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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: MAJOR, CLARENCE Matches Found: 227 Major, Clarence Poet's Biography 227 poems available by this author A GALLUP SWILL-HOLE; OR, CANTINA BLUES Poem Text First Line: Her words curled before him in spirals A GUY I KNOW ON 47TH AND COTTAGE Poem Text First Line: The day of the strong rap Subject(s): Chicago A LIFE STORY Poem Text First Line: I used to feel like fossil pollen A MOUNTAIN VILLAGE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE Poem Text First Line: Snow on a line of flat rooftops beneath a sky of driven clouds Subject(s): Fields; France; Solitude; Southern Hemisphere; Pastures; Meadows; Leas; Loneliness AGING TOGETHER Poem Text First Line: I watch myself aging in your eyes Subject(s): Animals; Old Age ALL OF US Poem Text First Line: The elevator was full of black women Last Line: A generation beforfe they finish Subject(s): Brotherhood AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MOMENT Poem Text First Line: A young married couple Subject(s): Altars; Farewell; Paintings & Painters; Parting APPLE CORE Poem Text First Line: Up the road / I saw blackbirds Last Line: But the stalks moving Subject(s): Apples; Fruit ARRIVING UNINVITED Poem Text First Line: Without the red splashed through the yellow ART IS PARALLEL TO NATURE Poem Text First Line: Cezanne saw the parallel so well and Subject(s): Art & Artists; Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906); Nature; Paintings & Painters; Roads; Tourists; Travel; Paths; Trails; Journeys; Trips ART IS PARALLEL TO NATURE First Line: Cezanne saw the parallel so well and Last Line: Waiting for reinvigoration Subject(s): Art And Artists; Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906); Nature; Paintings And Painters; Roads; Tourists; Travel ART OF SITTING IN A CHAIR First Line: She is at half rest in the practice of a simple art Last Line: Birds humming go their iridescent way Subject(s): Art And Artists; Chairs; Furniture AT POINTE DE ROMPE TALON Poem Text First Line: A woman sits on the one rock AT THE ZOO IN SPAIN Poem Text First Line: Bound to the earth Last Line: Their own rebirth Subject(s): Zoos ATELIER CEZANNE Poem Text First Line: Blue chair / we whisper Subject(s): Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) BALANCE AND BEAUTY Poem Text First Line: We go over to see the head of a woman BALLROOM DARK Poem Text First Line: With heavy eyelids I am still in love Last Line: And my lust for the girl at the next table Subject(s): Beauty; Parties BEFORE AND AFTER Poem Text First Line: It'll take a while they say Subject(s): Kafka, Franz (1883-1924); Mountain Climbing; Valleys BEFORE AND AFTER First Line: It'll take a while they say Last Line: But it wouldn't do any good now Subject(s): Kafka, Franz (1883-1924); Mountain Climbing; Valleys BEING AND BECOMING Poem Text First Line: The parking lot was BEING AND BECOMING (1) First Line: I tell you, a lot became clear Last Line: To the fact that my mouth %is stuffed full of speech %that isn't working! %a lost has yet to become BEYOND IMPASSE Poem Text First Line: I climb the steps to my room BILL'S Poem Text First Line: With defective thyroid glands BIRDS Poem Text First Line: It's a summertime night BLIND OLD WOMAN First Line: Spots on black skin Last Line: Through these 1960 indiana streets. %as she shuffles into street sounds BRICKS AND SLEEP Poem Text First Line: In late afternoon / the first row finished CAT MOTHER First Line: My mother licked me. She was Last Line: I took off, fed up with the explicit %connections, I searched for %broken links in the fabric. %I'm CELEBRATED RETURN First Line: A circus of battleships carrying heavy laughter passes beneath a bridge CHINATOWN BLUES Poem Text First Line: Waiting for the streetcar in san francisco Last Line: A second ballroom appears. / empty Subject(s): Chinatown, San