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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: OSTRIKER, ALICIA SUSKIN Matches Found: 484 Ostriker, Alicia Suskin Poet's Biography 484 poems available by this author A CHINESE FAN PAINTING First Line: It is late afternoon, the cherries bloom Subject(s): China; Fans; Paintings And Painters A CLEARING BY A STREAM First Line: What impels the mind to soar forth? Subject(s): Brooks; Streams; Creeks A CLEARING BY THE STREAM Poem Text First Line: What impels the mind to soar forth? Subject(s): Butterflies A GLASS PANE TOWARD THE SPECTRAL, MYSTERIOUS GARDEN' Poem Text Last Line: When all the forests you have burned are green Subject(s): Change; Relationships A GLASS PANE TOWARD THE SPECTRAL, MYSTERIOUS GARDEN' A MEDITATION IN SEVEN DAYS First Line: If your mother is a jew, you are a jew Subject(s): Day; Jews - Women; Meditation A MINOR VAN GOGH (HE SPEAKS) Poem Text First Line: The strokes are pulses: from my shapely cloud Subject(s): Art & Artists; Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) A QUESTION OF TIME First Line: I ask a friend. She informs me it is ten years Subject(s): Time A YOUNG WOMAN, A TREE Poem Text First Line: The life spills over, some days Subject(s): Trees; Women; Youth AARON First Line: It is written that he was meek Last Line: No wild men %no revelation ABOUT TIME First Line: What we have been doing Subject(s): Time ABOUT TIME First Line: What we have been doing Last Line: Not yet %soon Subject(s): Time AFTER ILLNESS First Line: I picked the books to come along with me Last Line: Is to follow instructions AFTER THE REUNION (1) First Line: We stood beside the cafe windowsill Last Line: I love, and I shall never see again AFTER THE REUNION (2) First Line: We kept our collard up against the chill Last Line: I love, and I shall never see again AFTER THE SHIPWRECK Poem Text First Line: Lost, drifting, on the current, as the sun pours down Subject(s): Disasters; Shipwrecks; Water AFTER THE SHIPWRECK First Line: Lost, drifting, on the current, as the sun pours down Last Line: To coat us with salt, we stop talking. We try to remember Subject(s): Disasters; Shipwrecks; Water ALICE BEFORE HER WIDOWHOOD First Line: I called him fool, she said Last Line: She folded up the sheets %I called him fool AMERICAN LONELINESS First Line: American loneliness joins us, it is the truth ANECDOTE WITH FLOWERS: 1919 First Line: Renoir at the end painting with brushes strapped to his hand Last Line: Like roses, like sunflowers, like peonies ANECDOTE WITHOUT FLOWERS: 1919 First Line: This year he interviewed Last Line: So much was missing ANGINA First Line: The flat field of my chest Last Line: Is going to happen, happen ANNIE, APHRODITE, AND THE ELEVATOR First Line: Annie was some years older, so I trusted Last Line: Stared at me, smiled, and shook her shining head Subject(s): Aphrodite; Elevators; Mythology - Classical; Relationships ANSELM KIEFER First Line: At the border between reality and the imagination Subject(s): Fights; Reality ANSELM KIEFER First Line: At the border between reality and the imagination Last Line: The rails battered to silence behind your back - Subject(s): Fights; Reality ANXIETY ABOUT DYING Poem Text First Line: It isn't any worse than what ANXIETY ABOUT DYING First Line: It isn't any worse than what Last Line: It seems they are leaving by train for a vacation. %I'll meet them in the country when I can APPEARANCE AND REALITY Poem Text First Line: Amphibian, crustacean? The nooked neck Subject(s): Facades; Reality; Appearances APPEARANCE AND REALITY First Line: Amphibian, crustacean? The nooked neck Last Line: By watching stuff. It's friendly. Really a mammal Subject(s): Facades; Reality APRIL Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The optimists among us Subject(s): Spring APRIL ONE First Line: Can't believe it Last Line: Even the lost people are combing their hair Subject(s): April APRIL ONE First Line: Can't believe it Last Line: Even the lost people are combing their hair Subject(s): April AS IN A GALLERY First Line: As in a gallery, a large posh art gallery, it may happen Last Line: Is solid iron, in the gallery AT THE VAN GOGH MUSEUM First Line: No, we say -- it wouldn't have looked that way Last Line: Even blacker than the navy sky Subject(s): Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) BALLAD OF LYLE AND ERIC First Line: Now lyle and eric %were privileged boys Last Line: But the moral of this story is %wait till the twenty-first! BECKY AND BENNY IN FAR ROCKAWAY Poem Text First Line: Near the atlantic ocean, past the last subway station Subject(s): Sea; Ocean BECKY AND BENNY IN FAR ROCKAWAY First Line: Near the atlantic ocean, past the last subway station Last Line: You should eat and be healthy, they said Subject(s): Sea BEER First Line: After the store and the gas station close Last Line: The movements, and how everything goes together / for hours Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics; Bars & Bartenders; Beer; Drinks & Drinking; Pubs; Taverns; Saloons; Ale; Wine BEER First Line: After the store and the gas station close Last Line: The movements, and how everything goes together %for hours Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism; Bars And Bartenders; Beer; Drinks And Drinking BEFORE DAWN First Line: The hour before dawn, there is BERKELEY: YOUTH