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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: ORR, GREGORY Matches Found: 236 Orr, Gregory Poet's Biography 236 poems available by this author (TRAUMA) STORM Poem Text First Line: Hunkered down, nerve-numb Last Line: Where tender is not. Subject(s): Self A DARK NIGHT Poem Text First Line: How I long to pull the old man in Last Line: How dark it is; how far I am from shore. Subject(s): Night; Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Bedtime; Ocean A DREAM OF FIFTY Poem Text First Line: Among all the losses, this was immense Last Line: Wind pressing leaves against a grid of fence. Subject(s): Aging; Birthdays; Dreams; Future; Life; Loss; Nightmares A HALF-DEAD BLACK CHERRY TREE ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MY CHILDHOOD HOUSE Poem Text First Line: Remnant of some lost orchard Last Line: Toward your slow heart. Subject(s): Cherry Trees; Children; Childhood A HOUSE JUST LIKE HIS MOTHER'S Poem Text Subject(s): Mothers; Home A LA MYSTERIEUSE First Line: Only in books I knew you Last Line: To the small of your back. Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations A LARGE WHITE ROCK CALLED 'THE SLEEPING ANGEL' Poem Text First Line: He lay down in this field to rest A LARGE WHITE ROCK CALLED THE SLEEPING ANGEL First Line: He lay down in this field to rest A LIFE First Line: At dawn you curl up in the top branches Last Line: In the darkness below. Subject(s): Life A LITANY Poem Text First Line: I remember him falling beside me Last Line: Or lay in the shallow spoon. Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Fratricide; Murder; Half-brothers; Dead, The A MOMENT Poem Text First Line: The field where my brother died Last Line: The next you're alone in a field. Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Fratricide; Murder; Half-brothers; Dead, The A PARABLE Poem Text First Line: The stone strikes the body, because Last Line: With him until he dies. Subject(s): Death; Pain; Dead, The; Suffering; Misery A SHELF IS A LEDGE First Line: I don't understand by what perversity Last Line: As he screams in the dark: survive! Survive! Subject(s): Books; Darwin, Charles (1809-1882); Inanimate Objects; Survival; Reading A SNAKE ... Poem Text First Line: A snake no bigger Last Line: On the open clasp. Variant Title(s): A Snake Subject(s): Animals; Death; Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Snakes; Dead, The; Serpents; Vipers A SONG Poem Text First Line: The other world's not for me -- Last Line: But to come back up: bud and leaf. Subject(s): Death; Nature; Dead, The AFTER DEATH Poem Text First Line: I heard the front door close Last Line: Was a kind of steady weeping. Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Death - Children; Family Life; Mourning; Half-brothers; Dead, The; Death - Babies; Relatives; Bereavement AFTER PIERO DI COSIMO'S VENUS, MARS, AND AMOR First Line: Naked on the ground Last Line: Mars's discarded armor. Subject(s): Mars (god); Mythology - Classical; Sculpture & Sculptors; Venus (goddess) AFTER THE GUEST Poem Text First Line: The guest departs Subject(s): Guests; Marriage; Visiting; Weddings; Husbands; Wives AFTER THE GUEST; FOR MY BROTHER Poem Text First Line: The guest departs Last Line: I pray we'll grow old. Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Grief; Guests; Marriage; Half-brothers; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Visiting; Weddings; Husbands; Wives ANNUNCIATION First Line: In simone martini's annunciation Last Line: That a man could be an angel AUBADE First Line: Up and down the street the sound Last Line: Up and down the street the sound Subject(s): City & Town Life AUBADE First Line: Up and down the street the sound Last Line: He grinds his enemies' corn BE-ALL Poem Text First Line: The insect clings Last Line: Will become belong. Subject(s): Future Life; Heaven; Longing; Retribution; Eternity; After Life; Paradise BECAUSE I SENSED Poem Text BECAUSE I SENSED Last Line: All nerve, %all tingle and cringe Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus BEGGAR'S SONG Poem Text First Line: Here's a seed. Food Last Line: Screaming for more. Subject(s): Begging & Beggars; Hunger BEGINNING Poem Text First Line: You stand alone in the empty street Last Line: You will make each journey many times. Subject(s): Life Change Events BEST Poem Text First Line: The greeks said: never to be born is best Last Line: But the greeks were wrong: to live and love is best. Subject(s): Greece; Life; Love; Poetry & Poets; Villon, Francois (1431-1463); Greeks BETRAYALS/HADES, EURYDICE, ORPHEUS Poem Text