Francisco; Shopping; Streets; Tourists; Travel; Avenues; Journeys; Trips CHINATOWN BLUES First Line: Waiting for the streetcar in san francisco Last Line: A second balloon appears, %empty Subject(s): Chinatown, San Francisco; Shopping; Streets; Tourists; Travel CLAY BISON IN A CAVE Poem Text First Line: Clay-tan, eyeless Subject(s): Caves; Paintings & Painters; Paleontology; Caverns COMING INTO EXISTENCE First Line: The heart in its chest COUNTRYSIDE CAMP Poem Text First Line: Gypsy man and gypsy woman drinking tea Subject(s): Animals; Camping; Farm Life; Horses; Wagons; Camps; Summer Camps; Agriculture; Farmers COUNTRYSIDE CAMP First Line: In the blue shadow of the wagon Last Line: Round and round the marigold Subject(s): Animals; Camping; Farm Life; Horses; Wagons CROWD First Line: The personality of this crowd does a highjump Last Line: Plugs its ear till the screaming stops DANCE FLOOR Poem Text First Line: Bone-thin gent DESCENDANT OF SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA Poem Text First Line: Yellow flowers, yellow flowers DESIGN First Line: The music and its harmony Last Line: No matter what I might say %she is not bored DIFFICULTY WITH PERSPECTIVE First Line: I am in the coach, waiting Last Line: I slide over. %I keep sliding over DISMAL MOMENT PASSING Poem Text First Line: This is, this is Subject(s): Mexico DIVINE LAW: A BLUE BEACH SERMON Poem Text First Line: Women from algiers sit DO NOTHING TILL YOU HEAR FROM ME First Line: Motionlessly, waiting Last Line: Though nonetheless it's sincere Subject(s): Absence DOCUMENT First Line: I wait in the house for the arrival of an important person. I pace Last Line: It's worthless. You're on your own. You always were Subject(s): Insurance And Insurance Agents; Paper DOWNWIND Poem Text First Line: Odor of death everywhere DRAWING FROM LIFE Poem Text First Line: I wake to sounds DRESSED TO KILL Poem Text First Line: They certainly do move / with grace, with great sturdiness EDWARD HOPPER'S WOMAN SITTING ON THE BED First Line: Holding a glass of water, I looked out the window Last Line: And having lots of money to spend Subject(s): Hopper, Edward (1882-1967); Poetry And Poets EIGHTEEN-DOLLAR TAXI TRIP TO TIZAPAN AND BACK TO CHAPALA Poem Text First Line: A taxi driver / with a good life Last Line: Upstairs over a bodega Subject(s): Taxis; Mexico EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MOMENT First Line: A young married couple Last Line: Filling the world with their thunderous music Subject(s): Altars; Farewell; Paintings And Painters FILM AND FLESH Poem Text First Line: I was watching a movie / about myself Subject(s): Actors & Actresses; Film (photography); Motion Pictures; Actresses; Movies; Cinema FILM AND FLESH First Line: I was watching a movie %about myself Last Line: I am not film. I am living, I say [or, he said you, the creature of muscle and hair] Subject(s): Actors And Actresses; Film (photography); Motion Pictures FIRST Poem Text First Line: A woman is sitting in a doorway FIRST NIGHT OF SPRING First Line: Each screaming mouth coming out toothless, bloody Last Line: Something is scratching, deeply involved in a struggle Subject(s): Spring FOOD FOR THOUGHT; OR, DEATH IS PHYSICAL Poem Text First Line: The cornstarch / the potatoes FORM First Line: I am the form that comes to nightwatch FRENZY Poem Text First Line: Here is the little earthworm-eater Subject(s): Kiwi; Lust FROM THE TRAIN WINDOW GOING AND COMING Poem Text First Line: I ride backwards to see what I'm missing Subject(s): Railroads GATHERING MUSHROOMS: CAMBRIA Poem Text First Line: A valley and hillside full of helmet-flowers Subject(s): Cambria, Wales; Fertility; Mushrooms; Morels GATHERING MUSHROOMS: CAMBRIA First Line: A valley and hillside full of helmet-flowers Last Line: Two by two. Too many to count Subject(s): Cambria, Wales; Fertility; Mushrooms GET ALONG CINDY First Line: She was permanently released GIANT RED WOMAN Poem Text First