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Author: JONES, HETTIE
Matches Found: 172


Jones, Hettie    Poet's Biography
172 poems available by this author


11-OCT       
First Line: The dead have dispersed
Last Line: Breathe them once again %and begin


2-OCT       
First Line: We lived among blossoming words
Last Line: Try to feel the word %on your lips


25-SEP       
First Line: Two weeks breathing the dead
Last Line: But oh, of what is god made?


3/1/1987       
First Line: Julio, our rabbit
Last Line: And scaled, even the rough broad leafed %and thorned


5:00 PM, EASTERN STANDARD TIME, NOVEMBER       
First Line: Nothing opposes
Last Line: Such a meager beacon
Subject(s): Cities


8/1/1986       
First Line: The first is on the lawn
Last Line: Tender as those animals


ACCIDENTAL PLEASURES       
First Line: Whenever I hear that song about
Last Line: The sweet black bread


ACTION       
First Line: Over the belly gone to seed go the scarred hands
Last Line: The husk the loss %the self


ADULTERY -- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN 1996       
First Line: This is the way they died for love
Last Line: Is the edge %in the curve
Subject(s): Cities


AFTERTUNE    Poem Text    
First Line: I've been alive since thirty-four
Last Line: And singing
Subject(s): Self


AFTERTUNE       
First Line: I've been alive since thirty-four
Last Line: And singing %and singing
Subject(s): Cities


AIR JAMAICA       
First Line: The bull bay road runs paved
Last Line: Blocks for those whose home was always %plum, or tamarind


ALBERT AYLER'S FLOWERS       
First Line: Albert, the flowers
Last Line: The music took us %all on
Subject(s): Cities


ALL THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS       
First Line: When I left you today I came to a
Last Line: Once again %back to us
Subject(s): Cities


ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD       
First Line: Death, you bastard %give me back dennis charles!
Last Line: All the time in the world


ALL TOLD       
First Line: It's warm in new york, my favorite place, and everyone
Last Line: Out there in that destiny we share


ANATOMY       
First Line: In the mirror, a
Last Line: What strengthens as %the dying body declines?


ANIMAL VEGETABLE       
First Line: I'm the kind of woman who'll carry
Last Line: Are those for me, he says, are those for %me


APR-99       
First Line: Friday, mother, you'll be ninety-seven-eighty-one alive
Last Line: I've held on to your warning


APRIL       
First Line: One robin, one yellow willow %love braving the rain on the wrong highway
Last Line: April, I'm almost over you %again


AS IF       
First Line: You were here, as if I cared
Last Line: Her head %on my shoulder
Subject(s): Cities


AT THE MIAMI VICE REST STOP       
First Line: I'm headed for the bathroom
Last Line: Meet mine, mi %ami vice


ATLANTA DEATH 1981       
First Line: This green ribbon I wear
Last Line: While she dies
Subject(s): Cities


ATTITUDE       
First Line: So it's come to this: I'm
Last Line: Full view, elder ain't over, %you know?


BACK ON THE BROOKLYN QUEENS EXPRESSWAY       
First Line: The girl %who watched the trains
Last Line: She's the one %who enters and leaves


BATES DIRECT       
First Line: A long day with nothing to do
Last Line: But you hope. So find the dark first, alice %and bon voyage


BIKE STOPS HERE       
First Line: Sixty years and still I feel september evening
Last Line: The will commands %the body understands


BIRTHDAY PRESENTS 1989 (FOR JOYCE JOHNSON)       
First Line: A lost 1970 woolworth earring
Last Line: Rush through the rain
Subject(s): Cities


BON VOYAGE FOR ERIC FOR LOVE OF LIFE AND THE LOAN OF LAROUSSE       
First Line: Without tomorrow a deux-adieu!
Last Line: Je veux entendre %un autre monde


BROOKLYN SUGAR       
First Line: Might have been the way
Last Line: A little brooklyn sugar in her bowl


BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA       
First Line: A highway. Night. Passing
Last Line: Under the weight of them
Subject(s): Cities


CAUGHT, APRIL 2002 - A PRAYER FOR PEACE       
First Line: The islamic army %for the liberation
Last Line: And we will pray


CHEESE       
First Line: The big cheese has become a buddhist
Last Line: And has he fled his life in cheese?