AND AGE First Line: Winter cabbages blooming in pots Last Line: And try another cadence. %-- buddy, can I buy your dog BIRDCALL Poem Text First Line: Tuwee, calls a bird near the house, Subject(s): Birds BIRTH OF VENUS: 1 First Line: Huge shell the remnant of my great-grandmother dragon Last Line: The effect is of scarcely tolerable pleasure BIRTH OF VENUS: 10 First Line: It is one thing to gaze, from the self's jail, at things Last Line: Use me as your mirror BIRTH OF VENUS: 11 First Line: Before my birth you were an animal Last Line: The contemplative pearl of my form, my air of trust BIRTH OF VENUS: 12 First Line: The limousine that dropped me on your street Last Line: And the shore onto which I am about to step BIRTH OF VENUS: 2 First Line: If I am anything I am young, so young Last Line: If I am anything I am unreal BIRTH OF VENUS: 3 First Line: Some further hints: the patchy blues of sky Last Line: Or a looseness...Beyond perfection BIRTH OF VENUS: 4 First Line: I am a factory of flowers. Lilies without, rose within Last Line: Delved and planted around a hothouse, a navel BIRTH OF VENUS: 5 First Line: The navel, smallest of circles, at the latitude of the horizon Last Line: Echoed by nipples BIRTH OF VENUS: 6 First Line: Hair uncoiling in breeze Last Line: At the back of the canvas BIRTH OF VENUS: 7 First Line: Knees together, slightly inturned Last Line: Presently, everything blows with the wind BIRTH OF VENUS: 8 First Line: I dream I am a warrior, a revolutionary Last Line: That I appear to ask pardon for my beauty? BIRTH OF VENUS: 9 First Line: Now that I am here I will proliferate Last Line: And these thin areas of gilt, sapphire, white BIRTHDAY SUITE, SELS. BLOOD First Line: He closed his mouth like a door. The blood of the chicken was there Last Line: He was embarrassed. In due time, he would make his heart clot BOIL Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Boil over - it's what the nerves do Subject(s): Life BOIL First Line: Boil over - it's what the nerves do Last Line: Boil, it's what water %and everything else teaches Subject(s): Life BONNARD RETROSPECTIVE First Line: What ripe interiors whose wallpapers Last Line: Of a mail clerk, a peeled %onion, chinless, imprurient, effaced BOOK OF LIFE First Line: Everything very hardy Last Line: Jews like ourselves have just begun to plant Subject(s): Books; Life BORN IN THE U.S.A. Poem Text First Line: Born in 1937 in the usa Subject(s): United States; Self; Patriotism; America BOYS, THE BROOM HANDLE, AND THE RETARDED GIRL First Line: Who was asking for it - Last Line: That flag they've hung there, though we'd all avoid %touching the girl Subject(s): Boys; Fights; Girls BRIDE First Line: Jerusalem sits on her mountains, a woman Last Line: Heavy because so angry %so angry Subject(s): Brides BUS STATION Poem Text First Line: Those bus station bathrooms are bad Subject(s): Buses CAIN AND ABEL: A QUESTION OF ETHICS First Line: It felt good, committing the first murder. It felt good, to Last Line: People? No, if they are people. Yes, if they are the enemy. %isn't it good, this life we are living? CALL First Line: Rain does not freshen Last Line: And their smokeless fume CAMBODIA Poem Text First Line: My son gabriel was born on may 14, 1970 during the vietnam war, a Subject(s): Cambodia; Vietnam CAMBODIA First Line: My son gabriel was born on may 14, 1970 during the vietnam war, a Last Line: What does this have to do with cambodia? Subject(s): Cambodia; Vietnam CAMPING BY THE PACIFIC First Line: Crept from the tent at midnight, out alone Last Line: Panting and pacified, jealous and never sated CARAVAGGIO: THE PAINTING OF FORCE AND VIOLENCE: 1 First Line: Abraham's thumb digs into isaac's jaw Last Line: Do you place yourself in the hands of the living god? CARAVAGGIO: THE PAINTING OF FORCE AND VIOLENCE: 2 First Line: The inner life holds no interest Last Line: A man who despises plato CARAVAGGIO: THE PAINTING OF FORCE AND VIOLENCE: 3 First Line: As a chemist experiments patiently combining Last Line: Leaving his neck not in spurts but stripes, like paint CARAVAGGIO: THE PAINTING OF FORCE AND VIOLENCE: 4 First Line: When the head is finally removed and the body nowhere in sight Last Line: While david regards the horror his future holds CAVE First Line: Cave girl mama %don't you go down on me Last Line: Put some lipstick on your mouth and we'll %cakewalk into town CEREMONY OF HOUSES First Line: A row of grand houses facing a river Last Line: The dark assurance of elders, who question nothing CEREMONY OF THE BATHTUB First Line: The man and his son in the bathtub have a conference Last Line: Somewhat relaxes the man and his son, helps them forget themselves CEREMONY OF THE BOX First Line: Of his own free will he worked on this for many years Last Line: Appears to fall directly upon the grass of the garden below CHANGE First Line: Happening now! It is happening Last Line: Can you sense, under the ground, the great melting Subject(s): Change; Daughters CHINESE FAN PAINTING First Line: It is late afternoon, the cherries bloom Last Line: Cherry trees blooming in both the worlds Subject(s): China; Fans; Paintings And Painters CLASS First Line: We say things in this class. Like why it hurts Last Line: Though she would never say so in class Subject(s): Classmates; Schools CLEARING BY A STREAM First Line: What impels the mind to soar forth? Last