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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: NOTLEY Matches Found: 273 Notley, Alice Poet's Biography 271 poems available by this author (2 PAGES FROM A LONG POEM IN PROGRESS) First Line: A mother' '& child' 'were both on fire, continuously' ...I THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO BE A GHOST STORY First Line: I looked at my legs and they were much Last Line: Violence %(who's more violent, her or me?) 1 - TOWARDS A DEFINITION First Line: Grief isn't empty it's black and material I've seen it Last Line: Grief is visible, substantial, I've literally seen it 101 First Line: It's possible that I still live there Last Line: About a year and a half later and there is no connection particularly %I left new york 1965 First Line: I'll give you what I know if you'll give too Last Line: Who was colder than I knew %perhaps still is 1970 First Line: I want to put it in code can't find one Last Line: Same time as not I love and write alive 1979 A DREAM First Line: I'm a saint because first I have such vertigo Last Line: Those who don't suffer are the doomed, the idiot neros 1992 First Line: It's dark down the rue caulaincourt Last Line: Utilizable, every inch, even used up Subject(s): Memory 2 - THE PERSON THAT YOU WERE WILL BE REPLACED First Line: In grief the person that you were is replaced by grief Last Line: Returns vengeful after you've repulsed it 2/26/83 FOR TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Poem Text First Line: I dedicate this bath to him Last Line: The forever one. Subject(s): Williams, Tennesssee (1911-1983) 30TH BIRTHDAY Poem Text First Line: May I never be afraid Subject(s): Birthdays; Self; Conduct Of Life 47TH BIRTHDAY Poem Text First Line: Exactly the color / of a grey tear the sky is still Subject(s): Birthdays; Self; France 47TH BIRTHDAY First Line: Exactly the color Last Line: Like an animal's eye AFTER TSANG CHIH First Line: I was brought up in a small town in the mohave desert ALETTE First Line: Long corridor stilled subway Last Line: Unimpressionable 'eye I fly away' 'the owl flies' the owl flies ALL MY LIFE Poem Text AMID THESE WORDS I CAN KNOW First Line: Canyon and spirit mountains peaceful springs; not paying attention to Last Line: I mean why theres no past AMORCORD First Line: Her arms stretch across the scroll AND STILL NO STORY, HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN IT'S OVER? First Line: Into dark cave who is here Last Line: Always here, and nowhere at no time ANGEL-SKATE First Line: It raises its pleated arm-wings Last Line: A fish in the sky APRIL Poem Text First Line: What if he doesn't like me Last Line: I'm there? Like some others can't? Subject(s): Aging APRIL NOT AN INVENTORY BUT A BLIZZARD Poem Text First Line: I met ted at two parties at the same house Last Line: Not read a voice like my own like my own voice will be Subject(s): April; Relationships APRIL NOT AN INVENTORY BUT A BLIZZARD First Line: I met ted at two parties at the same house Last Line: Not read a voice like my own like my own voice will be Subject(s): April; Relationships AS GOOD AS ANYTHING First Line: I don't see the point of Last Line: I like my poems. They're %as good as rocks AS YOU LIKE IT Poem Text First Line: I'm so with it I can't believe it Last Line: Boogie boogie boogie. Subject(s): Editors; Poetry & Poets; Publishing; Publishers AT NIGHT THE STATES Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): United States; Love; America AT THE END-OF-SCHOOL PARTY Poem Text First Line: You have our old cat? She is a very beautiful cat. She is Last Line: To me, she doesn't know me any more. Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives BABY IS BORN OUT OF A WHITE OWL'S FOREHEAD - 1972 First Line: At this time there are few Last Line: But first, for two years, there's no me here BACKYARD First Line: The cat's eye marble is green BECOMING EGYPTIAN First Line: I see myself becoming a more generalized Last Line: It can't stay interested in. I leave lines in space but I forget them BEGINNING WITH A STAIN, SELS. BEING WIGGY First Line: In honor of the approaching %new year Last Line: It never dies in me BEING WITH PEOPLE A CLICHE EATING DINNER First Line: I love my pocahontas but not my us' Last Line: Or perhaps in this poem, vice-versa, or both. %very pretty BIG SLIP ON THE DEAD WOMAN IS PINK First Line: People tired