CIVIL WAR    Poem Text    
First Line: Into my sister's kitchen
Last Line: I am forever / committed
Subject(s): Birds; Sisters


CIVIL WAR       
First Line: Into my sister's kitchen
Last Line: I am forever %committed
Subject(s): Cities


COLD SNAPS       
First Line: Working toward the winter moon
Last Line: Like a woman, he says, you never know %when she will snap


COPIES       
First Line: Over the counter, in english and bengali
Last Line: And comes to rest %on her soft breast


CUPS       
First Line: Miss pearl, before she died, said
Last Line: You weren't worth %a cup of greens


DANCE DANCE DANCE       
First Line: In first position: ass tight, legs turned out
Last Line: One two three four five


DAY AT A TIME       
First Line: On the line in front of me
Last Line: Wheeling, and eating
Subject(s): Cities


DINNER IN THE DINER       
First Line: In the diner they always play music
Last Line: As a swamp, and oh his arms %might be warm


DOORMAN HAS BEEN PAROLED       
First Line: I caught her out of uniform
Last Line: Where more than many doormen %take her place


DRESSES: FOUR OF MINE FOR NAIMA BALAHI    Poem Text    
First Line: So narrow they seem sewn
Last Line: Unable to wear them, unable to part with them
Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Women's Rights


DRESSES: FOUR OF MINE FOR NAIMA BALAHI       
First Line: So narrow they seem sewn
Last Line: Unable to wear them, unable to part with them
Subject(s): Cities


ELEGY FOR ALLEN       
First Line: Blue light at eight
Last Line: Enter with grace
Subject(s): Cities


EMINE AND HAMIDE       
First Line: I have this feeling you were beaufiful
Last Line: Of every size and shape and shade
Subject(s): Cities


EMPTY NEST SYNDROME       
First Line: Alone again
Last Line: And I too do %float away
Subject(s): Cities


ESCAPE, KABUL       
First Line: I said darling, I said
Last Line: And so I will not stay for death


FINALLY NARCISSA       
First Line: The girl has found herself
Last Line: Her thoughts like wild vines
Subject(s): Cities


FIVE ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE       
First Line: Bob dylan and queen victoria
Last Line: Early % we learn new twists


FOR MY DAUGHTERS       
First Line: They call each other
Last Line: See we tender %women %live %on
Subject(s): Cities


FOR THE AFRICAN STREET BOY CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL AIDS AWARENESS       
First Line: And what will this moment of silence do
Last Line: Remember! Silence equals death!


FOR THE TRAFFIC LIGHT AT 10TH AND B       
First Line: Holding hands with his little sister
Last Line: Small hands so willingly %swinging


FORGIVING THE TRAVELER       
First Line: Every five years his love
Last Line: Sometime I'll be real
Subject(s): Cities


FREDDIE, IN MEMORIAM       
First Line: I used to know a man
Last Line: The way I never did %before
Subject(s): Cities


FROM FOUR HETTIES       
First Line: This is for hettie barnes
Last Line: Forty years later I send the same
Subject(s): Cities


GENUFLECTION TO PETTY OFFICER FIRST CLASS LEONETTE MASTERS       
First Line: Shown in a photo
Last Line: Into the frame, obliterating %this picture


GENUFLECTION TO THE GOD OF LOST GLOVES       
First Line: In the immeasurable cold we grow %cruel but honest
Last Line: Oh god of lost gloves, I'm on my knees, and here %is my bare hand


GLOBAL WARNING       
First Line: You want to look hard
Last Line: Giving way giving life giving water


GOOD OLD PAINT       
First Line: The car shows my hand
Last Line: And me %I burn rubber
Subject(s): Cities