Line: Next to it, and it isn't afraid, it mounts %my ridged finger and walks stiffly across my hand Subject(s): Brooks CONTEST Poem Text First Line: He was unarmed, still the cintest was fair Subject(s): Marriage; Murder; Weddings; Husbands; Wives CONTEST First Line: He was unarmed, still the contest was fair Last Line: Under the blanket, where it is her own %brain that the slug is in CORRESPONDENCE First Line: Two asian men and a boy keep busy Last Line: As if to correspond were capital COURAGE First Line: Caught in the snow Last Line: For many miles COVENANT: 1. PREPARING FOR PASSOVER First Line: Doors flung open %bread tossed to the birds Last Line: And strong men %fall to trembling COVENANT: 2. DURING THE BOMBING OF KOSOVO First Line: Hevel may be translated vanity %or mist or vapor Last Line: Because we are your image %confess you prize %the cruel theater of it COVENANT: 3. QUESTION AND ANSWER First Line: The love of suffering %the suffering of love Last Line: Of one to whom you have given your soul COVENANT: 4. THE WHEEL First Line: Of history %of revelation revolution Last Line: Your sandals forever after %printed on the mississippi tar COWS First Line: Dawn breaks Last Line: Ahead to the good, as your father knew you would Subject(s): Cows COWS First Line: Dawn breaks Last Line: Ahead to the good, as your father knew you would Subject(s): Cows CRAZY LADY SPEAKING First Line: I was the one in the irt tunnel Last Line: From each of their graves I rise, daughter. Embrace me Subject(s): Insanity; Talk; Women CROSSTOWN Poem Text First Line: Back in new york I grab a taxi at port authority Last Line: X-rays, so it’s cancer Subject(s): New York City; City Traffic; Taxis; Buses; Democracy; War; Politics & Politicians; African Americans; Racism; Nightmares CROSSTOWN Poem Text First Line: Back in new york I grab a cab at port authority Subject(s): New York City; Taxis; Immigrants; City & Town Life; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration DAFFODILS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The day the war against iraq begins Subject(s): Iraq War (2003); Daffodils DAFFODILS First Line: The day the war against iraq begins Last Line: To defend the day we see the daffodils? DAY OF HEAVY FOG DEAF CITIES First Line: When the angel's instructions finished Last Line: Clap if you think anyone heard DEATH GHAZALS First Line: If a raindrop enters the ocean, good Last Line: Does your smeared forehead out-top the gracious mountain Variant Title(s): Ghazals; Death Of Ghazal Subject(s): Death DEATH IS ONLY Last Line: But why? What did it fear? %it can't remember. %-embarked, it whispers %to itself. Embarked DEATH OF THE POET, HARTFORD 1955 First Line: The world his book, it cunningly condenses Last Line: Proudly, to please the mother DEMETER TO PERSEPHONE Poem Text First Line: I watched you walking up out of that hole Subject(s): Rain; Love DEMONSTRATION First Line: They would lie down on the tracks as a demonstration Last Line: The dried thoraxes of crickets or mantises found in the grass DIASPORA Poem Text First Line: The forsythia bush is made of yellow fire Subject(s): Learning; Nature DIASPORA First Line: The forsythia bush is made of yellow fire Last Line: More and more will be expected of you Subject(s): Learning; Nature DIGGING TO CHINA First Line: Yes, when the man began to dig to china Last Line: Yes, there were crickets in the damp grass, %yes, there was peacefulness on earth, %it all had been DISCO First Line: Another view of the hot young dancers Last Line: But of incomprehension DISSOLVE IN SLOW MOTION First Line: When you watch a marriage / dissolve, in slow motion Last Line: It all gets thrown away Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives DISSOLVE IN SLOW MOTION First Line: When you watch a marriage %dissolve, in slow motion Last Line: It all gets thrown away Subject(s): Marriage DIVER First Line: Giving the self to water, a diver Last Line: The diver's body is saying a kind of prayer DOGS AT LIVE OAK BEACH, SANTA CRUZ First Line: As if there could be a world Last Line: For absolutely nothing but joy Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; Seashore DON'T BE AFRAID First Line: This is when I want to open you Last Line: Air of your heart, looking at clouds and buildings DOOR CLICKS. HE RETURNS TO ME' Last Line: Measureless pleasure? %is it measureless pain? Subject(s): Pain; Relationships DOWNSTAIRS First Line: When he walked downstairs %into the ground Last Line: Where he rested his forehead DREAM: THE DISCLOSURE First Line: If I would further than I have Last Line: The juices are harmless, they are not poison, they are life Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares DREAM: THE DISCLOSURE First Line: If I would further than I have Last Line: The juices are harmless, they are not poison, they are life Subject(s): Dreams DREAMING OF HER First Line: Outside the longhouse, in a black and drizzling night Last Line: Hunger of daughterlove. As if it were I EIGHTH AND THIRTEENTH First Line: The eighth of shostakovich Last Line: Again and again %- that music Subject(s): Change ELEGY FOR ALLEN Poem Text First Line: That was a break Subject(s): Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997) ENCOUNTERING THE DEAD Poem Text First Line: With my father it happened driving Subject(s): Driving & Drivers; Fathers; Death; Dead, The END