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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: NIMS, JOHN FREDERICK Matches Found: 352 Nims, John Frederick Poet's Biography 352 poems available by this author A SCHOLAR WONDERS Poem Text First Line: Their human love - confusing! Off they fling Subject(s): Scholarship & Scholars ACADEMY DISPORTING First Line: In love with shadows all our days Last Line: Creepers shunning dark and bright ADAM'S BALLAD First Line: So sweetly bedded in being Last Line: So lost in locks of the sun AFFAIR AT THE FORK First Line: The gods leaned forward at his bursting forth Last Line: When had the fractious planet run so well? ALCHEMY Poem Text First Line: Turn lead to gold? Some can. We'd all allow Subject(s): Alchemy & Alchemists ALCHEMY First Line: Turn lead to gold? Some can. We'd all allow Last Line: Turned to these golden honors on their own Subject(s): Alchemy And Alchemists ALL-NITE LUNCHROOM Poem Text First Line: Shallow nature, pleased Subject(s): Restaurants; Cafes; Diners ANACREON'S ANSWER First Line: No sense of age? These white hairs on your head Last Line: I and the pink thing are alive-years-old ANCIENT OF DAYS First Line: Spellbound as lunar buttes, the terrible past Last Line: Enthralling the fairy pintos of the dawn! AND A FORTUNE IN OLIVE OIL First Line: Sweeten the moody world, milesian waters Last Line: Ruptured like puffballs in irascible smoke ANTHOLOGY: THE HUNDRED BEST POETS OF ... Poem Text First Line: Two flourish. And a few may bud. But oh Variant Title(s): On Reading A Contemporary Anthology, From Juvenal, I, 79;anthology: The Hundred Best N.y. - S.f. Poets Subject(s): Poetry & Poets ANTHOLOGY: THE HUNDRED BEST POETS OF ... First Line: Two flourish. And a few may bud. But oh Last Line: There's need of much manure where roses grow Variant Title(s): On Reading A Contemporary Anthology, From Juvenal, I, 79; Anthology: The Hundred Best N.y. - S.f. Poet Subject(s): Poetry And Poets APOCALYPSE Poem Text First Line: Turning from plato to the rocky sergeant Subject(s): Soldiers; War; Popular Culture - United States APOCALYPSE First Line: Turning from plato to the rocky sergeant Last Line: December bones in a sweet whore of may AS GOETHE SAID First Line: Party: %once, at a party, a taciturn prof Last Line: Let's hope to god he stays below it AS IN A PLAY BY DEKKER First Line: Instead of cobbling out my patchy verses Last Line: My heart a wild thing as I'd breathe, 'for you!' AT DAWN First Line: Living!' I grieved. 'each heartbeat, touch-and-go.' Last Line: Sleepy, you touch and grin: 'what touches, though!' AT WRITERS' CONFERENCE First Line: Well, love me, love my dog.' I'll cuddle the mutt Last Line: Look, I'm sweet venus' champion. Not some nut AUTUMN First Line: Up the long road toward evening and the dark AVANT-GARDE First Line: A dead tradition! Hollow shell! Last Line: Said cancer-cell to cancer-cell BALLAD OF KISSES AND COMBS First Line: When you were a little child, my love Last Line: And the blind, deep -kissing grave BARD ANNOUNCES HE IS TAKING UP SOCIAL ACTION ... First Line: Good man! Left letters, to improve the folk Last Line: And made the two worlds better at a stroke BATHROBE First Line: The bathrobe that you gave me, mischievous scarlet Last Line: Fermat's last theorem, and lost symmetry BEAUTIFUL ATHEIST First Line: In bed, as the feathers flew, push came to shove Last Line: Spectral %in our nights of love BLASPHEMER First Line: So cuss me out,' said the lord. I'm not impressed Last Line: I gave you the mouth. The mind too. Be my guest BLIND JOY Poem Text Subject(s): Superficiality BODY AND MIND First Line: God's a rube goldberg fan? The notion's scary Last Line: Rehearsing its gurgle and burp. And unsanitary BOOK OF LIFE First Line: Some puzzle out with finger cramped and slow Last Line: Startled, amused, they laugh. And wave good-bye BOSS AND TYPIST First Line: What she wants: being swathed in mink Last Line: There's just no way at all -' says you BRIGHT NIGHT OF THE SOUL First Line: Cool clarinet, bluff trumpet Last Line: Come fair, come foul, stays haloed, %polaris at the pole CAJOLERY First Line: Cajolery works, but you've got to know how Last Line: Pulling its leg won't get milk from a cow CALLIOPE TO CLIO First Line: The red wrath of achilles - cope with that Last Line: Flicks unconcerned - why not? - the unnerving sky CARDIOLOGICAL Poem Text First Line: Ten heartbeats back our lips were touching. Ten? Subject(s): Hearts; Time CARDIOLOGICAL First Line: Ten heartbeats back our lips were touching. Ten? Last Line: With more! Yet more! Its irreversible beat CATULLUS XVII First Line: O colonia, mad to dance Last Line: Sucks the shoe from a jackass CELEBRATING A BIRTHDAY First Line: The cannonballs, pintsize, now yoked together Last Line: Show withering apparitions. Old! They're old! CENSORSHIP Poem Text First Line: Love cautions, 'adults only!' while below Subject(s): Death; Dead, The CENSORSHIP First Line: Love cautions, 'adults only!' while below Last Line: Death has the children to his filthy show CHILD First Line: How the greenest of wheat rang gold at his birth! Last Line: (o reborn poplars) than in michigan earth Variant Title(s): For My So Subject(s): Babies CHRISTMAS Poem Text First Line: They say: but cattle near Subject(s): Christmas; Nativity, The CHRISTMAS First Line: They say: but cattle near Last Line: Told the home -- truth of man Subject(s): Christmas CHRISTMAS TREE Poem Text First Line: This seablue fir that rode the mountain storm Subject(s): Christmas; Past; Children; Death; Stars; Nativity, The; Childhood; Dead, The CHRISTMAS TREE First Line: This seablue fir that rode the mountain storm Last Line: And found assurance in the perfect star CITY DAWN First Line: First breath of dawn, that corroborates all fable Last Line: As we prove to be, to know in our warm blood CLOCK SYMPHONY Poem Text First Line: Time that brings children