Line: I have a delicious problem Subject(s): Beauty; Women GRACELESS RECAPTURED AS GRACE First Line: ...To reduce the distinction Last Line: In the morning nothing is seen moving, %nothing not moving Subject(s): Grace HABITAT: TIME AND PLACE First Line: This is out by the stand of windbreak-trees, under Last Line: It keeps me down to size Subject(s): Birds; California; Fields; Herbs; Nature HAT LADY IN THE PARLOR WINDOW First Line: Upper-left corner of the parlor window broken Last Line: And luke dragging it out by a stiff front leg Subject(s): Grief; Old Age HAZY DAY IN THE COMPOSITION Poem Text First Line: Trying for a tigerish kind HEARTLAND MUSIC Poem Text First Line: Crickets cranking shifting gears HOME ON RUE DU BOURG-TIBOURG Poem Text First Line: Buffet gray marble with a deadness HONEY DRIPPER Poem Text First Line: Little arms ripped out Subject(s): Honey HORSE SAYS GOOD-BYE (AND GOOD RIDDANCE) TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY First Line: Forewarning %horse will not miss the twentieth century Last Line: Horse needed to be happy I WAS LOOKING FOR THE UNIVERSITY First Line: While driving north, lost Last Line: He said, 'never heard of it.' IN ABSENCE OF THE TREE Poem Text First Line: Sure, there is a hierarchy IN MY OWN LANGUAGE First Line: We can't cut this timber Last Line: Only as I learn to speak it Subject(s): Language; Santa Cruz Mountains, California IN THE ARMPIT OF THE HILL Poem Text First Line: Dream of coffee beans rice codfish and bananas IN THE INTEREST OF PERSONAL APPEARANCE First Line: I wait on your carved ugly stool Last Line: Might your fingers don't lie, %they sure IN THE YARD FACING THE OCEAN: A ROOTS COMPOSITION First Line: Below the surface of the sea a place full of jawless and boneless Last Line: Are leaving in the morning Subject(s): California; Seashore; Swimming; Water; Waves IN WALKED BUD WITH A PALETTE Poem Text First Line: Take one pompeii-eyed old man Last Line: Thrower behind the curtain . Subject(s): Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906); Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Paintings & Painters INSIDE DIAMETER First Line: The position is so well-known Last Line: As they lose themselves INSIDE OUTSIDE First Line: Late afternoon, who can tell? Last Line: By midnight, laughter like screams Subject(s): Laughter INTERIOR WITH STILL LIFE Poem Text First Line: Desire, artichoke green Last Line: To the woman who has just entered Subject(s): Paintings & Painters ISOLATE First Line: She knew more about me than let us say Last Line: She said, then isolate motherfucker KITCHEN CHAIR POEM #4 Poem Text First Line: So they fought-not easy himself KITCHEN CHAIR POEM #5 Poem Text First Line: Truck driver, second-floor roomer LAY OF THE LAND First Line: Out behind the house land and sea Last Line: As we lean homeward Subject(s): Home; Sea Voyages LONG AFTER YOU ARE ASHES First Line: In the yard the tree is changing from what it was Last Line: And slowly change and change Subject(s): Brothers; Growth LOOKING AT IMAGES REFLECTED IN THE SHOWCASE PLATE GLASS Poem Text First Line: Ours is the country of jack armstrong LOVE LETTER First Line: I see through you. I am your wallflower Last Line: Through them, I see through you Subject(s): Love - Cultural Differences; Man-woman Relationships; Racism MADMAN OF THE SOUTH SIDE Poem Text First Line: I met your husband in a bookshop Last Line: Ever touched each other Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Drunkards; Alcohol Abuse MATTHEW Poem Text First Line: Miss brown, my woman, died MEASURE Poem Text First Line: Okay, today I'm the teacher MEMORY AND THE PLACE First Line: Well, he says, I no longer need your slide-door Last Line: And the snow freezing on purpose to what purpose? Subject(s): Absence; Memory MENDOCINO First Line: I could lose myself in great bursts of work Last Line: Something reusable like leftovers, %bouillabaisse perhaps