GROCERIES       
First Line: Her vegetables fresh, her lipstick too
Last Line: Two-for-a-dollar %asian pears


GUNNERY SERGEANT OSCAR R.R. FLAT TOP LEE, U.S. MARINES, RETIRED       
First Line: Uncle flat's cotton knit kufi
Last Line: Over the black road, the white moon


HARD DRIVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Saturday the stuffed bears were up again
Variant Title(s): Untitled (teddy Bears On The Highway)
Subject(s): Cities; Urban Life


HARD DRIVE       
First Line: Saturday the stuffed bears were up again
Last Line: To drive my car in any direction
Variant Title(s): Untitled (teddy Bears On The Highway
Subject(s): Cities


HARE KRISHNA HAUTE COUTURE       
First Line: The hare krishna hang their robes
Last Line: Of those of us who offer up our %bloomers to the city
Subject(s): Cities


HAVING BEEN HER        Recitation by Author
First Line: On the bus
Subject(s): Cities; Urban Life


HAVING BEEN HER       
First Line: On the bus
Last Line: Having been her %befriend her
Subject(s): Cities


HEIRLOOM BROOKLYN       
First Line: Sarah lewis boards sailors, one by one
Last Line: Steaming through the narrows


HETTIE'S HEX FOR FEE       
First Line: This is fee's sixtieth birthday
Last Line: And him a sixty-year-old man!


HIDE       
First Line: Mother, your glass beads don't shine %in their leatherette boxes
Last Line: And sometimes, in the light, I %run them through my fingers


HIGHWAY PRAISE SONG       
First Line: Praise the quiet horse %my journey past him
Last Line: Her rotting teeth, her smile %of recognition


HISTORY OF WAR IN FIVE ACTS: 1       
First Line: They are fighting this morning
Last Line: In the small deserted pool
Subject(s): Cities


HISTORY OF WAR IN FIVE ACTS: 2       
First Line: Picture this
Last Line: In that green %country
Subject(s): Cities


HISTORY OF WAR IN FIVE ACTS: 3. JUSTICE IS JUST ICE       
First Line: High in a silent house
Last Line: Freedom from fear
Subject(s): Cities


HISTORY OF WAR IN FIVE ACTS: 4. ALPHA AGAINST APARTHEID       
First Line: A for the thing itself and its antithesis anc
Last Line: Z azania, who still a again and again allow it
Subject(s): Cities


HISTORY OF WAR IN FIVE ACTS: 5. SARAJEVO 1995       
First Line: It's warm here in the sun
Last Line: Their fading, year-old traces
Subject(s): Cities


HOMAGE TO FRANK O'HARA'S PERSONAL POEM    Poem Text    
First Line: Over and over the mind returns
Subject(s): O'hara, Frank (1926-1966); Homage & Respect


HOMAGE TO FRANK O'HARA'S PERSONAL POEM       
First Line: Over and over the mind returns
Last Line: Over and over
Subject(s): Cities


HOME: DEEP, TO THE       
Last Line: All the way home. Home at last. Home free
Subject(s): Cities


HOMEWORK       
First Line: When jason my neighbor suggested I water the street tree
Last Line: Come, I will help if you let me


HOTTER THAN JULY, 1982       
First Line: Only the messengers and me
Last Line: Lookin good and movin fast
Subject(s): Cities


IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION       
First Line: I write a hall
Last Line: And I write with time in my one %good hand
Subject(s): Cities


IN MEMORIAM       
First Line: Mother, my heart burned
Last Line: Eyeing its own horizons
Subject(s): Cities


IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER    Poem Text    
First Line: Tonight she brings
Last Line: Her shining / black eyes
Subject(s): Pictures


IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER       
First Line: Tonight she brings
Last Line: Her shining %black eyes
Subject(s): Cities


LAMENT FOR A TURKISH SUICIDE AGE 22    Poem Text    
First Line: What she wanted was more
Last Line: And left the facric / of her brief life
Subject(s): Turkey; Women's Rights; Suicide