from the wizard den Subject(s): Time CLOCK SYMPHONY First Line: Time that brings children from the wizard den Last Line: And through a tinsel gear of watch motors the heavy sky CLOCK WITHOUT HANDS Poem Text First Line: The hands are plated; they'll be brass Subject(s): Time CLOCK WITHOUT HANDS First Line: The hands are being plated; they'll be brass Last Line: Only like heaven's own logic: hard to read CLOSED FOR RESTORATION First Line: Our gaudy years in italy! In between Last Line: Mine, chiuso per restauro. With fingers crossed CLOSING TOMB First Line: And so it's over. If they meet Last Line: Their candor and perfume! %till blighted by our ancient pride ... %black letters on the tomb COLT AUTOMATIC Poem Text First Line: My gun, the color of winter rain and thunder Subject(s): Guns CONCLUSION Poem Text First Line: If what began (look far and wide) will end: Subject(s): Universe; Love CONCLUSION First Line: If what began (look far and wide) will end Last Line: Acons late stumble on it with surprise CONNUBIAL First Line: Letch with his problem, satyriasis, Last Line: Sigh envious friends, 'a marriage made in heaven!' CONSOLATION First Line: Sad at night were thought of the dear things vanished Subject(s): Immortality CONSOLATIONS OF ETYMOLOGY, WITH FANFARE First Line: Zany - from giovanni (john) Last Line: Once I thought my name--well, blah. %zany in denim, though! Ta dah! CONTEMPLATION First Line: I'm mark's alone!' you swore. Given cause to doubt you Last Line: I think less of you, dear. But more about you COSI First Line: In love with dorabella all that autumn Last Line: Plain doe and 'ligi to mad tambours sway COSMOLOGY First Line: The past! Big bang! Great story there! I love it! Last Line: My money's on the future though. More of it CRADLE SONG Poem Text First Line: Pram and scottie season now Subject(s): Babies; Infants CREATIVE WRITING Poem Text First Line: Blobb learned one thing in workshops: be concrete! Subject(s): Writing & Writers CREATIVE WRITING First Line: Blobb learned one thing in workshops: be concrete! Last Line: Love's sourdough is all crumb, her muffins dry. %butter our buns, great baker in the sky Subject(s): Writing And Writers CRITIC: COTERIE REVIEW OF BOOKS First Line: Of writers he likes four, and thunders rage, Last Line: He's at the udder slurping, eyes goo-goo CRUTCHES AND CANES First Line: Feisty old men, their battle cry a cough Last Line: Waggle their sticks at earth, to warn it off CYNIC First Line: Better perhaps smile wryly, if you smile, Last Line: In a world where guys and gals are guise and guile DARWIN IN THE ZOO First Line: Spry, furry, bright-eyed chimps, all life a game Last Line: From grace to our puddled streets of blood and %shame DAUGHTER, AGE 4 First Line: Came traipsing to my bed today Last Line: Vex such another bed DAWN SONG First Line: Dearest, sleep. Bright night is gone Last Line: Root the entwining ivy firmer DAY OUR DOG DIED First Line: Grim six-foot death, his majesty in black Last Line: Stood. Stared at us -- you, me. Then nodded twice %left, with his great cape flicking us. Like ice DAYS OF OUR YEARS Poem Text Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence DAYS OF OUR YEARS First Line: It's brief and bright, dear children; bright and brief Last Line: Delight's the lightning; the long thunder's grief DE FIDE First Line: Do you believe in him? You ask. Safer to say no Last Line: You'd wonder, when I fill my lungs: do you %believe in air? DEAD CHILD First Line: No hint before? He was dreamy Last Line: - fearful pit, uncovered %where the children run DEAR READER First Line: Don't tread on holy toes!' good sir, I will Last Line: It's better to tread toes than tread on eggs DECLINE AND FALL Poem Text First Line: We had a city also. Hand in hand Subject(s): City & Town Life; Ruins; Defeat DECLINE AND FALL First Line: We had a city also, hand in hand Last Line: Trail phosphor on the melancholy coast? DESIGN: A FURTHER WORD First Line: Dull gold of oak leaves falling where they might Last Line: Adduced - of the earth's own virtue - vice and awl? DIMENSION Poem Text First Line: To hold you measured three ways is the sun's Subject(s): Love DISCIPLES First Line: Just one in twelve a traitor? Blessed day! Last Line: Since judas' time, been downhill all the way DOLLAR BILL Poem Text First Line: The feathered thing of silver-grey and jade Subject(s): Birds DOLLAR BILL First Line: The feathered thing of silver-grey and jade Last Line: Child of green lovebird and the raven death DOOR First Line: All youth to middle age I sat before Last Line: She smiled. 'and you had it, all those years, the key.' DOVER SOLE First Line: Whanne that aprille with - o wild west wind!! Last Line: Roll on, thou deep and dark blithe spirit, roll! %ah, what a dusty aunt (sir!) gets the sole! DROPPING THE NAMES Poem Text First Line: Alps, island, jet, crest, logo - barnum's own Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Automobile Accidents; Male-female Relations DROPPING THE NAMES First Line: Alps, island, jet, crest, logo - barnum's own Last Line: Of island, alp, jet, logo - paper-thin ELEGY FOR A BAD POET, TAKEN FROM US NOT LONG SINCE Poem Text First Line: About the dead, no murmur of dispraise Last Line: “who, you?” to praise the lord, his gracious ways Subject(s): Hate ELEGY FOR A BAD POET, TAKEN FROM US NOT LONG SINCE First Line: About the dead, no murmur of dispraise Last Line: Who, you?' to praise the lord, his gracious ways Subject(s): Hate ELEGY: 1. DEATH AND THE MAIDEN First Line: Were you, as old prints have shown Last Line: Odd elation in our eyes? ELEGY: 2. 