on feet or trapped in cars Last Line: He may be my will too BOB & SIMON'S WALTZ Poem Text First Line: People never seem to change at all - only their Last Line: May 9, 1982 Subject(s): Berrigan, Ted (1934-1983); Poetry & Poets; Berrigan, Edmund Joseph BOBBY (FIRST VISIT BACK TO THE STATES) First Line: Locust locket tule-fuzz locket: first Last Line: Thick and purple eddy-lined under stars BRAIN IS A TOY BUT LOYALTY'S METAPHYSICAL First Line: He's behind those bushes playing. I don't have to think of him Last Line: I has no quote marks around it (without %distance) I comprehend him BREAKING AN UNSOUND BARRIER First Line: Between contained and uncontained eye Last Line: Is there a ground below it' BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER First Line: There is a river Last Line: Would go backwards %if I could BRING ME A PEA JACKET AND SANDWICHES First Line: Young smooth face, look he's grown very young to die Last Line: Perched, crouched, in a leafless tree at night, looking down BUT IN THIS WORLD TOGETHER AND NOT PASSING AWAY First Line: But in this world %together & not Last Line: Time, her life...Neither hot nor cold, it was her crystal BUT MIGHT THE EARTH & WIND BUT MY REAL DREAMS ARE OBJECTIVE (OBJECTS MADE OF ME BY THE SECRET) First Line: Make this lighter, light as a Last Line: I've forgotten all about %my new birth C. '81 First Line: People with more money than us Last Line: I'm fucking lazy unskilled and you deserve your money CALIFORNIA GIRLHOOD First Line: The brothers grimm grew weaker and flickered Last Line: Is still, chastely, darkly in love CHANGE THE FORMS IN DREAMS Poem Text First Line: Moved here for no reason. Don't seem to be anywhere Subject(s): Conduct Of Life CHANGE THE FORMS IN DREAMS First Line: Moved here for no reason. Don't seem to be anywhere Last Line: That you must accept me, exactly CHAPLET ON THE DONKEY'S HEAD: BOTH KEEP DISSOLVING First Line: If you never quite let it be a poem Last Line: Can be defined or measured CHOOSING STYLES - 1972 First Line: I thought of words breaking open in the mouth but also as jewels Last Line: Menstruation covered with sand, garnets and amber CIRCORPSE First Line: There's really only one, but there's hardly any interest Last Line: You whom I may never understand CLINICAL THERMOMETER SET WITH MOONSTONE Poem Text Subject(s): Self COLLAGE First Line: Sometimes just to make something Last Line: The really ruined world COLORS - 1973 First Line: It's an english year, richly languaged and colored Last Line: Thoughts bounce back at me from the flowers, like colors COMING DOWN THE SPIRAL ALMANAC STAIRCASE First Line: Flowers where the ans-abri was killed Last Line: Isn't this or that, is %a third thing COMMON GROUND ASK ANYONE YOU KNOW First Line: Knows you better than %you know yourself Last Line: A sort of %breath %that isn't always %breathed CONGRATULATING WEDGE Poem Text First Line: All things belie me, I think, but I Last Line: May—june 1983 Subject(s): Self-criticism CORPUS SAGRADA First Line: Out there they're whistling COULD I EVER SHARE A TABLEAU WITH MISS JANUARY'S MURDERERS? First Line: A succession of months in review in terms of Last Line: Whose experience of the world is most %important CROWDED INTO A BREATHLESS BUBBLE OF BAD THINKING OUR POEM ..... First Line: Drive towards that mountain of death in your big bright car Last Line: Come down from that top tiny DANCING INTO THE SHADOWS OF THE HIDEOUS FUTURE CITY WE DON'T THINK... First Line: One reason the story %is discontinuous is that it is Last Line: I must be genie-flecked, or genuflect DANTE'S ASS A NOBLE PRIZE First Line: Beyond love %another... %inclusive Last Line: Without %without anything DARK THOUGHT Poem Text First Line: You cannot discourage your wingspread' Last Line: "you cannot discourage your wingspread" Subject(s): Thought; Thinking DEAR DARK CONTINENT Last Line: Through the whole long universe DEAR MRS. BERRIGAN Poem Text First Line: When I'm Last Line: Dear mrs. Berrigan: Subject(s): Berrigan, Ted (1934-1983); Marriage; Berrigan, Edmund Joseph; Weddings; Husbands; Wives DESAMERE, SELS. DIVERSEY STREET First Line: I'm in a house that's too big Last Line: When I'm asleep and the future %haunts this house DO I HAVE TO BE MAD NOW LATER AND ALWAYS First Line: Morning, a bouquet of open oeillets Last Line: But you, you wouldn't %recognize it DO YOU WANT TO BE EXCELLENT AN A ACTRESS NO NOT