First Line: She stood before his throne Last Line: Do not turn your back on her Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Betrayal BOLT FROM THE BLUE Poem Text First Line: 1. Bolt from the blue Last Line: And debrisis aftermath. Subject(s): Death; Lightning; Pain; Dead, The; Lightning Rods; Suffering; Misery BY THE SHORE First Line: Some of the women knelt %on the muddy shore Last Line: And listened now inside, %listened to orpheus Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus CARTOONS First Line: My wife rises every few hours to nurse our infant, so these Last Line: Robots with powerful beams of light Subject(s): Television; Fathers & Daughters; Religion; Censorship; Cartoons & Cartoonists CELESTIAL DESOLATIONS First Line: Glitter and gone- %is that wrong? Last Line: The lute will leap %from the beautiful wound? CELESTIAL DESOLATIONS; FOR MARJORIE SARGENT Poem Text First Line: Now god wants even Last Line: Thread by thread. Subject(s): God; Life Change Events; Self-consciousness; Soul CHANGE First Line: Circe was said to do that Last Line: Horror she can't name %not circe, but her father CHERRY ORCHARDS First Line: At dawn the dew was cold and thick Last Line: Which rose all day above the trees CLEAR NIGHT First Line: Trudging new snow to the shed Last Line: Where lights shine: %neighbors, other lives DAFFODIL POEM Poem Text First Line: I remember the cloud on its blue bicycle Last Line: Just as it began to snow. Subject(s): Daffodils; Farewell; Man-woman Relationships; Parting; Male-female Relations DARK PRAYER (1) First Line: Long before dawn, anxiety Last Line: They are hard at work %making the world again from nothing DARK PRAYER (2) First Line: Long before dawn, anxiety has me Last Line: Those to whom I pray-- %powers invisible, hidden in wings Subject(s): Nature DO WORDS OUTLAST Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary DOMESTIC LIFE: 1. TODAY Poem Text First Line: Open yourself up: today Last Line: Except cold inside. Subject(s): Domestic Relations; Emptiness; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations DOMESTIC LIFE: 2. SOMETHING Poem Text First Line: Something is burning inside you Last Line: Of smoke on the snow. Subject(s): Pain; Suffering; Misery DOMESTIC LIFE: 3. BEFORE DAWN Poem Text First Line: Your wife left before you woke Last Line: Burns less brightly. Subject(s): Domestic Relations; Grief; Loss; Love - Loss Of; Marriage; Sorrow; Sadness; Weddings; Husbands; Wives DOMESTIC LIFE: 4. THE WATERFALL Poem Text First Line: Failing to hold on to things Last Line: All his furniture. Subject(s): Domestic Relations; Men; Waterfalls DOMESTIC LIFE: 5. FALL CLEANING Poem Text First Line: This morning, the almost weightless bodies Last Line: And out into the autumn woods. Subject(s): Domestic Relations DOOR First Line: A little wall of wood that gives Last Line: No phantom but a living thing ELEGY FOR A CHILD Poem Text First Line: Here are consoling pieties Subject(s): Death – Children ELEGY: 1. A GRAVE RUBBING First Line: You place the paper against Last Line: Dates and a name ELEGY: 2. LIFE MASK First Line: That cast of keat's face Last Line: Whose flesh is nothing now ELEGY: 3. CHILD'S GAME First Line: What I want is %to preserve my friend Last Line: The landscape smooth and blank ELEGY; FOR JAMES WRIGHT Poem Text First Line: Not only doesn't the ohio Last Line: In rags, half in radiance. Subject(s): Chestnut Trees; Death; Grief; Hudson River; Nature; Ohio River; Plane Trees; Rivers; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Sycamores END OF AUGUST First Line: We left our rented farmhouse for three weeks EVERYTHING; FOR MY MOTHER First Line: Is this all life is then Last Line: Everything were under water. Subject(s): Breath; Death; Life; Sickness; Dead, The; Illness FAR BELOW, PLOWED FIELDS... Poem Text First Line: Far below, plowed fields vibrated Last Line: An emptiness he could fill with song. Variant Title(s): "far Below, Plowed Fields""; Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Love - Loss Of; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus FATHER'S SONG Poem Text Recitation First Line: Yesterday, against admonishment Last Line: She tries to teach me risk. Subject(s): Children; Pain; Parents; Prudence; Childhood; Suffering; Misery; Parenthood; Caution FIELDS TOOK ON... Poem Text First Line: Fields took on their final Last Line: With vanishing... Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Fields; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Pastures; Meadows; Leas FRIDAY LUNCHBREAK Poem Text First Line: At noon, still wearing their white Last Line: And wrestle, angels of meat. Subject(s): Beef; Calves; Factories; Food & Eating; Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers FULL MOON First Line: Projector's beam Last Line: To cast shadows on the blank screen? GATHERING THE BONES TOGETHER; FOR PETER ORR Poem Text First Line: When all the rooms of the house Last Line: That arches toward the other shore. Subject(s): Brothers; Death; Family Life; Fathers & Sons; Fratricide; Hunting; Half-brothers; Dead, The; Relatives; Hunters GETTING DRESSED First Line: In the morning, I pull on Last Line: That wants to swallow you. Subject(s): Clothing & Dress GLUKUPIKRON; TO SAPPHO Poem Text First Line: Word you created / which we translate Last Line: Your word for love. Subject(s): Language; Love - Nature Of; Pain; Pleasure; Words; Vocabulary; Suffering; Misery GOING OUT Poem Text First Line: You hold your hands up to the light Last Line: We stand in it like a room. Subject(s): Dinners & Dining; Hunger; Longing HAITI, 1961 First Line: My mother writes her dearest friend Last Line: So loud that shouting a foot apart %you can't be heard HAS THE MOON BEEN UP THERE? Poem Text Last Line: Who has abandoned whom? Subject(s): Moon HEART Poem Text First Line: Its hinges rustless, / restless; opening / and shutting on trust Last Line: To hive our dust! Subject(s): Bodies; Hearts; Love; Trust HERE Poem Text First Line: Here's green, here's the tree Last Line: What we are. Subject(s): Grief; Nature; Sorrow; Sadness HINGE First Line: On it the whole world turns Last Line: Though it's only the breeze HIS DREAM: THE BLACK TREE/THIRST First Line: I saw her, out past the first Last Line: "from what deep well." Variant Title(s): His Dream: The Black Tree/ Thirst Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus HIS GRIEF Poem Text First Line: With my words / I'll make rocks Last Line: To make them sing. Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Grief; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Tears; Sorrow; Sadness HIS LAMENT Poem Text First Line: How is it she lies here Last Line: Could pearl a piece of dust. Subject(s): Death; Eurydice (nymph); Lament; Love - Loss Of; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Dead, The HORSES First Line: I brace my knee against Last Line: Heaving between my thighs. Subject(s): Animals; Barns; Horses HOTEL ST. LOUIS, NEW YORK CITY, FALL 1969 First Line: When I went inside, the manager said, `you don't want to live Last Line: Sunday mornings, a bright orange football helmet that glowed like the sun. Subject(s): Hotels; New York City; Survival; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple HOUSE OF CHILDHOOD First Line: From her sewing nook, nothing finished Last Line: Wanted love live out their lives Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Penelope (mytholgy) HOUSE OF CHILDHOOD First Line: From her sewing nook, nothing finished Last Line: Where those from whom you wanted love %live out their lives HOW EASY TO GIVE UP HOPE Poem Text Last Line: How much they loved the world Subject(s): Hope I FOUND A BIRD First Line: In the old story %the children in the forest Last Line: Once, who am now almost %and old man, and frightened? I KNOW NOW THE BELOVED Poem Text I WANT TO GO BACK Poem Text Last Line: Isn't that a wound? Subject(s): Boys; Children; Farm Life; Nature; Seasons; Swamps I WAS MOVING ... First Line: I was moving down the bank / toward the boat, lost Last Line: Chin propped on fists, listening. Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Music & Musicians; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus I'VE KNOWN GRIEF Poem Text Last Line: That cold wind into song Subject(s): Grief IF THERE'S A GOD... Poem Text First Line: If there's a god of amphetamine, he's also the god of wrecked Last Line: "laughing at all who stumble. Put out your tongue and receive it." Subject(s): Death; Fathers & Sons; God; Medicine; Unfaithfulness; Dead, The; Drugs, Prescription; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy IF YOUR GAZE TAKES IN Poem Text First Line: When they said I must leave hell Last Line: Alive inside me. Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus IN HAITI: 1. SUNSET AT DESCHAPELLES First Line: From the houses of american engineers Last Line: Red ants gather on a lizard's eye. Subject(s): Evening; Haiti; Sunset; Twilight IN HAITI: 2. AT THE SPRING First Line: I am the boy perched in the high Last Line: Thigh-deep in a limestone cliff. Variant Title(s): Haitian Suite Subject(s): Boys; Girls; Haiti; Spring; Youth IN HAITI: 3. BOY ON THE REEF/INFINITY OF DESIRE First Line: Three feet below his belly, the reef's Last Line: Sea fans, past conchs pink as cunts. Subject(s): Coral; Desire; Haiti; Sea; Ocean IN HAITI: 4. THE PALACE OF SANS SOUCI First Line: A mapou's massive trunk Last Line: I call and call. Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Haiti IN HAITI: 5. HOPITAL ALBERT SCHWEITZER; DESCHAPELLES, HAITI First Line: I pass the old beggar who sits Last Line: Of haiti under my small straw hat. Subject(s): Death; Haiti; Mothers; Sickness; Dead, The; Illness IN MY DREAM Poem Text First Line: In my dream, she was tired Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus IN MY DREAM First Line: In my dream, she was tired Last Line: In the hill's shadow %which she had become Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus IN THE ART MUSEUM First Line: To the guard I'm probably only another oaf from the sticks, one of Last Line: The dust that rises from them turns to gold in the air Subject(s): Museums IN THE HOUSE OF ORPHANS First Line: Their father gone since dawn Last Line: It will bring them back again IS THIS WHAT Poem Text IS THIS WHAT Last Line: Deep cleft %lightning made Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus ISIS KNEELS Poem Text First Line: Isis kneels on the banks / of the nile. She is assembling Last Line: As if the world were about to speak Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Nile (river) IT HURT ME TO HEAR... First Line: It hurt me to hear my subjects Last Line: Dawn's chalk scraped across the board Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus IT'S NOT MAGIC Poem Text Last Line: The smiling mouth Subject(s): Love IT'S WINTER... First Line: It's winter. Wind gnaws %a bone sky Last Line: A stubborn %leaf in a bare shrub Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus LEAVING THE ASYLUM Poem Text First Line: The metal harps of the high gates Last Line: I love its glint among the dust and stones. Subject(s): Change; Hospitals; Insanity; Introspection; Self-reliance; Madness; Mental Illness LET'S REMAKE THE WORLD Poem Text First Line: Between the warm wind's Last Line: Who was gazing at us Subject(s): Language LIKE ANY OTHER MAN Poem Text First Line: I was born with a knife Last Line: Unlocked my body. Subject(s): Change; Happiness; Man-woman Relationships; Men; Salvation; Joy; Delight; Male-female Relations LINES WRITTEN IN DEJECTION, OKLAHOMA Poem Text First Line: I have never lived on the reservation Last Line: Lifts his pony, flings it at the moon. Subject(s): Native Americans; Oklahoma; Solitude; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America; Loneliness LOOK, THEY DESCEND Poem Text LOOK, THEY DESCEND Last Line: Settle and sink, %even the flowers bow Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus LOOKING BACK Poem Text First Line: Marble pillars / of palace Variant Title(s): In The Meadow Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus LOOKING BACK First Line: Marble pillars %of palace Last Line: Of sunlight with %tiny golden hooks Variant Title(s): In The Meado Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus LOSS First Line: Loss more than leaves Last Line: Is carved in bark, in bone Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus LOVE POEM Poem Text First Line: A black biplane crashes through the window Last Line: A telephone number: yours. Subject(s): Aviation & Aviators; Love MAENADS First Line: The maenads came to me Last Line: Till the heart is gnawed through Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus MAKING BEASTS Poem Text First Line: When I was about ten Last Line: On the feet I never gave it. Subject(s): Children; Creative Ability; Thought; Childhood; Inspiration; Creativity; Thinking MANHATTAN ISLAND POEM Poem Text First Line: Thin river woman with a concrete star Last Line: At night I am a jar of fireflies dying. Subject(s): New York City; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple MEADOW IN SPRING First Line: Between the warm wind's Last Line: The soggy tombstone %of a mattress %lovers dragged here %summers ago Subject(s): Nature MEMORIAL DAY Poem Text First Line: After our march from the hudson to the top Last Line: Ticks on its chain. Subject(s): Holidays; Honor; Memorial Day; Veterans; War; Declaration Day MORNING SONG Poem Text First Line: Sun on his face wakes him Last Line: Pierce a magician's box. Subject(s): Boys; Deer; Farm Life; Morning; Agriculture; Farmers MOTORCYCLE First Line: Twenty years ago, zipping Last Line: That now dries its wings, %prepares its shrill cry MUSE OF MIDNIGHT First Line: In the street, stars collide Last Line: Toward its target: a room in flames. Subject(s): Muses; Night; Bedtime MY BODY WAS NEVER MARRED