OF THE LINE First Line: Finally the last passengers Last Line: When you begin to run EVERYWOMAN HER OWN THEOLOGY Poem Text First Line: I am nailing them up to the cathedral door Last Line: My paper will tell this being where to find me Subject(s): Religion; Women; Theology EVERYWOMAN HER OWN THEOLOGY First Line: I am nailing them up to the cathedral door Last Line: In a kitchen, and bump its chest against mine, %my paper will tell this being where to find me Subject(s): Religion; Women EXCHANGE First Line: I am watching a woman swim below the surface Last Line: And I, having exchanged with her, will swim %away, in the cool water, out of reach Subject(s): Dreams; Relationships; Swimming; Women EXILE Poem Text First Line: The downward turning touch Subject(s): Mothers EXODUS First Line: High clouds gaze Last Line: Correlate supplies with population, %run an imaginary thumb %over a spear point EXTRATERRESTRIAL: A WEDDING FOR NINA AND JOHN First Line: Nina and john: there are spaceships circling above us Last Line: Who are they really? Maybe rilke was right. %maybe they're angels FIFTY Poem Text First Line: This is what a fifty-year-old Last Line: Quitting time, do you still answer never? Subject(s): Aging; Women FIFTY First Line: This is what a fifty-year-old Last Line: Quitting time, do you still answer never Subject(s): Aging; Women FIGURE OF METAPHOR First Line: What a trip, the morning I first saw it Last Line: As from each jukebox tenors croon of love FISHERMAN Poem Text First Line: Imagine a fisherman in summer deep Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Anglers FISHERMAN First Line: Imagine a fisherman in summer deep Last Line: His line again and again in the heavy heat FIX First Line: The puzzled ones, the americans, go through their lives Last Line: We would fix it if we knew what was broken FOOL STANDS UP TO TEACH KING LEAR AGAIN First Line: The systematic murder of the young Last Line: All I can do is demonstrate my joy Subject(s): Teaching And Teachers FOR THE DAUGHTERS First Line: A god can do it. But how, answer me, shall Last Line: A breath for nothing. A flight in god. A wind FROM PRADO ROTUNDA: THE FAMILY OF CHARLES IV, AND OTHERS First Line: Francisco jose de goya y lucientes Last Line: Which demands, like everything alive, / love Subject(s): Family Life; Paintings And Painters; Prado (museum), Madrid; Relatives FROM PRADO ROTUNDA: THE FAMILY OF CHARLES IV, AND OTHERS First Line: Francisco jose de goya y lucientes Last Line: Which demands, like everything alive, %love Subject(s): Family Life; Paintings And Painters; Prado (museum), Madrid FROWNING AT EMILY Poem Text First Line: The entire room was frowning at emily Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) FROWNING AT EMILY First Line: The entire room was frowning at emily Last Line: But hell, we're grateful for whatever comes, aren't we Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) GAME First Line: Arrogance and loneliness. If a man Last Line: Clean red and blue, and how the pebbled ball %drops from thesky, directly into his hands GEORGE IN HOSPITAL First Line: For a while, in the hospital Last Line: This is terrible Subject(s): Hospitals GEORGE IN HOSPITAL First Line: For a while, in the hospital Last Line: To yell, 'oh mary and jesus, %this is terrible.' Subject(s): Hospitals GLASS PANE TOWARD THE SPECTRAL, MYSTERIOUS GARDEN' Last Line: Overturn %this body Subject(s): Change; Relationships GLASSBLOWER'S BREATH First Line: No point repeating what's already known Last Line: Everyone joins in, even the driver GLOBULE Poem Text First Line: To be transparent, to contain the world Subject(s): Science; Scientists GLOBULE First Line: To be transparent, to contain the world Last Line: Textured fleck afloat in a wet world Subject(s): Science GRANDCHILD Poem Text First Line: I take her to the park, I swing her in the little swing Subject(s): Grandchildren; Grandsons; Granddaughters GREEDY BABY Poem Text First Line: Greedy baby / sucking the sweet tit Subject(s): Babies; Breast Feeding; Infants; Nursing (infants) GREEDY BABY GUARDS KNEELED, THEY RAISED THEIR WEAPONS, THEY FIRED' Last Line: Finally is liberated, then they pull the body out Subject(s): Fights HATING THE WORLD First Line: I hate the world! You scream HAWK'S SHADOW First Line: Got to push on. Snowy trail Last Line: Look, things are alive here. %there is a hawk above the icy crest %and there is the hawk's shadow HE GETS DEPRESSED WHENEVER WE ARGUE Poem Text First Line: Man, I am talking to you Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations HE GETS DEPRESSED WHENEVER WE ARGUE First Line: Man, I am talking to you Last Line: I need to know how it is in california HELIUM Poem Text First Line: For some reason you got up that morning Last Line: And we were glad of this Subject(s): Balloons HELIUM First Line: For some reason you got up that morning Last Line: And we were glad of this Subject(s): Balloons HERE IS THE STRONG ONE, THE OTHER ONE' Poem Text Last Line: Here is the strong one, the other after Subject(s): Change; Strength HERE IS THE STRONG ONE, THE OTHER ONE' HERE IS THE STRONG ONE, THE OTHER ONE' Last Line: Here is the strong one, the other after Subject(s): Change; Strength HIS SPEED AND STRENGTH Poem Text First Line: His speed and strength, which is the strength of ten Last Line: Away, pedaling hard, rocket and pilot