'ONE DAY ANYONE DIED I GUESS' First Line: Here she lies, poor dancing head Last Line: Where such awesome laws are set, %honey, misbehaving yet? ELEVATED Poem Text First Line: Three stories up the town in venice: there Subject(s): Venice, Italy EMBROIDERY AT BAYEUX First Line: Men fought with axes, panting, nose to nose Last Line: The severed head lies beaming, 'I'm a rose!' EMINENT CRITIC First Line: For each man kills the thing he loves' - it's true Last Line: I only say he sure as hell four-lettered it Subject(s): Critics And Criticism; Hate ENGLISH 317: THE WRITING OF POETRY FROM JUVENAL, I, 79. First Line: How doting inspiration coos to see Last Line: Till the cool surgeon thought growls, 'still alive? %amputate here. And here. It may survive.' EPITAPH FOR A LIGHT LADY First Line: Once, lovely chloe here asleep in clay Last Line: And - so unlike our chloe - sleep alone? EPITAPH FOR BLOAT First Line: Death, to see your hated shade, Last Line: Now he eyes you, 'piece of cake!' %drops his shovel for a rake ETRUSCAN TOMB Poem Text First Line: Tarchna dreams by the distant ocean Subject(s): Etruscan Civilization; Graves; Tombs; Tombstones ETRUSCAN TOMB First Line: Tarchna dreams by the distant ocean Last Line: Like eyelids fast on a rapture of sun ETYMOLOGY First Line: Prestige, we love it! But (pardon the intrusion) Last Line: Who love prestige won't check it. Love is blind EVERGREEN First Line: Under this stone, what lies? Last Line: Stowed for a season, then %pleasure-bound on the deep EXPERIMENTAL First Line: Fadd publishes his 'experiments,' verse and prose Last Line: Like a doctor showing his corpses, you suppose? EXPERIMENTAL, FROM JUVENAL,I,79 First Line: Wow, type flies ever which way, man!.. EXPLICATING 'THE NECROMANCERS' First Line: Flushed and in heat my verses all that summer Last Line: Soured, with their tuneful nuisance, sea and sky EXPLICATION First Line: Mio padre e stato per me 'l'assassino' FAIRY TALE Poem Text First Line: This is the hero; he is black or white FAIRY TALE First Line: This is the hero; he is black or white Last Line: And both ride off together down his mind FERKLE First Line: Ferkle buys dirty books. They're just his speed Last Line: Fool, said his muse to him, look in thy heart and read FEW THINGS TO SAY First Line: It's true, we write so little. Years between Last Line: You craze the air with pleasure. And you die FINISTERRE First Line: So the scrivener quilled. In blurry bluh's such stuff Last Line: Space and time %twirl immersing %soul in soul FIRST DATE First Line: Her toe first in that water Last Line: The children heed too late FIRST DATE: 2 First Line: Be careful whom you kiss. You never know Last Line: Shearing from ankle, shinbone %- but %slow...Slow FLORENCE Poem Text First Line: The yellow river and the violet hills Subject(s): Florence, Italy FLORENCE First Line: The yellow river and the violet hills Last Line: Thistles purple as stelliferous night FREIGHT Poem Text First Line: Call awe, then, what you will, long long ago Subject(s): Railroads; Time; Railways; Trains FREIGHT First Line: Call awe, then, what you will, long long ago Last Line: Far from the misty fens of yesterday Subject(s): Railroads; Time FRIEZE OF CUPIDS First Line: Pompeii: the seedy vendors Last Line: The children one and all FROM THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY Poem Text First Line: Here lies a most elegant captain of colonials Subject(s): Colonialism FROM THE RAPIDO: LA SPEZIA - GENOVA First Line: Glossies of eden? The slim beaches curled Last Line: Sparrow, whatever. But these beaches! Curled %so close to abutments of the underworld? FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON TREES First Line: In 'trees,' yes, there's a truth or two Last Line: But only god can make a cucaracha GENUINE ELLIS First Line: One thought is all the burden of our learning Last Line: Who shall know as we, we duped, the genuine ellis, %island of light? GOOD FRIDAY Poem Text First Line: You love us yet? Then really, what a one! Subject(s): Hate GOOD FRIDAY First Line: You love us yet? Then really, what a one! Last Line: Popped in our pouch of spit, a hot-cross bun Subject(s): Hate GOOD NIGHT! First Line: Sisterly kisses of parthenia pottle Last Line: Like sniff the cork and never tip the bottle GRATEFUL READER First Line: Your book? Some parts I like. And that's no lie Last Line: Blank pages best. They're easier on the eye GRAVITY Poem Text First Line: Mildest of all the powers of earth: no lightnings Subject(s): Nature; Gravitation GRAVITY First Line: Mildest of all the powers of earth: no lightnings Last Line: Allowing his poky serve euclidean whimsies, %the looniest lob its joy: serence parabolas HOSPITAL BREAKFAST: WITH GRACE AFTER First Line: Waking in drifts of whiteness: head to toe Last Line: To dangle (though water-walkers all are gone) %our toes in the froth and glamors of the dawn HOW NOBLE IN REASON! HOW INFINITE IN FACULTY! First Line: Ten trillion cells our body has. Each one Last Line: Flares into brain-stuff with a shrug, 'search me!' HOW TO TELL THE GIRLS FROM THE FLOWERS First Line: Both sway. Are fragrant mostly. Wells for dew Last Line: Eyes of the girl go deeper. Wells for grief HUMAN KIND CANNOT BEAR VERY MUCH REALITY' Poem Text First Line: Hence tricks of dimension on us soft as kisses Subject(s): Reality; Love - Nature Of HUMILITY First Line: This flower was humble, nunnish, hugged the sod Last Line: What! Show myself?' it squeeked. 