Subject(s): Maps; Mendocino, California; Travel MONTALBAN: NEAR THE ANCIENT FORT Poem Text First Line: Hurry! Hurry! / flames pour from the cottage window MOON AND MOONLIGHT (AT CAMBRIA) First Line: How to dance to your music Last Line: I see you waving back %to your old skeptic Subject(s): Cambria, Wales; Moon; Night MOTHER JUNKIE Poem Text First Line: She has the shakes, thinks she's gonna die Last Line: To the east river, five blocks away Subject(s): Drugs & Drug Abuse; Medicine; Substance Abuse; Narcotics; Opium; Cocaine; Crack; Heroin; Drugs, Prescription; Addictive Behavior MOUNTAIN VILLAGE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE First Line: Snow on a line of flat rooftops beneath a sky of driven clouds Last Line: Like bugs beneath doormats in rainy weather Subject(s): Fields; France; Solitude; Southern Hemisphere MY CORNER Poem Text First Line: By now the view Last Line: I didn't have a good leg to stand on Subject(s): Paintings & Painters MY SEASONAL BODY Poem Text First Line: For that whole year I was in the weight of myself NO ONE GOES TO PARIS IN AUGUST Poem Text First Line: A montparnasse august / with view of the cimetiere. A yard of bones Subject(s): Montparnasse, Paris; Tourists; Travel; Journeys; Trips NO ONE GOES TO PARIS IN AUGUST First Line: A montparnasse august %with view of the cimetiere. A yard of bones Last Line: As we do in their blue shade Subject(s): Montparnasse, Paris; Tourists; Travel NO SINGLE THING BY ITSELF Poem Text First Line: She carried a heavy load, but NO TIME FOR SELF-PITY Poem Text First Line: Always / I'm the one slightly slighted, he said NONE OF IT WAS Poem Text First Line: It was a long time ON THE BEACH First Line: The whole thing more likely a shuffling effect Last Line: To scatter earlier prints left in suspect sand Subject(s): Seashore ON THE NATURE OF PERSPECTIVE Poem Text First Line: Sometimes there is a point ON TRYING TO IMAGINE THE KIWI PREGNANT First Line: Having never been Last Line: And again %and again ON WATCHING A CATERPILLAR BECOME A BUTTERFLY Poem Text First Line: It's a slow, slow process ONE THING FOR SURE First Line: One thing for sure, you are in motion Last Line: With its hoarse croak and new plumage Subject(s): Motion PAINTING AFTER LUNCH First Line: It wasn't working. Didn't look back. Needed something else. So Last Line: Like a deranged bird in wild cherries, having the time of its life Subject(s): Nature; Paintings And Painters PARIS PLAN IN HAND First Line: Every day you are one and I am, too. Paris city-plan in hand Last Line: Continuously, we are two Subject(s): Paintings And Painters; Paris, France; Restaurants; Seine (river), France; Tourists; Travel PATIENCE Poem Text First Line: The day from noon on shifted Last Line: With a certain necessary patience Subject(s): Patience PEOPLE NEXT DOOR First Line: The phone ringing in a sandstorm Last Line: Banging together. Or is that singing? Subject(s): Neighbors PHOTOGRAPH OF A GATHERING OF PEOPLE WAVING Poem Text First Line: No sound, the whole thing Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Farewell; Photography & Photographers; Pictures; Silence; Heritage; Heredity; Parting PHOTOGRAPH OF A GATHERING OF PEOPLE WAVING First Line: No sound, the whole thing Last Line: And you wave down to future generations like this Subject(s): Ancestors And Ancestry; Farewell; Photography And Photographers; Pictures; Silence PLAY OF REAL LIFE First Line: From down here, oops, balcon. She walks erect Last Line: Cosmic bad casting but it's too late to start over Subject(s): Babies; Birth; Life; Mothers; Plays And Playwrights; Women PORTRAIT OF THE GREAT WHITE HUNTER FOXHUNTING IN THE ABSENCE OF BIG... Poem Text First Line: Open the stable gate! Last Line: Out of a hole in my head Subject(s): Animals; Ducks; Hunting; Portraits; Rifles; Mallards; Drakes; Hunters PORTRAIT OF THE GREAT WHITE HUNTER FOXHUNTING IN THE ABSENCE OF BIG... First Line: Open the stable gate! Last