Subject(s): Strength HIS SPEED AND STRENGTH First Line: His speed and strength, which is the strength of ten Last Line: Away, pedaling hard, rocket and pilot Subject(s): Strength HISTORY OF AMERICA First Line: A linear projection: a route. It crosses Last Line: Wonder you fear this bleeding pulse, no wonder Subject(s): History; United States HOLOCAUST Poem Text First Line: And about burning people - Last Line: A rapid, persistent / chemical / reaction Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Shoah; Judaism HOLOCAUST First Line: And about burning people - Last Line: Chemical %reaction Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews HOMAGE TO DANTE First Line: He stood as on a station platform, the wind Last Line: And sickened, and then fainted HOMAGE TO MATISSE First Line: Because one cares above all and only for this presence Last Line: Pleasant to recall that they and we are poised, voyaging, %and simply burning, like the inhuman star HOMAGE TO RUMI, SELS. HOMECOMING Poem Text First Line: We know that nothing Last Line: With goddesses, mortal women, pigs, and homecoming Subject(s): Home HOMECOMING First Line: We know that nothing Last Line: With goddesses, mortal women, pigs, and homecoming Subject(s): Home HORSES First Line: What was the first animal Last Line: Are never tamed, never entirely tamed Subject(s): Animals; Horses HORSES First Line: What was the first animal Last Line: Now when they stop, bent %to our oated hands, muzzles so soft, the horses %are never tamed, never en Subject(s): Animals; Horses HURT EYE First Line: It is one week after your accident Last Line: I mean they used to say so. %I am a student of this, an ignorant student, %my love, my half-life I BROOD ABOUT SOME CONCEPTS, FOR EXAMPLE First Line: A concept like 'I,' which I am told by many Last Line: To disclose. The thing itself ... Subject(s): Language; Philosophy & Philosophers; Thought; Words; Vocabulary; Thinking I BROOD ABOUT SOME CONCEPTS, FOR EXAMPLE First Line: A concept like 'I,' which I am told by many Last Line: So that is what he inteded, they intended %to disclose. The thing itself.... Subject(s): Language; Philosophy And Philosophers; Thought I CAN'T SPEAK Poem Text First Line: It's hopeless. Our heads are full of television Subject(s): Conversation; Language; Words; Vocabulary I COME THE WAY THAT' I COME THE WAY THAT' Last Line: Want to see it, I want to Subject(s): Activity; Change IDEA OF MAKING LOVE First Line: The idea of making love - as sticking your tongue Last Line: Are always thirsty for the nectar of others IMPULSE OF SINGING First Line: That journey he made Last Line: How bitterly beautiful, before the crazy women [or, madwomen] ripped him? Subject(s): Singing And Singers; Travel IN EVERY LIFE Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): Self IN OUR TIME: A POEM TO APHRODITE First Line: Breathing times square air Last Line: Stopped meeting your free, limitless gaze IN SPRING RAIN First Line: The sodden graves, below their windy puddles Last Line: It conquers, seeping, in gusts, like a mild kiss IN THE AUTUMN OF MY THIRTY-SEVENTH BIRTHDAY First Line: Going to work %on the bus Last Line: I go to him IN THE DUST Poem Text First Line: This year, she announces to us all at dinner Last Line: Is going willingly. I send her willingly Subject(s): Daughters; Dust; Growth IN THE DUST First Line: This year, she announces to us all at dinner Last Line: Is going willingly. I send her willingly Subject(s): Daughters; Dust; Growth IN THE FORTY-FIFTH YEAR OF MARRIAGE IT GOES ON Poem Text First Line: I would never say I feel like a million dollars, but I whistle Subject(s): Marriage; Time; Conduct Of Life; Weddings; Husbands; Wives IN THE FORTY-FIFTH YEAR OF MARRIAGE IT GOES ON First Line: I would never say I feel like a million dollars, but I whistle Last Line: And the eye is not filled with seeing IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF MARRIAGE, IT GOES ON First Line: Damn it, honey, neither one of us Last Line: With some kind of kick in the tail Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF MARRIAGE, IT GOES ON First Line: Damn it, honey, neither one of us Last Line: Life that is always surprising us, %as my father used to say, %with some kind of kick in the tail Subject(s): Marriage IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF MARRIAGE, IT GOES ON: 1 Poem Text First Line: Damn it, honey, neither one of us INITIATION First Line: I was still a kid Last Line: Row one, plot one INSOMNIA Poem Text First Line: But it's really fear you want to talk about Subject(s): Insomnia; Conduct Of Life; Fear; Failure; Sleeplessness IRISES: 1 First Line: Gigantic purple irises Last Line: They made me somewhat imagine %a hand around them, collapsing and crushing them IRISES: 2 First Line: The flower's form is there before the flower Last Line: Of course transformed, lightly transformed, %in another instance, in a %thousand other instances IRISES: 3 First Line: Showing that I meant friendship Last Line: And sang italian songs to them, so that %they grew enormous IRISES: 4 First Line: Being reborn not once Last Line: Take these stalks. The blooms pour in our veins %an intense deliquescence IT HURTS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE' Poem Text Last Line: Please come when it happens Subject(s): Pain; Suffering; Misery IT