'and rival god?' IAMBIC PENTAMETER, FROM JUVENAL,I,79 First Line: No dumping under penalty of arrest IMPERVIOUS First Line: He strides in burly amor; not a chink Last Line: Crustacean more than man: sir ego, he %of castle pride, of stirps stupidity IN PRAISE OF SOBRIETY Poem Text First Line: Lips that touch liquor must never touch mine.' that's clear Last Line: But, with a tipsy lunge, hit nose or ear Subject(s): Temperance; Prohibition IN PRAISE OF SOBRIETY First Line: Lips that touch liquor must never touch mine.' that's clear Last Line: But, with a tipsy lunge, hit nose or ear Subject(s): Temperance IN VENICE, THE LIGHT AIRS First Line: By gold marquees the iron men tell time Last Line: Words stray, like funnel clouds, and trail debris; %light airs make mockery of the gulled marquee INCIDENT First Line: Our cinder kitten with violet eyes Last Line: Ragged feather bloodied in the snow INDOLENT DAY First Line: Today went meaningless as music Last Line: Twined in the minor rain, the dominant sun INSPIRATION VS. REVISION First Line: For some--bim-bam, thank you ma'am--she's a one-shot whore Last Line: Murmur, lips warm, %again %...And again! %...Again! INSPIRATION VS. REVISION, FROM JUVENAL,I,79 First Line: For some - bim-bam, thank you ma'am ISAIAH'S COAL Poem Text First Line: Always, he woke in those days Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Christmas; Love; Nativity, The ISAIAH'S COAL First Line: Always, he woke in those days Last Line: As dangerous time goes by ISHTAR Poem Text First Line: Two ordinary people, nextdoor neighbors Subject(s): Ishtar (babylonian Goddess) ISHTAR First Line: Two ordinary people, nextdoor neighbors Last Line: Wait long and long, bright irons, for the dew JAPANESE PRINTS First Line: These took the captain prisoner that took these Last Line: Japan first pointed his own street and people JULIANNE-JULIENNE First Line: Julianne of norwich, julienne of leeks Last Line: My julianne-julienne. Your body's droll %gala melange! What setting for a soul! JUVENAL,I,79, SELS. KEEPING CHANGE First Line: Handfuls of change Last Line: Dates love the dust and pile it deep. %friend, keep your 'keep the change' - change being all we kee KERPLINK AND KERPLUNK First Line: Old aristotle - the name means 'living end' Last Line: Do a useless thing if you want to be of use L. WITTINGENSTEIN (1889-1951) First Line: Scatology, eschatology. What's the diff Last Line: That mix of giggle with our grand finale LA CI DAREM LA MANO First Line: Since we are born to be convinced Last Line: Our two bloods in the membrane-severed sea LAB RESEARCH (SEX) First Line: Cruddy x-rayed the lovers bound in bliss Last Line: Don't see the point,' he puzzled. 'what's to this?' LAB RSEARCH (SEX) Poem Text First Line: Cruddy x-rayed the lovers bound in bliss Last Line: “don't see the point,” he puzzled. “what's to this?” Subject(s): Sex LAST JUDGMENT First Line: When we are ranged on the great plain of %flabbergasting death Last Line: We know our terrible hearts too well to trust our %luck with those LIGHT' VERSE First Line: Light verse!' mamurra sniffed, 'your whole damn batch.' Last Line: Where's mamurra? %buried. %six feet under LIMERICK First Line: A clever young lady of gdansk Last Line: Which cannot be said about pansk LOVE Poem Text First Line: Now caught away by winds of love Subject(s): Love LOVE First Line: For when we have blamed the wind, we can blame love.' Last Line: Girls with their shattered dresden in the heart? LOVE AMONG THE PHILOSOPHERS First Line: You, moody miss who wanted more, recall Last Line: Only let's kiss, who never dreamed good night LOVE AND DEATH First Line: And yet a kiss (like blubber)'d blur and slip, Last Line: Without the assuring skull beneath the lip Variant Title(s): Finisterr LOVE AND OTHER WONDERS First Line: You've noticed how the mozart 'benedictus' Last Line: That's heaven? Or maybe hell? Souls pupa-size %a-flitting, from lip to lip, through simpering skies LOVE POEM Poem Text Recitation First Line: My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases Subject(s): Clumsiness; Love LOVE POEM First Line: My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases Last Line: All the toys of the world would break LOVE SONG FOR OUTER SPACE First Line: If all that talk of heaven's true Last Line: Love, in ascension from a star? LOVE'S BITTERSWEET First Line: Shoulder so snowy, yet so cold? I'd grieve Last Line: - so shy, so wild - in her true tongue, oxymoron LOVE'S PROGRESS First Line: One place: a grottoed recess in liguria Last Line: That name were truer than all maps are true LOVER First Line: The lover of many women in his time Last Line: Howled. And a viper of lightning hissed the air LOVERS First Line: And here the two by the one grievance haunted Last Line: Lie in the dark. But not the dark they wanted LOVING ONE'S NEIGHBOR First Line: I meditate on god, the amazing grace Last Line: Somehow just don't impact-- %you stupid jerk! LUNCH WITH OLD FLAME First Line: A pity: the midnight linen, passion's map, Last Line: Shrunk to this pallor of napkins in our lap MADNESS IN VERMONT THIS FALL First Line: Stripped of its summer wealth Last Line: And minding the fire is frost? MADRIGAL First Line: Beside the rivers of the midnight town Last Line: Is faucet of cut vein or ripsaw bone MADRIGAL IN TIME OF WAR Poem Text First Line: Beside the rivers of the midnight town Subject(s): War; Love; Farewell; Parting MADRIGAL IN WARTIME First Line: Beside the rivers of the midnight town Last Line: #name? MAGAZINE STAND First Line: Here shines the grotto of our lacquered saints Last Line: His favorite singer the adulterous king MAKING IT First Line: A winter world. Ways icy. Most men fall.' Last Line: Feet that go further faster move in dirt MARTIAL ON AGRICULTURE First Line: Buried your seven rich wives there in one field? Last Line: That's what I call good soil, man! What a yield! MASQUE OF BLACKNESS First Line: The news stirred first in very dead of winter Last Line: Seeing the works of the bright world apart MASS MEDIA First Line: Pompuss hailed leading bard, time telegraphs Last Line: Time-upper-case. Time-lower laughs and laughs MATTHEW 5:28 First Line: Whoso lusts ...In his heart...' the saying's dire Last Line: Stifles the radiant impulse of delight MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE First Line: There's this (perhaps a meaning, if we try): Last Line: Equate away. I'm off. To live a little MELISANDE AT THE KALEIDOSCOPE First Line: A versatile fellow fertile in retort-- Last Line: Sunk in their bony home. %a long lights out! Then. %fire, to delight high heaven, needs the dark MEMORY OF PLACES First Line: Where