Line: These words are coming %out of a hole in my head Subject(s): Animals; Ducks; Hunting; Portraits; Rifles POSING Poem Text First Line: They've forced me to pose PRESENT TENSE First Line: She has a passion for the present Last Line: Enters %with her highly tuned %present tense PROCESS AND SPACE First Line: You never have to know the whole story Last Line: Like a broken jalousies %in a halfhearted storm Subject(s): Horseback Riding; Storms PROPAGATION Poem Text First Line: If botanic roots are divided Last Line: Hold me – to hell with everything else Subject(s): Plants; Love; Man-woman Relationships PUPA Poem Text First Line: Can she induce a dream? Last Line: I kiss her, I kiss her until she kisses back Subject(s): Kisses PURCHASE First Line: Once you've bought into the suspension of disbelief Last Line: To buy a thing you don't want Subject(s): California; Pacific Ocean; Poetry And Poets; Tourists; Travel PURPLE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS First Line: Late afternoon; see what I can see Last Line: These boundaries were always Subject(s): California; Mountains; Nature; Tourists; Travel READ THE SIGNS Poem Text First Line: I don't want to speak of your sky READING ABOUT ROCKS First Line: This book, solid and heavy as rock Last Line: Surfaces of both solids-your hand and the rock Subject(s): Books; Earth; Geology; Stones REMBRANDT'S ETCHING OF A WOMAN PISSING Poem Text First Line: We know the squat Last Line: Life loves life Subject(s): Etching; Rembrandt Harmensz Van Riij (1606-1669) REMBRANDT'S ETCHING OF A WOMAN PISSING First Line: We know the squat Last Line: Life loves life Subject(s): Etching REVELATION AT CAP FERRAT Poem Text First Line: It's not solely the dance Subject(s): Relationships; Music & Musicians ROCK AND A HARD PLACE First Line: A tough day on the mesa Last Line: Since a beginning, and we survive %doubts of an ending Subject(s): Earth; Stones; Tourists; Travel ROUND MIDNIGHT Poem Text First Line: You know my [trouble] story RUMORS: A FAMILY MATTER First Line: Dates escape me. At any rate aunt thelma lived on in grief Last Line: Not too late to remember with kindness Subject(s): Family Life; Grief; Problems; Rumors SAILING Poem Text First Line: Helping her with her knots Last Line: Together against the breakers Subject(s): Sailing & Sailors; Seamen; Sails SAN DIEGO AND MATISSE: 1. INSIDE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A TREE Poem Text First Line: Beautiful women in smoky blue culottes Subject(s): Admiration; Beauty; San Diego, California; Seashore; Tourists; Travel; Women; Beach; Coast; Shore; Journeys; Trips SAN DIEGO AND MATISSE: 1. INSIDE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A TREE First Line: Beautiful women in smoky blue culottes Last Line: Smell of saltwater swimming in the room Subject(s): Admiration; Beauty; San Diego, California; Seashore; Tourists; Travel; Women SAN DIEGO AND MATISSE: 2. OUTSIDE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A ROCKING... Poem Text First Line: Shadow of lighthouse along the beach Subject(s): Admiration; Marine Animals; Seashore; Tourists; Travel; Whales; Beach; Coast; Shore; Journeys; Trips SAN DIEGO AND MATISSE: 2. OUTSIDE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A ROCKING... First Line: Shadow of lighthouse along the beach Last Line: Blue smoke snaking up the pink sky Subject(s): Admiration; Marine Animals; Seashore; Tourists; Travel; Whales SAND FLESH AND SKY Poem Text First Line: Our ropes are the roots Subject(s): Nature; Conduct Of Life SANTA MARIA DEI FRARI Poem Text First Line: You are late for your train SAVING JUST THE REAL Poem Text First Line: When I was born I saw SEINE SPLIT Poem Text First Line: Remember / at that moment of waking SHORELINE AT CAMBRIA First Line: Early morning shoreline: a scattering of birds blackens the sky Last Line: And I'm out standing on the deck trying to capture this but it's %not possible