HURTS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE' IT HURTS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE' Last Line: Please come when it happens %please Subject(s): Pain JERSEY TRANSIT Poem Text First Line: That black woman with the extraordinary earrings Subject(s): Commuters; Railroads; Social Commentaries; Railways; Trains JERSEY TRANSIT First Line: The black woman with the extraordinary earings JONAH'S GOURD VINE First Line: Outside papyrus books, upper broadway Last Line: But no sign yet we're ready to repent Subject(s): Vines And Vineyards JONAH'S GOURD VINE First Line: Outside papyrus books, upper broadway Last Line: But no sign yet we're ready to repent Subject(s): Vines And Vineyards KH'BIN GEKUMIN ZAYEN ZEYEN IN DER VELT, SAYS THE HOLY MAN Last Line: To me and to all peoples in your true form %of ruthless radiance LAMENTING THE INEVITABLE First Line: The world dances with hate Last Line: Of the burning world Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations LAMENTING THE INEVITABLE First Line: The world dances with hate Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations LEAF PILE First Line: Now here is a typical children's story Last Line: The mark of my hand a blush on my son's cheek Subject(s): Family Life; Mothers; Sons LETTING THE DOVES OUT First Line: The imaginary lover, form in the mind Last Line: And draws more iridescent scarves from his sleeve Subject(s): Doves; Freedom; Liberty LETTING THE DOVES OUT First Line: The imaginary lover, form in the mind Last Line: Lets his doves out, murmurs them home again %and draws more iridescent scarves from his sleeve Subject(s): Doves; Freedom LIKE AN ORPHAN First Line: Like an orphan, perpetually insecure and exiled from the soul, b. Learned Last Line: Of their leaves sweeping about in the fresh breeze of this exhilarating %autumn LIKE FRUIT First Line: Men are like fruit, best full of juice,' she thought Last Line: A bird called every now and then LISTEN First Line: Having lost you, I attract substitutes Subject(s): Grief; Love - Loss Of; Relationships; Sorrow; Sadness LOCKER ROOM CONVERSATION Poem Text First Line: There are some men my husband never sees Last Line: A couple of friends.-what did you think of that guy? / -what guy, they said Subject(s): Bodies; Men; Nudity; Nakedness LOCKER ROOM CONVERSATION First Line: There are some men my husband never sees Last Line: A couple of friends. - what did you think of that guy? %- what guy, they said Subject(s): Bodies; Men; Nudity LOCKOUT First Line: He sets his campus security cap on the stairs Last Line: Resuming his cap, pocketing the master keys LONG HORN First Line: A and z were having lunch at the long horn: cold cuts Last Line: And blankness begins to turn blue, and the sun rises LOOKOUT Poem Text First Line: He sets his campus security cap on the stairs Subject(s): Immigrants; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration MARIE AT TEA First Line: You remember the extremes Last Line: Love, of marriage, the / extreme Subject(s): Change; Food & Eating; Relationships; Tea MARIE AT TEA First Line: You remember the extremes Last Line: Love, of marriage, the %extreme Subject(s): Change; Food And Eating; Relationships; Tea MARRIAGE NOCTURNE First Line: Stopped at a corner, near midnight, I watch Last Line: Home to my marriage, my safety, through this wounded %world that we cannot heal, that is our bride Subject(s): Marriage; Night MASTECTOMY POEMS: 1. THE BRIDGE First Line: You never think it will happen to you Last Line: Elevation to depth, vista to crawling Subject(s): Cancer, Breast MASTECTOMY POEMS: 10. YEARS OF GIRLHOOD (FOR MY STUDENTS) First Line: All the years of girlhood we wait for them Last Line: When the babies nuzzle like bees Subject(s): Breasts MASTECTOMY POEMS: 11. THE RIVER First Line: Sluiced with the city's detritus Last Line: I hear you, I will come Subject(s): Mothers MASTECTOMY POEMS: 12. EPILOGUE: NEVERTHELESS First Line: The bookbag on my back, I'm out the door Last Line: The bookbag on my back, I have to run Subject(s): Breasts; Health MASTECTOMY POEMS: 2. THE GURNEY First Line: What's this long corridor above the street Last Line: How good it is, not to be anywhere Subject(s): Hospitals; Surgery MASTECTOMY POEMS: 3. RIDDLE: POST-OP First Line: A - tisket a - tasket Last Line: Guess what it is %it's nothing Subject(s): Cancer, Breast; Surgery MASTECTOMY POEMS: 4. MASTECTOMY First Line: I shook your hand before I went Last Line: Those almost insignificant cells that might %or might not have lain dormant forever Subject(s): Cancer, Breast MASTECTOMY POEMS: 5. WHAT WAS LOST First Line: What fed my daughters, my son Last Line: Ready to be harvested and eaten Subject(s): Breasts MASTECTOMY POEMS: 6. DECEMBER 31 First Line: I say this year no different Last Line: Well and happy %new year Subject(s): Holidays; New Year MASTECTOMY POEMS: 7. WINTERING First Line: It snows and stops, now it is january Last Line: But a missing breast, well, you get used to it Subject(s): Breasts MASTECTOMY POEMS: 8. NORMAL First Line: First classes, the sun is out, the darlings Last Line: To view it pickled in a mason jar Subject(s): Cancer, Breast MASTECTOMY POEMS: 9. HEALING First Line: Brilliant - Last Line: I make vow after vow Subject(s): Breasts; Healing MATISSE TOO Poem Text First Line: Matisse, too, when the fingers ceased to work Last Line: Damn the fathers. We are