the mad ocean breaks its teeth on stone Last Line: Who'd strew your smouldering letters in the bay? %what whitecaps frothed as if to boil away? MIDWEST First Line: Indiana: no blustering summit or coarse gorge Last Line: Conspicuous on our fields the shadow of man MILLIONTH ELEGY FOR THE WELSH POET First Line: And 'was there ever dog that praised its fleas?' Last Line: Your grievous joy to wind and weather sung %keeps me all ears, remembering. Not all tongue MINIMALIST First Line: Some things are nice. Like skeletons--they're fine!' Last Line: Why couldn't god leave well enough alone? MINOTAUR First Line: Sweet flesh was shipped the bull-man once to eat Last Line: Go home and pack. Tomorrow, off for crete MOON-LANDING POETRY First Line: The spidery gadget dangles down--and then Last Line: Our culture's come. Soon glass, cans, rubble show it. %all more disposable than your instant poet Variant Title(s): Moon-landing Poetry, From Juvenal, I, 7 Subject(s): Progress MORE ABOUT TIME First Line: Life, gone like a flash of lightening. Then how so Last Line: There's this on my brow seems -- nay, it is! -- real sweet MORE THEOLOGY Poem Text First Line: And why these fig leaves hiding eden's riches? Last Line: Our parent got too big, see, for their britches Variant Title(s): Moon-landing Poetry, From Juvenal, I, 79 Subject(s): Eden; Clothing & Dress MORE THEOLOGY First Line: And why these fig leaves hiding eden's riches? Last Line: Our parents got too big, see, for their britches MOSES DESCENDING First Line: The burning questions of our time? They're burning Last Line: Good is what feels good, people. Do your thing!' MOUSE First Line: This mouse that in my absence haunts the room Last Line: Intrude here in the four walls of dimension, %and probably vex the oeconomies of heaven Subject(s): Nature MOZART Poem Text First Line: Because you have come between us and a time Subject(s): Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791) NAIF First Line: Make love, not war' one can, sweet simple boy? Last Line: I know the girl who tried it. Back at troy NATIONE NON MORIBUS First Line: ...Shrug off the world (as churning boys Last Line: To breathe that air! And breathless...At the pole NATIONE NON MORIBUS (1265-1321) Poem Text First Line: Shrug off the world( (as churning boys Last Line: To breathe that air! And breathless...At the pole … Subject(s): Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) NEAR THE AIRPORT Poem Text First Line: Sleek, keen, so now - superbo jets that go Subject(s): Air Travel NEAR THE AIRPORT First Line: Sleek, keen, so now--superbo-jets that go Last Line: Mosey like ancient aircraft, rococo NECROMANCERS First Line: Clowns in a garish air. On panicky pedals Last Line: The princess flings our halo, knife by knife Subject(s): Necromancy NEW YEAR'S EVE Poem Text First Line: Midnight the years last day the last Subject(s): Holidays; New Year NEW YEAR'S EVE First Line: Midnight the years last day the last Last Line: Drift and doom were the loves we lovered Subject(s): Holidays; New Year NEW YEAR'S EVE, 1938 First Line: Midnight the years last day the last Last Line: To sallys name or perhaps another Subject(s): Holidays; New Year NIAGARA Poem Text First Line: Driving westward near niagara, that transfiguring of the waters, Subject(s): Niagara Falls; Nature; Earth; Social Commentaries; World NIAGARA First Line: Driving westward near niagara, that transfiguring of the waters Last Line: Wreathed in opulence of sunset, some transfiguring of the waters? NON-EUCLIDEAN ELEGY First Line: In the foil-and-pastel tea room Last Line: Tea rooms teeter like kites NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE Poem Text First Line: Now that you're here again, what's thirst or hunger? Subject(s): Togetherness NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE First Line: Now that you're here again, what's thirst or hunger? Last Line: Is the one cadence ravishing my ear OBSERVATORY ODE First Line: The universe: %we'd like to understand Last Line: No heat like science and poetry when they kiss OCCASIONS OF GRACE AT A POETRY READING Poem Text First Line: The loving-kindness, lord! Who, sin to quell Subject(s): Poetry Readings OCCASIONS OF GRACE AT A POETRY READING First Line: Thy loving-kindness, lord! Who, sin to quell Last Line: How tedious and interminable is hell ODE; CHAMBER AND SOUL Poem Text First Line: My many-windowed room, cupboard of sun Subject(s): Transience; Property; Impermanence; Possessions OLD AGE First Line: Harder to flex the knees and touch the clay Last Line: That still comes close and closer, day by day OLD RIVER ROAD Poem Text First Line: One party of that season. Evening journals Subject(s): Love Affairs; Parties OLD RIVER ROAD First Line: One party of that season. Evening journals Last Line: Dust in the eye's a charm for seeing right OLD SILVER TONGUE'S HABEAS CORPUS First Line: Kisses? Not like taking snuff Last Line: See him scoot, old silver tongue! ON NOT READING THE LOCAL BARD; IN FOG AT GLOUCESTER First Line: Tide seollen. Ghostly, flat and gray. A matte ON READING - THOUGH NOT FAR - IN A CRITIC MUCH TOUTED TODAY Poem Text First Line: These never change, while time's pollution thickens: Last Line: Cackle of critics, and the shit of chickens Variant Title(s): Dear Reader, From Juvenal, I, 79 Subject(s): Books; Reading ON READING - THOUGH NOT FAR - IN A CRITIC MUCH TOUTED TODAY First Line: These never change, while time's pollution thickens: Last Line: Cackle of critics, and the shit of chickens Variant Title(s): Dear Reader, From Juvenal, I, 7 Subject(s): Books ON THE ONE THEME STILL First Line: In traffic shuddering as it shied too near Last Line: Old bosom friends. If differing, by a breath ONLY TEXT First Line: The flesh, its fine calligraphy on bone! Last Line: To puzzle out their mythologies above %she taught me spelling as she taught me love OPERA First Line: Callas, la