Poem Text MY FATHER'S VOICE Poem Text First Line: Even as I rage, I see my daughter Last Line: Weathers the shaping blast. Subject(s): Anger; Children; Discipline; Fathers; Childhood NIGHT JOURNEY First Line: I leave the house Last Line: Bursts into flame Subject(s): Farewell; Corpses NIGHT JOURNEY First Line: I leave the house Last Line: In the thornbush %bursts into flame NO POSTMORTEMS Recitation by Author Subject(s): Memory NOTHING AND THE INCIDENT IN THE STREETS Poem Text First Line: Nothing forced those kids Last Line: Will be their voice. Subject(s): Nothingness; Social Protest; Tiananmen Square Incident, 1989; Universities & Colleges; Youth; Nihilism; Voids NOVEMBER Poem Text First Line: Unable to sleep, I spend the predawn hours Last Line: Shapes in the frost like hopeful boats. Subject(s): Bible; Desire; God; November; Plato (428-348 B.c.) OCTOBER Poem Text First Line: At my feet the stream flows backwards Last Line: Only larger, like two wings of ice. Subject(s): Fear; October; Self ON A HIGHWAY EAST OF SELMA, ALABAMA; JULY 1965 Poem Text First Line: As the sheriff remarked: I had no business being there. He was Last Line: And still he refuses to swallow. Subject(s): African Americans; Mississippi; Prisons & Prisoners; Racism; Selma, Alabama; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry ONCE THE TWO OF US Poem Text ORIGIN OF THE MARBLE FOREST Poem Text First Line: Childhood dotted with bodies Last Line: Make them stay, make them stone. Subject(s): Children; Past; Childhood ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE Poem Text First Line: They've just made love Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE First Line: They've just made love Last Line: Away and enter the dark %tunnel of trees, humming a tune %he'll soon put words to Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus ORPHEUS DESCENDING First Line: Before we lay together %in the fragrant Last Line: Lost, %unless I bring her back Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus ORPHEUS STOOD IN THE DARK... First Line: Orpheus stood %in the dark hall Last Line: He only had to turn %and she was there Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus PARADISE Poem Text First Line: Life is random as a rolled pair of dice Last Line: Love life's randomness: the rolled pair of dice. Subject(s): Chance; Heaven; Human Behavior; Life; Paradise; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature PARADISE LIGHT: ZIP ZAP Poem Text First Line: The lightning stroke Last Line: And debris is aftermath Subject(s): Heaven; Lightning PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 1. PARADISE Poem Text First Line: Pleasure space crammed Last Line: That makes me long for more. Subject(s): Heaven; Pleasure; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 2. TOO BRIGHT Poem Text First Line: One step beyond Last Line: It lives, or dies? Subject(s): Heaven; Light; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 3. FULLNESS Poem Text First Line: Fullness--the overmuch-- Last Line: With the overflow of sight. Subject(s): Fullness; Heaven; Satiation; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 4. BOTH Poem Text First Line: I've been the pear's Last Line: Than they can bear. Subject(s): Heaven; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 5. ALMOST A LONELINESS Poem Text First Line: One and by one Last Line: Bows them down. Subject(s): Heaven; Solitude; Paradise; Loneliness PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 6. YES Poem Text First Line: Burden and blessing-- Last Line: In this radiant wilderness. Subject(s): Blessings; Heaven; Life; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 7. TO SAY First Line: To say `now' and yet again Last Line: With its redolent folds. Subject(s): Flowers; Heaven; Roses; Time; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 8. EQUIVALENTS First Line: Here's `bride' and `bridge,' Last Line: The crashing cataract spews. Subject(s): Equality; Heaven; Language; Paradise; Words; Vocabulary PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: 9. THIS DAZZLE Poem Text First Line: Was it only Last Line: Radiant labyrinth? Subject(s): Heaven; Introspection; Self; Paradise PARADISE LIGHTNING DAZZLE: BLUE PENINSULA Poem Text Last Line: Above / dazzled battlements Subject(s): Chaos; Heaven; Love; Paradise PATH First Line: It doesn't go anywhere Last Line: Of his daughters running %a path he made PENELOPE/THE WHITE DOOR First Line: Sometimes when I'm beyond hope Last Line: Sometimes when I'm beyond hope Subject(s): Penelope (mythology) PENELOPE/THE WHITE DOOR First Line: Sometimes when I'm beyond