talking about defiance Subject(s): Matisse, Henri (1869-1954); Courage; Art & Atists; Perseverance; Fathers MATISSE, TOO Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Matisse, too, when the fingers ceased to work Subject(s): Paintings & Painters MAY RAIN, PRINCETON Poem Text First Line: Green, green, the luminous maples preen Subject(s): Rain; Princeton, New Jersey MEDITATION IN SEVEN DAYS First Line: If your mother is a jew, you are a jew Last Line: I am the woman, and about to enter Subject(s): Day; Jews - Women; Meditation MEETING THE DEAD First Line: If we've loved them, it's what we want, and sometimes Last Line: The orderly gardens and homes of the living Subject(s): Death; Family Life; Peace; Dead, The; Relatives MEETING THE DEAD First Line: If we've loved them, it's what we want, and sometimes Last Line: On suburb streets, I was quietly passing %the orderly gardens and homes of the living Subject(s): Death; Family Life; Peace MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 1. THE POET TO HER BOOK First Line: When she sings, when she dances, it is asking Last Line: Go, book, and say this time she conquers MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 2. MOTHER First Line: The musicians are tuning their instruments, the weather Last Line: Over and over you walk to the edge of a cliff MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 3. FIRST SISTER First Line: The mirror tweezes its eyebrows Last Line: Best is a loser. I like your outfit MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 4. SECOND SISTER First Line: So much gets buried, probably she remembers Last Line: Hot inside.' I am positive she will return MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 5. GODDESS First Line: They do not know, none Last Line: How my hands burn, but I love nobody MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 6. ONESELF AT HELL'S MOUTH Poem Text First Line: It wasn't only my sisters Subject(s): Cupid; Psyche (mythology); Eros MESSAGE FROM THE SLEEPER AT HELL'S MOUTH: 6. ONESELF AT HELL'S MOUTH First Line: It wasn't only my sisters Last Line: Come soon, with all your arrows Subject(s): Cupid; Psyche (mythology) METAPHOR Poem Text First Line: What a trip, the first morning I saw it Subject(s): Athens, Greece MID-FEBRUARY First Line: The mare rears, she has almost thrown her rider MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN AT A POND Poem Text First Line: The first of june, grasses already tall Last Line: Is a response. I swim across the ring of it Subject(s): Lakes; Women; Pools; Ponds MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN AT A POND First Line: The first of june, grasses already tall Last Line: Is a response. I swim across the ring of it Subject(s): Lakes; Women MIGRANT First Line: Desire comes up in us Last Line: To a show that has always been playing Subject(s): Migrant Labor; Migratory Workers; Agricultural Laborers MIGRANT First Line: Desire comes up in us Last Line: To a show that has always been playing Subject(s): Migrant Labor MILLENNIAL POLKA Poem Text First Line: Using words this way Last Line: Among the bloody berries Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary MILLENNIAL POLKA First Line: Using words this way Last Line: About in the full barns %among the bloody berries Subject(s): Language MINOR VAN GOGH (HE SPEAKS) First Line: The strokes are pulses: from my shapely cloud Last Line: Locked in the light of earth, compassionate Subject(s): Art And Artists; Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) MISERY AND FRUSTRATION Poem Text First Line: They say one part of wisdom Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking; Conduct Of Life; Wine MISERY AND FRUSTRATION First Line: They say one part of wisdom Last Line: But that's a knowledge you already know MOON AND EARTH First Line: Of one substance, of one Last Line: Make the image %of everything MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: A GROUP ON THE TOP FLOOR First Line: Rauschenberg Last Line: What about %licking it %a dog tongue %hungry MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: BOOKSTORE First Line: The signs of that constriction are everywhere Last Line: Bow in the hands of penelope; but nobody %seems able to string and draw it MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: CLAES OLDENBURG: 3 SOFT SCULPTURES First Line: God bless Last Line: Falling shoestring potatoes %(yellow canvas sculputre %dropsfrom kapok sawtooth %edge paper bag.) MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: JIM DINE First Line: A) the bathrobe paintings Last Line: Like the femur %of a tall man %elegant to the point %of pain MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: LOBBY: LADY TO OTHER LADY First Line: We could bring the boys Last Line: And scuffed portfolio %under his arm, what do they know %does anybody know MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: MARK ROTHKO: THREE PAINTINGS First Line: Tragedy, ecstasy Last Line: Wind blows ceaselessly %eastward above the surface, %remote from any earth where buildings stand MORNING IN THE MUSEUM: SEGAL'S DINER First Line: The shabby poetry is in the pathos Last Line: If he don't watch out %he's gonna bunk %inta the tree.' MOTH IN APRIL Poem Text First Line: Can I concentrate, cani I Subject(s): Moths MOTH IN APRIL First Line: Can I concentrate, can