LAMENT FOR A TURKISH SUICIDE AGE 22       
First Line: What she wanted was more
Last Line: And left %the fabric of her %brief life


LIKE (AS IF)       
First Line: On the lip %of the world's cup
Last Line: A bite today %obit tomorrow


LIQUID MEASURE, SUMMER 1952       
First Line: Nineteen years hadn't readied me
Last Line: I found stroke after furious stroke


LITTLE LIGHT VERSE FOR HELENE       
First Line: This was the first verse about us
Last Line: We take hold %take the light %heart
Subject(s): Cities


LOOK AT HOW WE LIVE, LOOK AT HOW WE DIE       
First Line: It doesn't happen that death's door
Last Line: And he was only one, only one
Subject(s): Cities


LOTTIE AND OSCAR       
First Line: I like to think of them dancing
Last Line: Can I forgive them their battle
Subject(s): Cities


LOVE AGAINST LOSS       
First Line: In the diner they always play music's %equivalent, a little easy listenin
Last Line: Hand I am pulling you back, with you in my arms %I am climbing the ladder of life


LUNCH POEMS: 1       
First Line: The departed ad exec has left
Last Line: The past retreating %flies %living %dying
Subject(s): Cities


LUNCH POEMS: 2. GRAY DIRECT       
First Line: Striated clouds
Last Line: A slow, continous %pace
Subject(s): Cities


MANHATTAN SPECIAL       
First Line: Tracking this afternoon's last
Last Line: Windfall %new year %blowing
Subject(s): Cities


MINOR DOMO       
First Line: Fixing the siding I learned
Last Line: Left a perfect skin %on a house that couldn't stand


MONTH OF JULY 1991 FOR ANDREW SIMPSON       
First Line: Andrew you missed %the total eclipse of the sun
Last Line: We should have told you %his life was enough


MOTHER AMERICA (FOR CHUCK WACHTEL)       
First Line: If two strong women in lycra tights
Last Line: O mother america, find %the grace %to instruct us
Subject(s): Cities


MOTHER MOON    Poem Text    
First Line: Mother moon surfs the sky
Last Line: We too / we change
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Women; Teaching & Teachers


MOTHER MOON       
First Line: Mother moon surfs the sky
Last Line: Mother moon rides high %we too %we change
Subject(s): Cities


MY FRIEND / IN LOVE       
Last Line: Her head %in my shoulder


NAME THAT TUNE       
First Line: If I sing on a rainy sunday, chances are
Last Line: I've sung a long line a long time %(repeat)


NEBULA OF NOTEWORTHY NELLIES       
First Line: For strength I give you
Last Line: So burn on burn on burn on nellie


NEW SOUTHERN EXPOSURE       
First Line: Garbage at the shore below the levee
Last Line: And all that changes is the product


NOTE       
First Line: Dear marvin gaye
Last Line: Own hot hungry arms marvin


OCTOBER JOURNEY 10/7/99       
First Line: Why not include getting lost in the bronx?
Last Line: You're a goner %in living color


ODE TO MY CAR       
First Line: It's not as if you were the first
Last Line: Because of you we can, and we do
Subject(s): Cities


ODE TO MY KITCHEN SINK       
First Line: Main man, you're my %support, your two
Last Line: And given others, sink, ours has been %a gift


ODE TO MY NOSE       
First Line: Proboscis, you prominence!
Last Line: Toward my mouth %for a kiss


ODE TO UNION SQUARE       
First Line: My dear, you're the
Last Line: In which we once more %raise our hands together


ON THE FIFTH OF DECEMBER A ROSE       
Last Line: The bitter cold %wind streaming
Subject(s): Cities


ONE HUNDRED LOVE POEMS FOR LISA       
First Line: There goes adam purple
Last Line: Fills with its own %mysterious light
Subject(s): Cities


PAGE FROM A HISTORY OF WAR       
First Line: Alarum %for a girl being carried
Last Line: I beg you: smell the blood


PALEFACE       
First Line: I am driving down the connecticut turnpike
Last Line: On the connecticut turnpike in the land of the pequot, 1966
Subject(s): Cities


PAUSE THAT REFRESHES / OR CLIMBING BACK ON THE ROOF       
First Line: I was forty-five
Last Line: Honey it's never that easy
Subject(s): Cities


PETER PINCHBECK'S MISSING METAPHOR       
First Line: Peter was the star of the party
Last Line: Grieving this likeness %what is like life?