hope Last Line: Into the dazzling light of the next PHOTO OF MY MOTHER IN HAITI First Line: The journey continued Last Line: Glad for the chance %to catch our breath POEM Poem Text First Line: The truth's in myth not fact Last Line: How bees made honey in a skull. Subject(s): Introspection; Life POEM ABOUT NOTHING Poem Text First Line: When I was young / I fell in love / with nothing Last Line: And we lack for nothing. Subject(s): Grief; Nothingness; Youth; Sorrow; Sadness; Nihilism; Voids READING LATE IN THE COTTAGE Poem Text First Line: There aren't that many pages left Last Line: Insect trapped in the lightbulb. Subject(s): Books; Houses; Reading RED T-SHIRT WITH POETRY EMBLAZONED IN BLOCK LETTERS... First Line: No doubt joseph's subtle Last Line: Where the mysteries fuse: %a mememto mori peekaboo REFUSING Poem Text First Line: Refusing the invitation Subject(s): Politics & Government; War REFUSING First Line: Refusing the invitation Last Line: For fear of war's imminence Subject(s): Politics; War SADNESS IS THERE TOO Poem Text Last Line: What would we drink? Subject(s): Grief; Death SCARLET T-SHIRT: THE LYRIC MUSE First Line: I know I'm vulgar, but so Last Line: And will not let it rest Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Taste (esthetics) SCARLET T-SHIRT: THE LYRIC MUSE First Line: I know I'm vulgar, but so %was noble catullus Last Line: And will not let it rest SEARCH First Line: All night you search for them Last Line: No one had warmed it %in a thousand years SELF-PORTRAIT AT TWENTY Poem Text First Line: I stood inside myself Last Line: And the rain came. Subject(s): Introspection; Self-hate; Self-pity SHAKY SPECTRUM Poem Text First Line: Here's 'anguish' and over Last Line: Wait till the beast's asleep. Subject(s): Hearts; Love - Complaints SHE PAUSED First Line: On the path down, %she paused at the stone Last Line: A mortal's a blossom %the earth opens for Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus SILENCE Poem Text First Line: The way the word sinks Last Line: Parachuting toward earth. Subject(s): Silence SINGING THE PAIN BACK INTO THE WOUND Poem Text First Line: I crouch naked at the wound's edge Last Line: Bundle on its back. Subject(s): Pain; Suffering; Misery SOLITARY CONFINEMENT; HAYNEVILLE, ALABAMA, 1965 Poem Text First Line: Even as the last bars clang Last Line: In the magnolia across the moonlit road. Subject(s): Alabama; Prisons & Prisoners; Solitude; Loneliness SOME PART OF THE LYRIC Poem Text First Line: Some part of the lyric wants to exclude Last Line: Reflects the world it meant to exclude. Subject(s): Earth; Grief; Poetry & Poets; World; Sorrow; Sadness SOME SAY YOU'RE LUCKY Poem Text Last Line: Where the beloved is born Subject(s): Luck; Poetry & Poets SONG: EARLY DEATH OF THE MOTHER Poem Text First Line: The last tear turns Last Line: Kingdom is born. Subject(s): Children; Death; Mothers & Sons; Mourning; Childhood; Dead, The; Bereavement SUSPICIONS First Line: If you wander in the market Last Line: When she's talked with other men TABLEAU VIVANT Poem Text First Line: It's the scene where hector, reluctant Last Line: Taller than he is. Subject(s): Marriage; Soldiers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives THE BELOVED IS DEAD Poem Text First Line: The beloved is dead. Limbs Subject(s): Death; Dead, The THE BRAVE CHILD Poem Text First Line: How, on a dare, he would dive where the stream Last Line: Fall through the dust-filled air. Subject(s): Adventure And Adventurers; Children; Religion; Childhood; Theology THE BRIDGE Poem Text First Line: In the dawn light these white girders Last Line: Return to yourself. Subject(s): Bodies; Bridges; Death; Dead, The THE BUILDERS; FOR TRISHA Poem Text First Line: Midnight: the field becomes white stone Last Line: But filled with light. Subject(s): Buildings & Builders THE CITY OF SALT Poem Text First Line: In the sun-drenched Last Line: And sweet to taste. Subject(s): Cities; Mothers; Salt; Urban Life THE DEMONSTRATION Poem Text First Line: They bob above us all afternoon Last Line: Their spells had summoned up. Subject(s): Civil Rights Movement; Conventions; Democratic Party (u.s.); Elections; Protest, Social; Racism; Assemblies; Meetings; Voting; Voters; Suffrage; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry THE DINNER Poem Text First Line: I invited mozart to dinner Last Line: "if you can't take it?" Subject(s): Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791) THE DOLL Poem Text First Line: I carry you in a glass jar Last Line: Dead child. Subject(s): Death - Children; Dolls; Toys; Death - Babies THE ENTRANCE TO UNDERWORLD Poem Text First Line: A common enough mistake Last Line: At her first touch? Variant Title(s): The Entrance To The Underworld Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Solitude; Loneliness THE EXCAVATION Poem Text First Line: In this dry, stubble field Last Line: In this dry, stubble field. Subject(s): Archeology; Artifacts; Curiosities & Wonders; Fathers; Native Americans; Old Age; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America THE FIRE HYDRANT First Line: Little stump of a thing stuck on the curb of my street: dull as bark Last Line: Eurydice. Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus THE GHOSTS LISTEN TO ORPHEUS SING Poem Text First Line: He stood before the throne Last Line: The deep bursting emptiness of song. Variant Title(s): Betrayals/hades, Eurydice, Orpheus Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Harps; Loss; Musical Instruments; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Lyres THE GIFT; FOR MY DAUGHTER First Line: Scissors, glue, clumsy Last Line: Each beat a breath. Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters; Gifts & Giving THE GIRL WITH EIGHTEEN NIGHTGOWNS Poem Text First Line: And each one to the advantage of her breasts Last Line: That only come out at night. Subject(s): Breasts; Clothing & Dress; Girls; Night; Bedtime THE GRAY FOX First Line: Someone I know is dying, at seventeen Last Line: Watch him, ten yards away, unafraid. Subject(s): Death; Foxes; Nature; Youth; Dead, The THE HAND: 'BRIGHTNESS FALLS FROM THE AIR' Poem Text First Line: Maybe you thought it was a bird THE HAND: BRIGHTNESS FALLS FROM THE AIR Poem Text First Line: Maybe you thought it was a bird THE HATS Poem Text First Line: The hats are hungry Last Line: Has it been fed? Subject(s): Hats; Jokes THE HINGE Poem Text First Line: On it the whole world turns Subject(s): Doors THE JOURNEY; FOR JANE KENYON (1947-1995) First Line: Beside me on the plane Last Line: Calling its petals home. Subject(s): Flowers; Poetry & Poets THE KNOWN GRIEF Poem Text First Line: I've known grief. I don't Last Line: That cold wind into song Subject(s): Grief THE LOST CHILDREN Poem Text First Line: Years ago, as dusk seeped from the blue Last Line: Eidolons, adrift on the night air. Subject(s): Children; Games; Loss; Play; Childhood; Recreation; Pastimes; Amusements THE MAENADS First Line: The maenads came to me Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus THE POEM WRITTEN ON THE BODY Poem Text Last Line: Death looks there, but we are here Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Death; Love; Life THE POND Poem Text First Line: Snapping turtles in the pond eat bass, sunfish Last Line: And the steel hook wrenched straight as a pin. Subject(s): Lakes; Nature; Turtles; Pools; Ponds; Tortoises THE RIVER Poem Text First Line: I felt both pleasure and a shiver Last Line: We'd found by plunging into the wild river. Subject(s): Bodies; Desire; Man-woman Relationships; Pleasure; Rivers; Swimming & Swimmers; Male-female Relations; Swimmers THE ROOM Poem Text First Line: With crayons and pieces of paper Last Line: The white room swallowing what was passed. Subject(s): Imagination; Rooms; Fancy THE SWEATER Poem Text First Line: I will lose you. It is written Last Line: His death into the sweater. Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Loss; Travel; Journeys; Trips THE TALK; FOR MY FATHER Poem Text First Line: How many years we've circled round this date Last Line: And talk at last, though all our talk's too late. Subject(s): Cancer (disease); Fathers & Sons; Fear; Procrastination; Talk THE THINGS THAT DIE Poem Text Subject(s): Immortality; Love – Nature Of THE VASE Poem Text First Line: Boredom and terror, and the older Last Line: And green, exotic birds in flight. Subject(s): Boredom; Introspection; Life; Terror; Vases; Ennui THE VOYAGES First Line: It's late when I try to sleep, resting Last Line: We need our ignorance to keep us brave. Subject(s): Pregnancy THE WEDGE Poem Text First Line: When there were two of us Last Line: Will only bruise. Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Grief; Love - Loss Of; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Sorrow; Sadness THE WEEDS Poem Text First Line: On the lawn, beside the red house Last Line: In the dusk of late summer. Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Mothers & Sons; Plants; Weeds; Planting; Planters THE WESTERN INVENTION OF LYRICAL NATURE Poem Text First Line: And there's petrarch, our first Last Line: Biting his lip, he tastes the sea. Subject(s): Petrarch (1304-1374); Francesco Petrarca THEN Poem Text First Line: My parents and the parents Subject(s): Parents; Women; Parenthood THERE Poem Text First Line: When trakl crossed over, the angels Last Line: Carved on a stone cheek. Subject(s): Death; Grief; Heaven; Poetry & Poets; Trakl, Georg (1887-1914); Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Paradise THIS IS WHAT WAS BEQUEATHED US Poem Text Subject(s): Funerals; Burials THREE SMALL SONGS First Line: A shaft of wind Last Line: Against the dark earth THREE SONGS: 3. SONG OF THOMAS, CALLED 'THE DOUBTER' Poem Text First Line: Show me, I said, what TIN CUP First Line: Here's a tin cup Last Line: And even hell is holy. Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness TO BE ALIVE Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: To be alive: not just the carcass Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Poetry & Poets TOMB OF ORPHEUS First Line: My limbs were scattered Last Line: She was the fern Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Graves; Mythology - Classical; Orpheus TRANSIENTS WELCOME Poem Text First Line: To be like the water TRISTAN AND ISEULT First Line: Tristan and iseult had nothing Last Line: Descending to kiss my wrists. Subject(s): Hate; Longing; Love TWO LINES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM; FOR LARRY AND JUDY RAAB Poem Text First Line: Now we must get up quickly Last Line: Move about, lighting the stove. Subject(s): Escapes; Fairy Tales; Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Carl (1785-1863); Grimm, Wilhelm Carl (1786-1859); Fugitives TWO SONGS OF THE RIVER Poem Text First Line: At night angry survivors Subject(s): Rivers; Death; Dead, The UNDER PRESSURE First Line: It had to do with yellow poplar leaves Last Line: Of air might breathe, air I could swim to VISITOR First Line: Dionysus with lifted winecup Last Line: How dark %it is; how far you are from shore VISITOR First Line: Where the spruce wood ends, I step WARNED HIS SONG... (DEATH OF ORPHEUS) First Line: Warned his song could tame Last Line: And threw it in the river %but it would not sink Subject(s): Death; Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus WAS ALL... First Line: Was all malevolence and planned, %or just a spectacle of clumsy Last Line: Just one insignificant part %of the world's bad dream WASHING MY FACE Poem Text First Line: Last night's dreams disappear Last Line: A transparent rose swallowed by its stem. Subject(s): Dreams; Faces; Introspection; Past; Nightmares WE MUST MAKE A KINGDOM OF IT Poem Text First Line: So that a colony will breed here Last Line: The gravedigger's shoulder. Subject(s): Desire; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations WE'VE COME Poem Text First Line: Calm now, curled away / from each other, backs Last Line: Joined at the base of the spine Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus WE'VE COME First Line: Calm now, curled away %from each other, backs Last Line: Joined at the base of the spine Subject(s): Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus WHAT I'M SAYING Poem Text First Line: What I'm saying isn't exactly news Last Line: Once you decide to live, you have to lose. Subject(s): Life; Loss WHAT IS LIFE Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): Life WHEN EURYDICE SAW HIM Poem Text WHEN I OPEN THE BOOK Poem Text Last Line: Which raises green from the fallen seed Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Love; Language WHEN I WAS ALIVE ... Poem Text First Line: When I was alive--only glimpses Last Line: Of my skin and stepped out? Subject(s): Bodies; Death; Eurydice (nymph); Mythology - Classical; Orpheus; Soul WHEN SAPPHO WROTE Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): Sappho (610-580 B.c.) WHO WANTS TO LOSE THE WORTLD? Poem Text Last Line: With the light of the v ital body Subject(s): Life WHO'D WANT TO BE A MAN First Line: With his heart Last Line: And where is the rain? Subject(s): Character; Grief; Men; Sorrow; Sadness WHO'D WANT TO BE A MAN? First Line: With his heart %a black sack Last Line: And where is the rain? WILD HEART; FOR TRISHA Poem Text First Line: Where would I be if not for your wild heart? Last Line: How could I live? How could I make my art? Subject(s): Art & Artists; Creative Ability; Hearts; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Muses; Inspiration; Creativity; Male-female Relations WORK GLOVES; FOR BILL AND JON ORR Poem Text First Line: All morning with gloved Last Line: And breathe deeply. Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers YOU CAN READ THE WORLD Poem Text Last Line: And what if that's not enough? Subject(s): Language; Life |
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