scala, tosca. '53 Last Line: Leaning, I dazzled in the sidewise light %till love's halation became second sight OPTIMIST First Line: He said, all's good. All's beautiful and true Last Line: Clouds have a silver lining. %tripe has too OR, AS MARTIAL SAID MORE THAN ONCE First Line: Lew leerick won't give readings, though he'd be Last Line: Why, when you read your poems, this serape? %wrap it around our ears, and we'll be happy ORGANIC First Line: Look at our big bad poet shouting 'shit!' Last Line: Poems don't mean, they are, man. That's the way. %yours are--the nose avers it--what they say ORIGIN OF MYTH First Line: Christmas again. And the kings. And the camels that Last Line: Fetor and stress where the camel-trains come.' ORIGINATED IN A CHORUS OF SATYRS First Line: Had eager eve for whose sweet will we languish Last Line: Pity and dread %blazon like haloes the great blinded head PALINODE First Line: So, the well-known gamut run Last Line: Earth's a whirligig; blue noon %riddled with black lights; %see the very sun, our saint, %waltz with PARALLAX AT DJEBEL-MUTA Poem Text First Line: He strolled on desert cliffs; tumultuous sunset Subject(s): Anthropology; Deserts PARALLAX AT DJEBEL-MUTA First Line: He strolled the desert cliff; tumultuous sunset Last Line: Sprang and like golden eagles took the hill PARODY First Line: Blood's thicker, yes, than water. Understood Last Line: The moral: better's worse at times. And how. %the canniest hound's a duffer at miaou! Variant Title(s): Parody, From Juvenal, I, 7 PARTING First Line: We met in error. If too close Last Line: Said knifeblade to the heart PARTING: 1940 Poem Text First Line: Not knowing in what season this again Subject(s): Farewell; Parting PARTING: 1940 First Line: Not knowing in what season this again Last Line: The blood flows one imposed way, and no other PASCAL ON ULTRASOUND First Line: Just midway on the gurney of...' a dismal Last Line: Not any more. I've been there. Know the way PENNY ARCADE Poem Text Recitation First Line: This pale and dusty palace under the el Subject(s): Amusement Parks PENNY ARCADE First Line: This pale and dusty palace under the el Last Line: Glass mansions in the juke-seraphic sky PERFECT RHYME First Line: Life, that struck up his cocky tune with breath Last Line: Finds, to conclude in music, only death PHILOSOPHER First Line: He scowled at the barometer: 'will it rain?' Last Line: None heard, with all that pattering on the pane PHRYNE Poem Text First Line: They stripped to win the jury once, those languorous sweet greek bitches Subject(s): Women Writers PHYSIOLOGY First Line: A whitman-type, that's me! Vast! Free! Profuse!' Last Line: I know some things are better that fit snug Variant Title(s): Physiology, From Juvenal, I, 7 PIGSKIN ABBEY Poem Text First Line: The twilight gun is victory assured Subject(s): Football PLAZA DE TOROS First Line: As - for how else do poems go? - as some Last Line: As, you began - ?' %and glory on; as he PO-BIZ VERSE First Line: A few lines carved in marble, there's my hope Last Line: I chortled, 'not soap! It's froth! Po's bubble-bath!' POET LEAPS TO DEATH First Line: Here's double grief now. Honest john, I'm numb Last Line: But - lord! - for that flux of elegies to come! Variant Title(s): Poet Leaps To Deaath, From Juvenal, I, 7 POET WHO HAS IT MADE Poem Text First Line: The bard in mauve mercedes, off to ski Last Line: Poet for sale sign overprinted sold? Variant Title(s): Poet Who Has It Made, From Juvenal I, 79 Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Success POET WHO HAS IT MADE First Line: The bard in mauve mercedes, off to ski Last Line: Poet for sale sign overprinted sold? Variant Title(s): Poet Who Has It Made, From Juvenal I, 7 Subject(s): Poetry And Poets POETRY WORKSHOP (FIRST SEMESTER) First Line: It's time. I find them waiting in the hall Last Line: To be, if not our laureate, our delight: %the perfect poem none of us can write POETRY WORKSHOP, FROM JUVENAL,I,79 First Line: Batted out seven poems? In one day? POETS AND CRITICS Poem Text First Line: One hound that trops. A thousand fleas that ride Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Critics & Criticism POETS AND CRITICS First Line: One hound that trots. A thousand fleas that ride. Last Line: Which way? A vote for each. The fleas decide? POLONAISE First Line: The gray-green eyes, polonia! Then the bed Last Line: Of szaro-zielone ever, gray-green eyes PORNO PEOPLE First Line: O love, that moves the sun and the other stars Last Line: Going down, though not on knees, to worship you PORTRAIT Poem Text First Line: Seeing in crowded restaurants the one you love Subject(s): Love PORTRAIT First Line: Seeing in crowded restaurants the one you love Last Line: Impetuous midnight, and the dune's dark trees POSTCARD FROM MINNESOTA First Line: Last night I scrawled on a postcard love and kisses Last Line: Like sharing a world? %not everyone's maybe. %yours POWERS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH First Line: One summer - I was four or so - we lived Last Line: Than even the moon can touch, for all her fingering PRAYER Poem Text First Line: We who are nothingness can never be filled Subject(s): Nothingness; God; Nihilism; Voids PRAYER First Line: O lord, from the sight of ramrod, heaven free us! Last Line: A zealot with more convictions than ideas PRAYER First Line: We who are nothingness can never be filled Last Line: Her ancient crater only the sea can fill PRETTY DEVICE OF THE FATHERS First Line: A dagger (whose bone haft the iceberg locks Last Line: Glues them in furry carnage, sweet fangs bare PROGRESS First Line: In the good old rhyming time Last Line: Now his verses dully don't PROLIFIC First Line: Of all the million words rank grubber spewed, Last Line: Just two gave genuine pleasure: 'to conclude,...' PROTESTATION First Line: You say so, but will you be faithful? You men!' Last Line: But dear, I've been faithful