THAT EITHER First Line: The jewels speak, the different-colored Last Line: Many animals are ghosts now DO YOU WANT TO BE EXCELLENT AN ACTRESS NO NOT THAT EITHER Poem Text First Line: The jewels speak, the different-colored Subject(s): Actors & Actresses; Poetry Readings; Actresses DON'T GIVE ME DROVEL, GIVE ME A SHOVEL (POPULAR POEM) First Line: Any living tableau %contains much that we know Last Line: They must make the people cheer. Okay, the people cheer DON'T THINK THAT THOUGHT IT WILL POISON THIS MOMENT First Line: What ribbon are you? %as a rhythm talks you, %you are one' Last Line: That comes roaring out of the lion's mouth DONOR OF THE MOSAICS First Line: Go broken deeply now sinks huskily parallel room feeling. Waves very still and Last Line: Fame of my relics on the filthy floor of the deepdown saints room, what can I do with %all this wher ECHOES THE PAST FUCKS ME OVER AND OVER First Line: Does the past know the future? Last Line: Nothing that's going to happen is of any interest ELONGATED HOLY MOTHER First Line: But in the next moneyless year there is a nearly fully grown snake of mine Last Line: Words don't remain her dead mouth opens and closes instead she ENUMA ELISH First Line: Caves. %is there a woman painted on the wall? Last Line: There is %what knows me %what is it EVERYONE'S OUT AFTER SOME EMOTIONAL ACTION First Line: Where are we in this dark copse Last Line: I've awakened knowing I've seen it, seen 'it' in 'life' EXPERIENCE First Line: In the mountains of new york Last Line: But I am the poet, without doubt. %experience is a hoax EXPOSING MY BREASTS SO YOU'LL First Line: Are there %animals in e- %mail Last Line: By the merchandise, these days %these times FIGURE, SAINT, ON AN ARCH First Line: Kept in thrall by someone who reads our thoughts. The story of the egyptian Last Line: Underneath as always there its the same as in the light FLOWERS First Line: I was there because of the poetry Last Line: Longlasting but certainly lovelike I %love it FLOWERS OF THE FOOTHILLS & MOUNTAIN VALLEYS Poem Text First Line: Compassion is pungent Subject(s): Compassion FLOWERS OF THE FOOTHILLS & MOUNTAIN VALLEYS First Line: Compassion is pungent Subject(s): Compassion FOREST/SWAMP/GORGE/ALP HOTEL First Line: Before the ancient church and before the roman amphitheater Last Line: Pool of menstrual blood in front of a statue FURNITURE LIGHT Poem Text First Line: Sun on my cheek, bird Last Line: "are we so happy?" Subject(s): Love FURTHER FIGURATION OF MY REGRESSIVE BACKLASH First Line: The famous songwriter/singer and I Last Line: Their place %under a sulphur sky FUTURE MAY CONTAIN ME MORE First Line: I'm at the needles civic center Last Line: I'm sort of like that too, brown but not gray, faded blue GETTING IT RIGHT First Line: Holiday inn wildflowers Last Line: (where the sadness is a) %and that's a lie GLADLY THOUGH I LOST IT AND KNEW I WOULD Poem Text First Line: This is a community of a handful Subject(s): Life GLADLY THOUGH I LOST IT AND KNEW I WOULD First Line: This is a community of a handful Last Line: Gladly, though I lost it, and knew I would Subject(s): Life GO IN AND OUT THE WINDOW First Line: In the great american Last Line: Me? She doesn't know anything GODDESS WHO CREATED THIS PASSING WORLD Last Line: Of her voice & wrist & smile GOING BACK MORNINGS First Line: I don't have to live I'm not even four and I don't think of it Last Line: My love which is nature in time we more and more obliterate that love GRACE HIM MY HEART THERE GROWN PALE Last Line: Yet how like my mind he is to me GUARD THIS MARK WITH YOUR AIR First Line: 2 messy drunk baby lesbians HAUNT First Line: Very facile, 'empty coffin' Last Line: Now open open me to chance really chance HAVE I BEEN HERE BEFORE IS SOMETHING UNFAMILIAR First Line: In normandie %climb down rungs of steel ladder Last Line: I'm hard all over, harder than ever HAVE MADE EARTH AS THE MIRROR OF HEAVEN First Line: My name is alice elizabeth, so am I Last Line: In the new consciousness HEALTHY AND FOOLISH THE MAINSTREAM STARS OF KNEEJERK JOY AND DESPAIR.. First Line: But now, now %it's so hard to work for Last Line: What the fuck good would that be HELP ME CORPUS SAGRADA First Line: To be as tough as mean akhmatova Last Line: (is that the dark woman I am) HEMATITE HEIRLOOM LIVES ON (MAYBE DECEMBER 1980) Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I saw him bleeding but I thought all