Subject(s): Birds; Cambria, Wales; Gulls; Nature; Seashore SIGN LANGUAGE Poem Text First Line: Lift your left hand STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL: 15. ALABAMA Poem Text First Line: I am leery of ladies STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 1. SEATTLE Poem Text First Line: The neat sky was tall, full of sliding birds Subject(s): Seattle, Washington STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 2. ILLINOIS Poem Text First Line: A man shot at me. The bullet missed Subject(s): Chicago STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 3. WASHINGTON, D.C. Poem Text First Line: Don't lose any important papers Subject(s): Tokyo; Washington, D.c. STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 4. NEW JERSEY Poem Text First Line: So much depends on four butterflies Subject(s): Butterflies; Insects; Bugs STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 5. MARYLAND Poem Text First Line: Sunlight here is hazy. Builders Subject(s): Maryland STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 9. CHICAGO Poem Text First Line: It was summer at the edge of town SUMMER PLACE: CAMBRIA First Line: I'm out front, first light spotted Last Line: In the water, turning it silver like a boiling chandelier Subject(s): Cambria, Wales; Paintings And Painters; Summer; Sun SUNDAY AFTERNOON Poem Text First Line: In this season of 'sweet / silent thought' on sunday afternoon Subject(s): Imagination; Madrid, Spain; Thought; Fancy; Thinking SUNDAY AFTERNOON First Line: In this season of 'sweet %silent thought' on sunday afternoon Last Line: Will be erased by the brightness you find here Subject(s): Imagination; Madrid, Spain; Thought SURFACES AND MASKS; 1 Poem Text First Line: And who must remain Last Line: Suspended on a circle of pearls Subject(s): Venice, Italy SURFACES AND MASKS; 1 Poem Text First Line: And who must remain SURFACES AND MASKS; 12 Poem Text First Line: The theme of carnevale is a secret Subject(s): Carnivals; Venice, Italy SURFACES AND MASKS; 17 Poem Text First Line: In salute again SURFACES AND MASKS; 18 Poem Text First Line: You set out on a morning bright SURFACES AND MASKS; 2 Poem Text First Line: They sit silently in the dark Last Line: William dean howells swim / in the grand canal Subject(s): Motion Pictures; Memory; Venice, Italy SURFACES AND MASKS; 22 Poem Text First Line: In a blazing sunset SURFACES AND MASKS; 23 Poem Text First Line: And the single reality SURFACES AND MASKS; 25 Poem Text First Line: See that stern castle? SURFACES AND MASKS; 3 Poem Text First Line: She takes him into “the rape of europa” Last Line: The only play picasso ever wrote Subject(s): Venice, Italy; Music & Musicians; Writing & Writers; Togetherness; Italians SURFACES AND MASKS; 30 Poem Text First Line: They cut down the last tree Last Line: Kept behind stone walls? Subject(s): Venice, Italy; Deforestation SURFACES AND MASKS; 4 Poem Text First Line: He gave the fascisti salute Subject(s): Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506); Explorers; Fascism & Fascists; Italy; Exploring; Discovery; Discoverers; Italians SURFACES AND MASKS; 43 Poem Text First Line: In the hidden garden SURFACES AND MASKS; 6 Poem Text First Line: Nothing in me goes out Last Line: Were never aimed at me Subject(s): Venice, Italy SURFACES AND MASKS; 7 Poem Text First Line: Too many gondolas Last Line: What venice earned Subject(s): Venice, Italy SURFACES AND MASKS; 8 Poem Text First Line: And as the memory of each / hard melodramatic word SURFACES AND MASKS; 9 Poem Text First Line: There he was, a boy, looking over SWALLOW THE LAKE Poem Text First Line: Gave me things I / could not use. Then. Now TERRITORIAL CLAIMS First Line: While walking a narrow path Last Line: I could claim my own TEWA VICTORIES Poem Text First Line: The town chief fasting for rain THE APPLE-MAGGOT FLY Poem Text First Line: In a hudson valley THE COTTON CLUB Poem Text First Line: Look at duke! Last Line: And they can't even see him Subject(s): Cotton THE CROWD Poem Text First Line: The personality of this crowd does a highjump Subject(s): Crowds THE DISPUTE Poem Text First Line: The garden is dark green and the king THE DOLL BELIEVERS Poem Text First Line: This lifeless construction Subject(s): Children; Dolls; Parents; Toys; Childhood; Parenthood THE EXPANDED COMPOSITION Poem Text First Line: Let's see how we feel today Last Line: Everything to her now makes sense Subject(s): Chicago THE GREAT HORNED OWL Poem Text First Line: He glides, descending / to the forest floor THE NERVE Poem Text First Line: The tracings around my edges? THE PAINTING AFTER LUNCH Poem Text First Line: It wasn't working. Didn't look back. Needed something else. So Subject(s): Nature; Paintings & Painters THE PERFECT MATCH Poem Text First Line: She's in a gypsy skirt THE POET'S TREE Poem Text First Line: The burch and the juniper Last Line: He lives across town and rarely comes this way Subject(s): Trees; Neighbors THE PURCHASE Poem Text First Line: Once you've bought into the suspension of disbelief Last Line: To buy a thing you don't want Subject(s): California; Pacific Ocean; Poetry & Poets; Tourists; Travel; Journeys; Trips THE RAINY SEASON Poem Text First Line: You've never seen such a flat black ocean Last Line: And the gold, the pink, lavender rocks Subject(s): Mexico; Rain THE SLAVE TRADE: VIEW FROM THE MIDDLE PASSAGE Poem Text First Line: I am mfu, not a bit romantic, a water spirit Subject(s): Slavery; Serfs THE STRING Poem Text First Line: My mother tied / a string around her finger THE SWINE WHO'S ECLIPSED ME Poem Text First Line: I, the alleged culprit, have a case THE SYNCOPATED CAKEWALK Poem Text First Line: My present life is a sunday-morning cartoon THE WAY THE ROUNDNESS FEELS Poem Text First Line: A secret world turns in us THE WOUNDED BULLFIGHTER Poem Text First Line: Blood on his torn glossy pants THOMAS EAKINS AND THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A MAN IN MOTION First Line: Something in us spins out of control, colliding with frame-by Last Line: Implication of the sequence is undeniable Subject(s): Eakins, Thomas (1844-1916); History; Photography And Photographers THOMAS EAKINS'S DELAWARE RIVER PAINTINGS First Line: Land and water make love all night all day Last Line: Land and water make love all day all night Subject(s): Eakins, Thomas (1844-1916); Paintings And Painters THREE FIGURES IN AN INTERIOR First Line: What's so special about shooting an animal? Last Line: To anyone interested in taking it Subject(s): Animals; Guns; Hunting TO KEEP REVOLVING First Line: They keep me locked Last Line: My leg-muscles %have grown stronger %than ever. I'm happy. %finally TRAIN STOP Poem Text First Line: The train stops TRAIN WINDOW GOING AND COMING, SELS First Line: I ride backwards to see what I'm missing Last Line: I look forward to going back, either way Subject(s): Commuters; Fields; Nature; Railroads; Tourists; Travel UNKNOWN HARBOR First Line: Housebound in a house not our own Last Line: For the festival by way of an unknown harbor Subject(s): Boats; Camping; Harbors; Sea Voyages UNKNOWN PRESENCE Poem Text First Line: How to name what is unnameable Subject(s): Johnson, Robert (1913-1938); Presence UNKNOWN PRESENCE First Line: How to name what is unnameable Last Line: I couldn't have been dealt a better hand Subject(s): Johnson, Robert (1913-1938); Presence UNWANTED MEMORY Poem Text First Line: My memory of myself Subject(s): Memory VAN GOGH'S DEATH Poem Text First Line: We climbed the steep stairway Last Line: On the headstones planted close to the wall Subject(s): Death; Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890); Dead, The VAN GOGH'S DEATH First Line: We climbed the steep stairway Last Line: To the headstones planted close to the wall Subject(s): Death; Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) VIETNAM Poem Text First Line: He was just back Subject(s): United States; War; America VIETNAM First Line: He was just back Last Line: & everybody %is just killing %& killing %like crazy Subject(s): United States; War VIETNAM #4 Poem Text First Line: A cat said / on the corner Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Vietnamese Conflict. 