again and again! PROVERB First Line: Can't put an old head on young shoulders.' no? Last Line: Can too. Come closer, dear. You do it so Subject(s): Proverbs QUEEN STREET WEST Poem Text First Line: Seeing the people, broke, pitted, awry Subject(s): War - Home Front QUESTION FOR YEATS First Line: In a good kiss, with all as all should be, Last Line: Accountants, they %writhe in conniption where the kiss-folk play RAGDALE HAIKU First Line: Easy-flowing brook, Last Line: Then it learns to sing REFLECTIONS IN VENICE First Line: Except for the dowdy splash in back canals Last Line: Settle in venice, traveller - lose both RILKE SURMISED First Line: God knows I never loved any, no, not her Last Line: I sailed by this one in stark weather of youth ROMAN LETTER First Line: What stormy barometers of emotion blown Last Line: The pine by egeria's water, the embosoming air SALLY AND ALISON: JULIE. AND JOAN First Line: Each %so alive with %wind at skirt or curl Last Line: Turned, a nice rhyming, %every %last %girl %? SCHERZO: WRITERS' CONFERENCE, 1941 First Line: Satire, the sultry lady, is my love Last Line: They find you in the morning raped and dead SCHOLAR WONDERS First Line: Their human love--confusing! Off they fling Last Line: The long long gazing in each other's eyes SCIENTIST'S MORNING PRAYER First Line: While kids, with their blocks, build things of a b c Last Line: Two blocks on three and - ooh, lookee! - one on top SEAMUSIC Poem Text First Line: What word in the deep mind swimming, goldfish word Subject(s): Sea; Ocean SEASHORE Poem Text First Line: Over her great museum of lost nations Subject(s): Seashore; Girls; Sunbathing; Beach; Coast; Shore SEIZURE First Line: Snowfall at christmas: windows here below Last Line: Endure the seizure as loved women do? SHAPE OF LEAVES First Line: A premonition in the leaves Last Line: How rich a stain of both SHE OBJECTS First Line: Stop it! These kooky couplets! They're the dregs!' Last Line: Dear, but I need two-liners. Like two legs SHOT DOWN THE NIGHT Poem Text First Line: A boy I knew Subject(s): War; Death; Dead, The SIGN OF FEVER Poem Text First Line: Toys that parting lovers give Subject(s): Love; Farewell; Parting SIGN OF FEVER First Line: Toys that parting lovers give Last Line: Dream of each is other's doom SILENCE First Line: All night with others, with the rapturous few Last Line: Seen how fad's blabbing book %is far less passionate than one silent look? SILVER PENNY A YEAR AGO First Line: Remember the sunlit maple trees SINNER AND SAINT First Line: Bad, she was virtue's self: no spite, no pride Last Line: A stake, a victim, and she'll offer: 'match?' SIX-CORNERED SNOWFLAKE First Line: The %snows %curleycue %is slow pendulous Last Line: Cajoles the earth %in musical %notes %yet SKIN AND SKULL First Line: I'm pleasure, pride, pluck, vigor,' glories skin Last Line: And skull nods 'yessir!' with that toothy grin SLAPSTICK 1 First Line: Love and kisses we write, on the backs of our tru-kolor fotos Last Line: Well, we're stuck with the word. %how get rid of it? %how kiss it off? SLUMS Poem Text First Line: The slow day burns across the rubble dial Subject(s): Slums; City & Town Life; Tenements SONNET ALMOST PETRARCHAN First Line: He stared - lean tusk of a man - and dreamed each breast a Last Line: Of animal rapture scavenging: kiss! Kiss! SOPHOMORE First Line: Last year I'd tease, 'so beautiful! So dumb?' Last Line: Lost in your dreams? Confuse early to bed? SPATIAL METRICS First Line: Between his words, much empty space, as modern mentors %taught Last Line: It's much the same between his ears. Ha, form expressing %thought! SPLEEN First Line: Well, catullus. So you knew Last Line: Grief and shame are proud flesh SPONTANEOUS First Line: These lava flows, convulsing as they slosh, Last Line: What are those shapes? The parthenon they're not STEWARDESS FALLS FROM PLANE First Line: Unusual bird, unusual words for you? Last Line: Earth whistled, and you came. As all girls do STRANGE! First Line: I'd have you known! It puzzles me forever Last Line: Strange! - how no constellations spell your name! SUMMER LOVE First Line: All of us lovers! When the summer sun Last Line: Call it a sort of rhyme for what we are TENNIS TROPHY Poem Text First Line: Back in boyhood, game was all Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Tennis THE BLONDE SONATA Poem Text First Line: Green grizzle day, the soft erotic weather Subject(s): Waiters & Waitresses; Hair; Desire THE BOOK OF LIFE Poem Text First Line: Some puzzle out with finger cramped and slow Subject(s): Conduct Of Life THE CAVEMAN ON THE TRAIN Poem Text First Line: When first the apprizing eye and tongue that muttered Subject(s): Railroads; Transience; Railways; Trains; Impermanence THE CHILD Poem Text First Line: How the greenest of wheat rang gold at his birth! Variant Title(s): For My Son Subject(s): Babies; Infants THE GOLDEN AGE Poem Text First Line: The persians, when / they had vanquished the ionians in the seafight Subject(s): Modern Warfare THE MAGICAL VIEW OF NATURE Poem Text First Line: So. The old clock's broken Subject(s): Time; Einstein, Alfred (1879-1955) THE MASQUE OF BLACKNESS Poem Text First Line: The news stirred first in very dead of winter Subject(s): Modern Life THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Poem Text First Line: The red express, projectile Subject(s): Speed; Railroads; Railways; Trains THE MOUSE Poem Text First Line: This mouse that in my absence haunts the room Subject(s): Nature THE NECROMANCERS Poem Text First Line: Clowns in a garish air. On panicky pedals Last Line: The princess flings our halo , knife by knife Subject(s): Necromancy THE SHAPE OF LEAVES Poem Text First Line: A premonition in the leaves Subject(s): Leaves THE WOOLEN BUG Poem Text First Line: In camel's-hair, in heather twill or suede Subject(s): Moths THE YOUNG IONIA Poem Text First Line: If you could come on the late