blood was a dream Subject(s): Women's Rights; Love - Complaints; Relationships; Feminism HEMATITE HEIRLOOM LIVES ON (MAYBE DECEMBER 1980) First Line: I saw him bleeding but I thought all blood was a dream Last Line: The panelike sails of a clipper ship taking us home HOMAGE TO MARIANNE MOORE Recitation by Author First Line: I can go there almost anytime Last Line: You mean. No it isn't. Satisfactory. It's heaven. Subject(s): Moore, Marianne (1887-1972); Homage & Respect HOUSE OF SELF First Line: Back in the child house Last Line: I'm speaking %I speak like this HOW SPRING COMES First Line: Toys and rose - the zoo body zigzags Last Line: Pupils dilated fully black in full achievement of %gut-feeling. Joy HOW WE SPENT THE LAST YEAR OF HIS LIFE First Line: Ted's mother peggy dies in july and ted dies the following july Last Line: A soul your self can't get free of your actions, watch your step %(prose not poetry HOWLING SAINT T-SHIRT First Line: Children don't come from deep inside one Last Line: And gave my kids the archaic voice of poetry I AM A HARDENED HEART First Line: Sisters and mother who look like me Last Line: You gave me rosey quartz, amber, and black glass I DON'T HAVE SYMPATHY WE'RE EQUALS First Line: I'm supposed to read from %my diaries. The audience Last Line: This is the way up, pulling the train up, cursing in the old %way of this poem I KNOW YOU'LL MAKE FUN OF THE CLOTHES THE MAGI ARE WEARING First Line: These three dark women I know Last Line: See things as worthless. Go forward %into dungheap rationally I MUST HAVE CALLED AND SO HE COMES First Line: You've been accusing me of something in these poems Last Line: His voice getting fainter I SAW YOU THERE CROWED I SUPPOSE THIS IS ALL A LEFTHAND PATH First Line: Detective hardwood looks like batman this morning Last Line: E is my middle name I THE PEOPLE Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): Relationships I THE PEOPLE I'M JUST RIGID ENOUGH First Line: It's because I'm the same then that I'm writing this Last Line: I love this alley, love is recognition %born in love IF I DIDN'T SHIVER I WOULDN'T BE COLD First Line: Try to follow your own mind out and anywhere Last Line: Ice so everyone can see them IMPECCABLE SEXISM I MEAN AN ELEGANT IDEA OR PROCEDURE HAUNTS THE First Line: There is something that exists that I can't think of can't imagine Last Line: It's the city of you even if you aren't 'in it' IN ANCIENT DECEMBER First Line: In the ideal american Last Line: Singing singing? What am I singing? Subject(s): Americans; Forget-me-nots; Love - Loss Of; Poetry & Poets; Singing & Singers; Songs IN ANY MOVIE WHATSOEVER, IN ORDER TO BE WORKING ACTORS First Line: Look where it's leaking leaking from upstairs Last Line: What we want what we want is you IN NEEDLES AND TO POET WHAT ARE REAL THINGS First Line: Inside crystal walls of my body Last Line: Is ours, and give you my a IN THAT ROOM, IN THAT TIME, BUT LATER First Line: The shit is the old %seems to be partly Last Line: The contents of their colon IN THE BASEMENT OF CLAYPOOL'S DEPARTMENT STORE First Line: The angers closest to my heart Last Line: Pound it or strike it caress it %one by one IN THE DARK I IN THE MOTHERLESS, HOMOGENIZED AND E-EPISTOLARY First Line: The black queen and the white king Last Line: Not to die, slipping out to see IN THIS PARADISE First Line: They know what I'll say INDIVIDUAL TIME Poem Text First Line: I'm calling out from pictures to your vision creating it Subject(s): Time ISLANDERS REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE NO WOMEN AND NO MEN First Line: In the antediluvian island %in the primordial swamp Last Line: How will I know when I'm untied %(deja-vu, saying that) IT WOULD Poem Text First Line: It would be that Subject(s): Love IT'S DUMB TO BE A MEMBER OF A DOMINANT SPECIES First Line: Snow falling outside the window of procope Last Line: And we were already doing that, killing us %if we wanted JACK WOULD SPEAK THROUGH THE IMPERFECT MEDIUM OF ALICE First Line: So I'm an alcoholic catholic mother-lover Last Line: That one perfect word JANUARY Poem Text First Line: Mommy what's this fork doing? Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives JUDGEMENT IN ROSY QUARTZ First Line: The rosy quartz formation, a hilly monstrous egg, two paths to, one is orderly Last Line: Do %I'm looking for the ancient quartz to. Looking to. What good will it do. Looking to JUST UNDER SKIN OF LEFT LEG Poem Text First Line: A dark woman, camelia luna Subject(s): Conduct Of Life JUST UNDER SKIN OF LEFT LEG First Line: A dark woman, camelia luna Last Line: I, truly, am speaking KEEP GOING DOWN TO THE TOMB First Line: My tee-shirt is inside out Last Line: No words on the shirt KISS OF FIRE First Line: Walk out onto playground Last Line: A couple of poplar trees, but that's no shade LADY POVERTY First Line: Sings in the gullies Last Line: That the pronoun I means such and that starting so poorly, I can live LANA TURNER AT VERSAILLES First Line: The problem is that I'm wearing a dress Last Line: But one doesn't have to LEFT SIDE LIBERATION FROM E First Line: In the left where I was abandoned Last Line: Binding blindness dream us %till we die LINES FALL AWAY SOMETIMES First Line: My beloved relation is caring for other people's children Last Line: The others left and didn't leave a thing LION First Line: Graduated from spiritual high school last night Last Line: You, %like a lion LONGEST VAMPIRIC HISTORY VS. THE SOL First Line: This man in a dugout, middle of front street Last Line: When feminists talk like this LOST THE PLUMBING LOST MY STORY GOOD First Line: Our galaxy is shaped like a doughnut Last Line: It's you,' he says, 'it's you' MACHO DAISY DUCK Poem Text First Line: People are only sane when they're writing Last Line: That. Jesus it's only a quarter to twelve. Subject(s): Writing & Writers MAPS First Line: Dreamed my naked torso MARGARET AND DUSTY First Line: Margaret wrote a letter Last Line: Like those two friends of mine. Subject(s): Friendship ME First Line: I will compass my Last Line: The litter light %of the preserver MEET ME AT LA CHAPELLE FOR SOME MORE SALAMI First Line: I will tell the mafia don, the old man, I'm looking for my mother Last Line: To my naked chest. That's another METAPHYSICS OF EMOTION First Line: The cosmos or void a cloud with a gold crust under it Last Line: Language didn't kill him...Grief isn't a word...I'm not a person MID-80'S First Line: I'm not on a mission Last Line: In charge of suppressions and lies MORBID MANAGERS ARE SERVING TRAYS OF CHARNEL FLESH First Line: Flat flowers blooming everywhere Last Line: I might not feel like writing poems %would I be happy MORE BELOW A DREAM OF First Line: Doug and I splash in fresh water naked a Last Line: Rising higher and higher above doug and myself MORE IMPORTANT THAN HAVING BEEN BORN IS YOUR CITY MORE OF TH E ASSHOLES OF GIANTS First Line: Into the rock room where Last Line: What would I do here, in this bright %bookcover land MORNING COMB First Line: Comb out ashes Last Line: Scarlet & everywhere Subject(s): Youth MY HAIR IS TERRIBLY DIRTY AND THE DRESS LOOKS DRAB First Line: The buttes shut, full of snow Last Line: One of us is a nurse. But I have %a different useful skill MYSTERIES OF SMALL HOUSES First Line: Poverty much maligned but beautiful Last Line: No thin flesh there no coursing fluid no thought NEW DREAMS First Line: Back in my dreams which aren't far away Last Line: If you deny time's young you'll be hurt NEW HAIRDO First Line: I stand at the docks before immense ocean liners Last Line: Then I need to get out of here NEW YEAR'S EVES First Line: Once, in marrakech, no - boys Last Line: "anyone."" and he said, ""that wouldn't be nice." Subject(s): Happiness; Holidays; New Year; Parties; Joy; Delight NEW YORK HUMAN First Line: The summer bum is back, nick suggests to diane Last Line: Will do in these postmodern times, you asshole NIGHT SITS IN THIS CHAIR NO WORLD IS INTACT Poem Text Subject(s): Relationships NOT CHILD First Line: Can't today am not Last Line: Where's the most distorted being %I've ever been NOT THAT PERSON ANYMORE, MITCH BEING EVER FAINTER First Line: Can't get to the island reserved for me Last Line: I've come down to the ground floor; now %I'm going up to it OBJECTS OF UNKNOWN PROVENANCE First Line: At 10th & a this globe breaks in half OBNOXIOUS TRUTH First Line: Inside this little theater Last Line: Look at these gold lame shoes, look at my hair OFFICE First Line: Office is %love, metric love's Last Line: And then relaxes %I mean its grip OH PUT SOME OBSCENELY CONCRETE NOUNS BACK IN YOUR POEMS First Line: The house full of %garbage is on fire Last Line: And probably trying to tell you about %that secret ONE OF THE LONGEST TIMES First Line: My brother's always in the gully Last Line: And we