PHONE SEX FOR RACE AND GENDER       
First Line: Hello, she says
Last Line: Just throw me the key


PHOTO OP WITH CAPTION       
First Line: Middle-aged and full of beans behind their wire-rims
Last Line: And lay them out on the beat cha-cha-cha


POEM FOR RASHID       
First Line: This is a man's house who is cleaning his drums
Last Line: His drums are in detroit he plays for me
Subject(s): Cities


PRAISE    Poem Text    
First Line: All praise the midweek market
Last Line: Them. Praise all. All praise
Subject(s): Praise


PROPER GANDER       
First Line: One of those girls in the benetton ad
Last Line: I leave I come back %to loving


RABBITS RABBITS RABBITS 2/1/80    Poem Text    
First Line: When I leave you this morning
Last Line: Before, I was with you, / now I'm here
Subject(s): Love – Loss Of


RABBITS RABBITS RABBITS 2/1/80       
First Line: When I leave you this morning
Last Line: Now I'm here
Subject(s): Cities


RACING WITH THE MOON       
First Line: In slow traffic
Last Line: To take one %breath %at %a time
Subject(s): Cities


REAL BROOKLYN DODGERS ARE FROM QUEENS       
First Line: Losing is hardest after
Last Line: All of you breathing %the next sweet season


REPETITIONS, ROUTE 212       
First Line: First light %first bird's %one slow call
Last Line: Already weary of it all, and resting


RING THROUGH THE NOSE       
First Line: The winter I was nine the war was on
Last Line: Forever to the scent of myself, quickening


RUBY MY DEAR       
First Line: The woman in the red car has a hand
Last Line: Her hand's on the wheel, her hand's %in the air
Subject(s): Cities


SALADIN CROSSING THE DESERT       
First Line: You go, like in the movies one arm
Last Line: Everyone out %on avenue b is amazed
Subject(s): Cities


SAY GOODBYE TO THE LITTLE YELLOW BUILDING       
Last Line: Say goodbye to the little yellow building
Subject(s): Cities


SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF THE WATER TOWERS       
First Line: High over the city %facing each other -- in every direction
Last Line: The woman hanging her wash %clouds running away


SECOND COUSIN TWICE REMOVED, 1950S       
First Line: She was never more than %a raised eyebrow
Last Line: But I never found her


SECOND HAND SHOD       
First Line: A woman with good taste and small feet
Last Line: I want her to know I'm behind her


SELF-PORTRAIT       
First Line: There it is
Last Line: In various mirrors
Subject(s): Cities


SELF-PORTRAIT AS ROAD REPORT AUGUST 1997       
First Line: Today I wanted to stay-to stall
Last Line: On a fast road %steady %into fall


SEMIPERMANENT GATE LIST       
Last Line: Blowing up a long empty hill
Subject(s): Cities


SEVEN SONGS AT SIXTY       
First Line: Begin %where the end begins
Last Line: If you want to know me %you better hurry
Subject(s): Cities


SHARING THE IMAGE       
First Line: Because jan imagined the tinker
Last Line: Behind me ribbons of light %unwinding


SHE       
First Line: Is getting over divorce
Last Line: Wet with rank summer. Sweet jesus, she %pulls him down
Subject(s): Cities


SHOE REPAIR       
First Line: With us it's serious-politics
Last Line: To this perfect, hard shine: %our compromise


SIN SONGS: 1. COMPLACENCY       
First Line: The sun slanting
Last Line: Cups like suddenly burning planets
Subject(s): Cities