train for THEOLOGY First Line: Know what I want this moment, cozy girl? Last Line: No, the wild mind they heave cathedrals to THREE EPIGRAMS: CULTURAL HERITAGE First Line: In the vast universe where star-worlds shatter Last Line: These sages, saints, bards, tech-men-do they matter? %the best carve cherry-pits. The rest? They cha THREE EPIGRAMS: MEN'S ROOM: THE RITZ First Line: Gold fixtures by cellini and - look twice! Last Line: Real ice cubes in the urinals. That's nice. %what's all earth's glory but a peeing on ice? THREE EPIGRAMS: TANDARADEI! First Line: Snowflake and rose. The surf at evening; wine Last Line: Plaisir d'amour! All inklings? All a sign %no six-feet-under's stamped as bottom line? TIDE TURNING Poem Text First Line: Through salt marsh, grassy channel where the shark's Subject(s): Environment; Sea Monsters; Seashore; Tides; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Sea Serpents; Beach; Coast; Shore TIDE TURNING First Line: Through salt marsh, grassy channel where the shark's Last Line: Carouse on the affluent kisses of the tide Subject(s): Environment; Sea Monsters; Seashore; Tides TILL NEWS OF YOU First Line: Wormholes in time. Hulls, hollows, hours and days Last Line: --but now alive with light, shapes on the wall %dancing like masquers at a gala ball TIME'S ARROW First Line: The seaside lollings of our youth! One summer Last Line: You're time-invariant, love. And yet somehow %splendidly bedded in the here and now TIMEPIECE First Line: Si quareas, nescio %the past: that hungry gorge that swallows all Last Line: . . . Left . . . Right . . . Above the abyss %don't look below TO FRIENDS OF OTHER SUMMERS Poem Text First Line: We heeded the blood's warm nudge, the arterial music Subject(s): Memory; Summer; Friendship TO LOVERS Poem Text First Line: Fondlers on the rumpled cot Subject(s): Love - Erotic TOP MODEL GIVES INTERVIEW First Line: Fine thigh, fine breasts, fine brow. Thoughts mean and canned Last Line: Little lost chimp-child at the steinway grand TRAINWRECKED SOLDIERS Poem Text First Line: Death, that is small respected of distinction Subject(s): Death; Disasters; Railroad Wrecks; Dead, The; Train Wrecks TRAINWRECKED SOLDIERS First Line: Death, that is small respected of distinction Last Line: Crux in a savage tongue none of us know Subject(s): Death; Disasters; Railroad Wrecks TRANSPLANT First Line: When I've outlived three plastic hearts, or four Last Line: To glitter wicked when the nurses pass TRICK OR TREAT First Line: Holy and hokey, hallowe'en Last Line: Teasing with 'trick or treat!' TRIVIA First Line: Your verse--so trivial!' Last Line: As oedipus did in dad. You mean I'm there? TWO CRETAN VIEWS First Line: Crete, forty centuries ago Last Line: So the great bugaboo is born UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE Poem Text First Line: We're told how the great mazy world we wander Subject(s): Nature UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE First Line: We're told how the great mazy world we wander Last Line: At a page a second, take ten thousand years Subject(s): Nature VALENTINE, WITH ARROW First Line: Sweet, have a mirror handy? Hold it here Last Line: Why?' and the pert nose crinkles VENTRILOQUISM Poem Text First Line: You girls by moonlight lovered Subject(s): Language; Flirtation; Words; Vocabulary VERSE TRANSLATOR Poem Text First Line: Goethe, racine, neruda, pushkin - next! Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Translating & Interpreting VERSE TRANSLATOR First Line: Goethe, racine, neruda, puhkin--next! Last Line: Lo at his touch, as he invades tromp tromp, %mountain on mountain, groaning, turns to swamp VICARAGE BLUES First Line: I was not aboard when the big boat sunk Last Line: Carol and coral and cure VIEW FROM MOON First Line: Once on the gritty moon (burnt earth hung far Last Line: Old superstitions? The earth-legend yet?' VISIT First Line: I loved a girl: she died. I stood here, so Last Line: Evenings she'd tease, 'don't wait if I'm away.' VISITING POET First Line: The famous bard, he comes! The vision nears!' Last Line: Now heaven protect your booze. Your wife. Your ears WATCHER GO DEFTLY First Line: Careful, careful; you cannot be too deft Last Line: Is there in earth or heaven enough care? WATCHING THE PLANES COME IN AT LA GUARDIA First Line: Joan's kiss %-- it pancakes -- Last Line: Plane and its shadow %thrill %and touch together WATER MUSIC First Line: Nothing noble as water, no Last Line: Our grand loves. Our least ones - like this spindly rose %rambling on pindar's lattice WINE OF ASTONISHMENT First Line: In a cozy booth at noon Last Line: For another round of truth WINTER IN THE PARK First Line: Lagoons are shrunk and walkable as concrete Last Line: The playthings all put away WITH A BLONDE IN A BAR-BOOTH First Line: While you decide, a cigarette for poise? Last Line: Well, we're a catch of breath, love. Caught and gone WITH FINGERING HAND First Line: Ten thousand cigarettes from now Last Line: Can't even that be true?' WORLDLY SUCCESS Poem Text First Line: A winter world. Ways icy. Most men fall Subject(s): Winter; Ice WORTH IN THE WORLD First Line: Worth in the world, what is it? Strands of leaves Last Line: It's world of worth! I've some too, in the end, %my worth in being your unworthiest friend YEAR, 1520 First Line: As one who - and so we're a-sonneting? - one who Last Line: Who sweeps from her cheek, eye blazing, earth and a curl YOU PIOUS PEOPLE First Line: Most any sin - read scripture if you doubt it Last Line: S forgiven sooner than righteousness about it YOU YOUNG POETS First Line: Fair blossoms, cringe. And cuddle close. Today Last Line: The pachydermatous critic comes your way Subject(s): Critics And Criticism; Poetry And Poets YOUNG IONIA First Line: If you could come on the late train Last Line: Upon some woe but on ours no. %and the leaves rush |
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