1961-1975; Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry VIETNAM #4 First Line: A cat said Last Line: They killing them other cats %with %you know, he said %two birds with one stone VIEW FROM A ROCK AT DUSK First Line: The tiny beady-eyed rat bird Last Line: Looking mean and mad %but feeling nothing but hunger VIEW FROM HIS ROOM Poem Text First Line: His room was big and clean VIZCAINO First Line: Here at cape vizcaino in mendocino Last Line: Take care. See you soon Subject(s): Mendocino, California; Tourists; Travel; Vizcaino, Sebastian (1550-1616) WAITER IN A CALIFORNIA VIETNAMESE RESTURANT Poem Text First Line: With the smell of firebombing Subject(s): Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 WAITING FOR SWEET BETTY Poem Text First Line: The sweetest waiting is waiting for sweet betty Subject(s): Waiting WAITING FOR SWEET BETTY First Line: The sweetest waiting is waiting for sweet betty Last Line: But she will bloom next year Subject(s): Waiting WAITING IN THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL Poem Text First Line: I reflect on my son's crying [or, on this desperate note] Subject(s): Children; Hospitals; Sickness; Childhood; Illness WANDERER IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY Poem Text First Line: At that time, after being robbed of everything, I was a wanderer Last Line: Theirs were fixed positions, no upward mobility Subject(s): Poverty; Solitude; Tourists; Travel; Wandering & Wanderers; Loneliness; Journeys; Trips; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes WANDERER IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY First Line: At that time, after being robbed of everything, I was a wanderer Last Line: Lonely stranger, we loved having you among us, go home in peace Subject(s): Poverty; Solitude; Tourists; Travel; Wanderers And Wandering WEATHER Poem Text First Line: Church steeple through gray mist Subject(s): Photography & Photographers; Pictures; Shadows; Weather WEATHER First Line: Church steeple through gray mist Last Line: Direction then another, day after day Subject(s): Photography And Photographers; Pictures; Shadows; Weather WHAT IS A SYMBOL? First Line: A bird is flying north across the white sky Last Line: Sit down Subject(s): Fear; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Pregnancy; Women WHY WAIT? DO IT NOW: 1. ON BEING LATE First Line: I'm still in bed Last Line: A red light glows under my bed Subject(s): Lateness WHY WAIT? DO IT NOW: 2. ON BRIGHTNESS AND YOU First Line: I come home with roses Last Line: The road was narrow and not much traveled Subject(s): Home; Roads; Travel WHY WAIT? DO IT NOW: 3. AFTER ALL IS SAID First Line: I place raw red snapper on a bright blue plate Last Line: September and the smell of pressed grapes Subject(s): Fruit; Grapes; Harvest WHY WAIT? DO IT NOW: 4. SOME OF THE THINGS ROSE LEFT First Line: I wait outside my own red door, knocking Last Line: Optimistic, forever optimistic Subject(s): Hope WINTER IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA First Line: When is chicago not too cold or too hot? Last Line: Or at least keep kissing in the doorway Subject(s): Chicago; Cold; Weather; Winter WORDS INTO WORDS WON'T GO Poem Text First Line: There are no things rain is like Last Line: There are no things change is like Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary WYOMING Poem Text First Line: I drove north, lost YOU AND OTHERS First Line: When they gather under trees they all sway Last Line: Spaced so that each echo has its own say and pleasure |
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