SIN SONGS: 2. ENVY       
First Line: Easy to say you'd never
Last Line: Harder still to calm the wicked rise
Subject(s): Cities


SIN SONGS: 3. AVARICE       
First Line: Cunning mother money
Last Line: Humps her money cunnie
Subject(s): Cities


SIN SONGS: 4. MENDACITY       
First Line: To find in the mirror
Last Line: Tell me a lie of your own and see if I'll bite
Subject(s): Cities


SONNET    Poem Text    
First Line: Love never held my hand
Last Line: But I’ve always wondered
Subject(s): Love – Complaints


SONNET       
First Line: Love never held my hand
Last Line: But I've always wondered
Subject(s): Cities


STANCE       
First Line: What I'm after is the
Last Line: After that fight %I never fought


SUBWAY POEM    Poem Text    
First Line: Yo, spring
Last Line: And your sweet ass
Subject(s): Spring


SUBWAY POEM       
First Line: Yo, spring
Last Line: And your sweet ass
Subject(s): Cities


THAT OLD MAN WOULDN'T TELL       
First Line: I asked him to get old
Last Line: She has the whole neighborhood %wondering


THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES / OR CLIMBING BACK ON THE ROOF    Poem Text    
First Line: I was forty-five
Subject(s): Middle Age; Menstruation


THEY'RE NOT HEAVY, THEY'RE MY SISTERS       
First Line: She sits on her porch
Last Line: As I climb the stairs
Subject(s): Cities


THIRD POEM       
First Line: Stone words
Last Line: Tomorrow, the dark %music
Subject(s): Cities


THIS KIND OF KADDISH       
First Line: Tonight aunt fan I mended
Last Line: Aunt fannie frankle kaplan %amen
Subject(s): Cities


THIS MAN I MET, HE SAID       
Last Line: That are usually warm
Subject(s): Cities


THREE LITTLE LOVE SONGS       
First Line: The unexpected's not un
Last Line: Than I ever %would have %expected
Subject(s): Cities


TWO FOR THE FOUR A.M. FIRST SNOW SHOW       
First Line: It's lucky to see first snow he says
Last Line: Lucky to see it he says %melting


TWO PORTRAITS       
First Line: The flower felix put in my hair on sunday
Last Line: Isn't she beautiful, the children used to say
Subject(s): Cities


UNIWORLD       
First Line: What if uniworld demanded uniworld?
Last Line: Mist or rain, but speak its %rightful name


WAR, SAR CHESMA       
First Line: Where is the ring
Last Line: Her finger a barely covered bone
Variant Title(s): Laments For The Afghan Wome


WASTE NOT WANT NOT       
First Line: Begin with the waste
Last Line: And how you want them


WEATHER    Poem Text    
First Line: My folder of poems
Last Line: Are you breathing, are you lucky enough
Subject(s): Weather


WEATHER       
First Line: My folder of poems %labeled 'weather' holds
Last Line: Are you breathing, are you lucky enough %to be breathing


WELCOME TO OUR CROWD       
First Line: I've slept %in every room except
Last Line: Into all our arms, live again %gone soon
Subject(s): Cities


WHAT MY UNCLES TAUGHT ME       
First Line: I was ten
Last Line: Until then, never again
Subject(s): Cities


WHEN WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET       
First Line: Easy to mistake a light source, take
Last Line: Whether you're looking at %life or death


WOMAN IN THE GREEN CAR       
First Line: The woman in the green car does
Last Line: Leave it %in mamaroneck
Subject(s): Cities


WORD HOLY       
First Line: In those moments, returning
Last Line: Of miraculous arms, the one %holding me


WORDS    Poem Text    
First Line: Are keys
Last Line: Though it dreams of leaving
Subject(s): Language; Love – Loss Of


WORDS       
First Line: Are keys
Last Line: Though it dreams of leaving
Subject(s): Cities


YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT       
First Line: If a plant could be
Last Line: Manna in my mouth
Subject(s): Cities