last, making real selves ONE THOUSAND ARMS OF POKING AND PINCHING LOVE First Line: Try to remember %a shadowy world Last Line: A cognac-soaked cherry slides down my throat OPEN-STOMACH WOMAN First Line: Wooden chair, earth wall and floor Last Line: The open-stomach school of poetry OWLS First Line: The first owl dream comes a day or two before he dies Last Line: Looking, not for my real I but for my real owl PARTICLE DOLL First Line: Any child has millions of minutes of difference lavished upon it Last Line: From before %evolution I find %us, despite it PARTS OF A WEDDING First Line: Ripping across the blazing sand PEOPLE COULD LIVE IN THIS TOWN, THEY DON'T BUT I'M GOING TO First Line: Parking a neon-lit %go-green truck Last Line: I experience it literally PLACE BLANCHE First Line: I've been left with myself here Last Line: The vast rationality beneath hidden within me PLACE MYSELF IN NEW YORK (NEED ONE MORE THERE) First Line: We move to new york so I can be wild language briars Last Line: Of who'll say it PLEASE DON'T ANYONE SAVE MY LIFE PASSIM First Line: Will achieve a %stripped aloneness that Last Line: Just need in my head the interstitial room POEM Poem Text First Line: St. Mark's place caught at night in hot summer Subject(s): St. Mark's Place, New York City; Self; Solitude POEM Poem Text First Line: You hear that heroic big land music? Subject(s): Fathers POEM Poem Text First Line: Why do I want to tell it POEM First Line: You hear that heroic big land music? Last Line: Daddy, who can stand it? POEM First Line: We live in a city of dead POEM First Line: I work in a whorehouse, I seem to like it POEM First Line: A clitoris is a kind of brain POEM First Line: I believe the yellow flowers think with me POEM First Line: Crocus there, store bought Last Line: The scent of pine, then gone POINT OF FIDELITY First Line: Taking a large bloody napking upstairs Last Line: Your trash will do too POSTCARDS Poem Text First Line: Dear barney Last Line: Alice Subject(s): Holidays; Letters; Love; Postal Service; Valentine's Day; Postmen; Post Office; Mail; Mailmen POURING RAIN NO LOVE FROM THE WEATHER EXCEPT IN MY DREAM First Line: Inside this sleeping compartment Last Line: You're stealing my poems; god speaks through my mouth PREGNANT SAINT First Line: Pregnant saint her arms on belly Last Line: No one is selected PROPHET'S JOB First Line: 620 west 116th st school housing apartment girls Last Line: But negative feelings fear and despair are my angel PUT YOU TO SHAME First Line: Being sad you don't Last Line: Be as good as us. Subject(s): Shame RED FISH First Line: But I've changed something Last Line: Soft, so far; hardwood floats, happy scum RED ZINNIAS First Line: Red velvet zinnias, small ones, across the room Last Line: Stand up and do something human %what is human hardly anything say something red REMEMBER THE STATION WITH NO NAME First Line: Five francs yesterday %to an aggressive-looking young french man Last Line: Their choice, a volonte, he says. Oysters at the bistro romain REMEMBER WHAT I CAME HERE TO DO TO THIS WORLD VERY LITTLE First Line: I came here so that the Last Line: I borrow someone else's form what else is a body REQUIEM FOR THE FIRST HALF OF SPLIT First Line: An early sadness for the future Last Line: When you or your own are the news RITA, A RED ROSE, HATES HER CLOTHES Poem Text First Line: Where I am's a roomful of clothes Subject(s): Clothing & Dress RITA, A RED ROSE, HATES HER CLOTHES First Line: Where I am's a roomful of clothes Last Line: Does alice notley want to be a nake ROARING BEING A GIVEN, MY ROARING'S A GIVEN First Line: I said in the middle of the night I would Last Line: Brushed by the black peacock's tail ROSE ROSINA ROSE SEA FLU First Line: I have a fever darling Last Line: God's loneliness, is it SEEMS TO BE HEADING FOR MEXICO First Line: My dark soulcore splits off from me Last Line: I am more primary than particles, self-evident- %soulcore says SEEN THE WHALE-SKATE AND SEEN A TOMB First Line: Watching the terrible movie nixon last night Last Line: I'll have to drag all this shit up to the surface soon SELF '78 SPEAK First Line: It isn't art now all my mistakes are still there Last Line: To most poets but I can't live without our words SEPT 17/AUG 29, '88 First Line: We get out of the car and I think Last Line: Yet escape's fated, written already (we all know it and don't know it SONG BOOK First Line: To