Poem Text First Line: Grandmother's nose is white from the icy window Last Line: Why we watch him Subject(s): Marriage; Unfaithfulness; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy THE WORST OF TIMES Poem Text First Line: Two men agree to swap wives Subject(s): Domestic Relations; Love - Complaints; Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives THIRD PERSONS First Line: He shouldn't have been so accommodating Last Line: For such an intrusion Subject(s): Fights; Marriage TIME TO FESS UP FOR NOW First Line: Time to fess up: eduardo has a shadowson, joined at his hip by a number Last Line: Name-rarely spoken, unremembered TOUCH Poem Text First Line: Even when standing on a bus Last Line: Love and abuse at the hands of many strangers Subject(s): Touch (sense) TOUCH First Line: Even when standing on a bus Last Line: Love and abuse at the hands of many strangers Subject(s): Touch (sense) TRANSYLVANIA Poem Text First Line: I'm singeing my toenails, tacking a pig's Last Line: Pitchfork. I'll hemoflagellate him UNIVERSAL MEDICINE Poem Text First Line: A man discovered the universal medicine Subject(s): Mankind; Medicine; Human Race; Drugs, Prescription UNIVERSAL MEDICINE First Line: A man discovered the universal medicine Last Line: Even more perfect galaxies Subject(s): Mankind; Medicine WAKE Poem Text First Line: A casket that couldn't care less Subject(s): Family Life; Funerals; Relatives; Burials WAKE First Line: A casket that couldn't care less Last Line: Heavy black doors opening and closing Subject(s): Family Life; Funerals WATCHERS First Line: Grandmother's nose is white from the icy window Last Line: Why we watch him Subject(s): Marriage; Unfaithfulness WOMEN THEY COULD KILL FOR Poem Text First Line: Two brothers laughing about it now Last Line: Clawing on a beer-wet linoleum floor Subject(s): Brothers; Fights; Jealousy; Women; Half-brothers WOMEN THEY COULD KILL FOR First Line: Two brothers laughing about it now Last Line: Clawing on a beer-wet linoleum floor Subject(s): Brothers; Fights; Jealousy; Women WORST OF TIMES First Line: Two men agree to swap wives Last Line: These pains in the asses Subject(s): Domestic Relations; Love - Complaints; Marriage YOUNG WERTHER First Line: She was reading the concise history of knowledge Last Line: He would have believed anything Subject(s): History; Poetry And Poets |
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