everybody Last Line: Blue wings. (no faces.) don't tell me a thing. Subject(s): Books; Reading SONNET Poem Text First Line: The late gracie allen was a very lucid comedienne Subject(s): Allen, Gracie (1906-1964); Burns, George (1896-1996); Marriage; Death; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Dead, The STARS STRAIGHT STORY Poem Text First Line: Where there used to be a thousand branches Subject(s): Babies; Infants SUBTERRANEAN SENSES ARE ALREADY THERE IN NEW AIR First Line: Oh countenance the upstairs harmonica player Last Line: Keeps calling one home %through dreams SUN IS VERY NEAR HOT AND BUTTOCKSLIKE First Line: Dreaming, I accompany a pharmacist named harward Last Line: Each poem quivers as I do and then flows forwards SWEETHEART Recitation by Author First Line: If I address it to you I have not, have I Last Line: For being what I have tonight Subject(s): Poetry & Poets SYNCHRONOUS CHRONOLOGY First Line: To estrus and estrogen very responsive Last Line: Protect me, change, but defend me %singular image THAT WHICH HAS BEEN SPOKEN First Line: About you, will lie down on THE DESCENT OF ALETTE [I STOOD WAITING] Poem Text Subject(s): Women THE DESCENT OF ALETTE [I WALKED INTO] Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I walked into the forest; for the woods were lit by yellow Subject(s): Women THE DESCENT OF ALETTE [PRESENTLY] Poem Text First Line: Presently we neared a pale beach, narrow with trees behind it Subject(s): Women THE DESCENT OF ALETTE [THE WATER OF THE RIVER] Poem Text First Line: The water of the river was mild-temperatured, the current Subject(s): Women THE GODDESS WHO CREATED THIS PASSING WORLD Poem Text Subject(s): Gods & Goddesses; Creation THE TEN BEST ISSUES OF COMIC BOOKS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: 1. X-men #141 & 142 Subject(s): Comic Strips THERE ISN'T MUCH TO DO IF YOU AREN'T GEOLOGY First Line: Watching fish in scallop-bottomed shoal Last Line: The physicist's blind %eye THERE WAS A ROOM OF STATUETTES OF SAINTS IN STRUGGLE First Line: In saint in struggle a golden force a dragonlike one or shall tomb the . . . . Last Line: Them, tall and taller I know shes still growing cant find her. These laws come and %comfort me, thes THERE WAS ALSO VALIUM IN THE DRINK, PLACED THERE BY TWO OTHER PEOPLE First Line: You had, effectively, drugged me, but Last Line: Left a house again all night, packing up %leaving that house THEY CUT OUT HER EYE AND SO SHE DOESN'T KNOW IF IT'S REAL First Line: I remember a year I was Last Line: To the floor at its least vibration THIS CHAIR THIS CRAZY WICKEDNESS, LITTLE NESTS OF LIGHT First Line: Gem, germ of light Last Line: Sheltered inside my body shrine TROUBLE WITH YOU GIRLS First Line: In the chair covered with shawls Last Line: How about some doughnuts for us all TRUE ACCOUNT OF TALKING TO JUDY HOLIDAY, OCTOBER 13 First Line: Remember something you never saw Last Line: Playing me for you TWO SECTIONS FROM IN THE PINES: 3 First Line: I never wanted to do you wrong Last Line: My mind is rubbed raw. The people who are in charge of me are happy TWO SECTIONS FROM THE PINES: 5 First Line: The intention of the organism is to know its life. Is that right? Says the Last Line: There's nothing in it but songs TYRANT First Line: I saw you billboard Last Line: Before starting again...Having %killed him again UNTITLED First Line: The purple menstrual blood on the toilet paper with small clots is the Last Line: Matter, soft and dark, I doesn't I don't need it any more USUAL AND THE MOST TENUOUS OF GOODBYES First Line: We're auditioning this week, an old lady and others Last Line: I could ride it forever VEIL IS, LIKE, SEXISM OR IS IT LIKE IT First Line: Very far down in earth, below the rooms Last Line: My middle finger's sore from too much up-pointing VERTICAL AXIS First Line: I'm proceeding deeper into the cave Last Line: I am alette who, from deeper than the story, can change it VIRGIN AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS First Line: Is there some loss %connected Last Line: The tears are searching for you and will find you WALTZING MATILDA, SELS First Line: Next day sunlight smashing into the pine boughs & orange peels. December sun Last Line: Now. I took my own for kicks & it was exactly the same as his - it's cold, man WAS WAS MEANT TO First Line: The point with those poems WAVELAND (BACK IN CHICAGO) First Line: Go into a room in '74 while the house is quiet Last Line: I'll have to bless it myself WE SHOULD ALL LIKE ROCKS IN A FLAT FIELD Poem Text First Line: In the caves today Subject(s): Social Commentaries WE SHOULD ALL LIVE LIKE ROCKS IN A FLAT FIELD First Line: In the caves today %the pistil of a calla lily may be speaking Last Line: But here but... %(repeat endlessly) WHAT TO BRING INTO COUNTED HAPPENING WHAT'S SUPPRESSED Poem Text First Line: I dream I'm a detective a man Subject(s): Conduct Of Life WHAT'S SUPPRESSED First Line: I dream I'm a detective a man Last Line: Better than history WHEN I WAS ALIVE Last Line: Skirt fills empties and fills with cooling air WHEN THIS GLOBE BREAKS IN HALF WHERE IS THE BABYLONIAN METER WITH ITS LOVELY CAESURA? Poem Text First Line: Biggest problem in the world now is unity Subject(s): Conduct Of Life WHERE IS THE BABYLONIAN METER WITH ITS LOVELY CAESURA? First Line: Biggest problem in the world now is its unity' Last Line: When I was so exquisitely hot WHITE PHOSPHORUS, SELS First Line: Whose heart' 'might be lost?' 'whose mask is this?' 'who has a mask Last Line: Whose' 'heart might be lost.' WHITE RICE WORDS ARE THE MEANS OF EXCHANGE First Line: There are many green hills in the duvet Last Line: (such an unmagical view of life we have %unimaginative, material as words) WILL DIE AND DIE IN SO MANY WAYS, AS PROFESSIONAL AND CULTURAL ENTITY First Line: Suddenly in childhood room %in my mind, in bed there Last Line: He's speaking in his younger movie voice %his whisky clinks WOMAN IN FRONT OF POSTER OF HERSELF Poem Text First Line: Said I shouldn't. Subject(s): Women; Self; Faces; Love WORK IN PROGRESS: 1 First Line: There is a car' 'that is nothing but' 'garbage' 'shit & Last Line: Motor 'or something does' 'in the garbage' 'something' %'is still alive in there,' 'has power' WORK IN PROGRESS: 2 First Line: In one car people work' 'seem to work there' 'it's their office' Last Line: Begin to move' 'silently' 'he motions them' 'to resume their work' WORK IN PROGRESS: 3 First Line: I changed cars, walked' 'into another' 'no one there' 'there was Last Line: I still 'couldn't see him' 'look at me I'm dying' 'give me change, %give me change' 'I couldn't see WORK IN PROGRESS: 4 First Line: Two people fucking' 'behind the stairs' 'that led' 'to other Last Line: The world 'before the tyrant' 'became everything' 'before the tyrant' WORK IN PROGRESS: 5 First Line: I walked' 'into a car where' everything was membrane Last Line: Someone's earphones' 'turned up too loud' 'buzzing wire' 'vag;uely song' WORLD'S BLISS Poem Text First Line: The men & women sang & played Subject(s): Women Writers; Poetry & Poets; Death; Dead, The WORLD'S BLISS First Line: The men & women sang & played WOULD WANT TO BE IN MY WILDLIFE First Line: Hold pen improperly against 4th finger not 3rd like when I was six why won't I Last Line: At least from the beginning socialization's what makes us the same in the made-up way YEAR OF THE PREMONITORY DREAM THAT TED AND STEVE LEFT ME First Line: Because this room's a community of voices Last Line: We were escarpment, espousal, imbecile, and change YELLOW LIGHT IS A CHINK IN A CASTLE WALL... First Line: A woman lying on the ground Last Line: Hair is strings of windows %rest head YOU Poem Text First Line: By dust made beautiful, Subject(s): Relationships YOU First Line: Meanwhile, the beaches %of the east coast of the u.S. Last Line: ...Refuse to be overintentional, do you agree with me hardware? YOU CAN GIVE IT AWAY First Line: In the last four years little gustatory pleasure Last Line: (I will get myself back %by giving me away YOU COVER ALL THE WINDOWS WITH YOUR MANUSCRIPT PAGES First Line: I'm falling again Last Line: I crave your presence mitch YOU NOW HOLDING THIS BOOK IN HAND First Line: The man kissed her hand. Little earrings. They're about Last Line: Confederate flag. She kisses the man on his cheek. Subject(s): Hearts; Love - Beginnings; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations YOUR ANGELS First Line: I dream that daniel in the lion's den - it is a basement with exposed Last Line: Waiting to turn into angels. Any minute. Any minute now Notley, Kathie 2 poems available by this author GROUND IS BLUE First Line: I am learning to make connections, using SOUTHERN EXPOSURE First Line: The courtship continues: at the living room' corner windows |
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