I MOTHER IN AIRPORT PARKING LOT First Line: This motherhood business fades, is almost over Subject(s): Air Travel; Mothers; Women MOTHER IN AIRPORT PARKING LOT First Line: This motherhood business fades, is almost over Last Line: I am one small woman in a great space, %temporarily free andclear. %I am by myself, climbing into my Subject(s): Air Travel; Mothers; Women MOTHER/CHILD: CODA Poem Text First Line: Fear teaches nothing Last Line: Consciousness is a blessing Subject(s): Change; Growth MOTHER/CHILD: CODA First Line: Fear teaches nothing Last Line: This is what we mean when we say %consciousness is a blessing Subject(s): Change; Growth MOTHER: 1. EYESIGHT First Line: Please, please %I can't see well %reassure me with your touch Last Line: So I drive over and find it %on the counter among the flies MOTHER: 2. OUR MOTHERS: A CORRESPONDENCE First Line: I send you my whitehaired poems Last Line: Smoothing the folds of her dress: this means pity %arms crossed: this signifies judgement MOTHERWORDS First Line: Although I have put an ocean between us Last Line: Your barrel of scum-coated blessings. %find me one MOVE Poem Text First Line: Whether it's a turtle who drags herself Last Line: For the song that is to follow Subject(s): Moving & Movers MOVE First Line: Whether it's a turtle who drags herself Last Line: For the song that is to follow Subject(s): Moving And Movers NATURE OF BEAUTY First Line: As sometimes whiteness forms in a clear sky Last Line: Tell where we've really been, much less remain Subject(s): Beauty; Nature NEOPLATONIC RIFF First Line: May, and after a rainy spring Last Line: Didn't I used to be you NORMAL LIGHT Poem Text First Line: Normal light never killed anything Subject(s): Light; Superman; Vision NOSTOS First Line: A pair of tennis shorts in a stuck drawer Last Line: More friendly, and the wicker furniture whiter, %the mother's and father's voices more resounding NUDE DESCENDING Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Like a bowerbird trailing a beakful of weeds Last Line: Into beige rectangles Subject(s): Nudity; Nakedness NUDE DESCENDING First Line: Like a bowerbird trailing a beakful of weeds Last Line: They have torn her apart %into beige rectangles Subject(s): Nudity NULIAJUK, A SEQUENCE First Line: Old man of all oceans Last Line: In a blanket of sea-anemones O'KEEFFE First Line: New york: you are staring safely down from steiglitz's apartment Last Line: One magnolia opens her taffeta skirt Subject(s): Change; Magnolias; O'keeffe, Georgia (1887-1986) O'KEEFFE First Line: New york: you are staring safely down from steiglitz's apartment Last Line: One magnolia opens her taffeta skirt Subject(s): Change; Magnolias; O'keeffe, Georgia (1887-1986) OLD MEN Poem Text First Line: It seems to me the kindliness of old men ONCE MORE OUT OF DARKNESS, SELS. ONE IS INSIDE' Poem Text Last Line: That is beautiful Subject(s): Pregnancy ONE IS INSIDE' ONE IS INSIDE' Last Line: Vanish but reappear %that is beautiful Subject(s): Change OPINION OF HAGAR First Line: I have no opinion Last Line: We were women together ORANGE CAT First Line: The orange cat on the porch Last Line: Minus the awkward lover OTHER STANZAS, TO YOU, PYTHAGORAS First Line: When I said, I would hear the harmony Last Line: I wonder if that is the song %even the stars are singing, %sharp and perfect as they appear Variant Title(s): Stanzas To Pythagora PLEIADES IN DECEMBER: LINE OF SIGHT First Line: The pleiades %emitted this Last Line: Heavy lines, %cracks %water POEM BEGINNING WITH A LINE BY DICKINSON Poem Text First Line: After great pain, a formal feeling comes Last Line: That wouldn't happen to him, and we happily kissed Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) POEM BEGINNING WITH A LINE BY DICKINSON First Line: After great pain, a formal feeling comes Last Line: Not to worry, honey, %that wouldn't happen to him, and we happily kissed Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) POEM BEGINNING WITH A LINE BY FITZGERALD/HEMINGWAY Poem Text First Line: The very rich are different from us, they Last Line: Can know before the very day arrives Subject(s): Change; Hemingway, Ernest (1899-1961); Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1896-1940) POEM BEGINNING WITH A LINE BY FITZGERALD/HEMINGWAY First Line: The very rich are different from us, they Last Line: Our life, to save doomed lives, and none of us %can know before the very day arrives Subject(s): Change PORTRAIT OF A MAN First Line: You wear glasses Last Line: Having cogitated, you begin again to write Subject(s): Men; Portraits PORTRAIT OF A MAN First Line: You wear glasses Last Line: Having cogitated, you begin again to write Subject(s): Men; Portraits PORTRAITE DE L'ARTISTE First Line: When everybody's in bed Last Line: Even in sleep, not separated Subject(s): Art & Artists; Portraits PORTRAITE DE L'ARTISTE First Line: When everybody's in bed Last Line: Even in sleep, not separated Subject(s): Art And Artists; Portraits PRAYING FOR THE END OF ANGER First Line: It was 1913 and there was no money Last Line: I too hungered to give abundant life to my children PROPAGANDA POEM: MAYBE FOR SOME YOUNG MAMAS First Line: Oh young girls in a classroom Last Line: Damaged when put to use, we get like wornout houses, but only %the life that hoards and coffins itse PSALM Poem Text First Line: I am not lyric any more Subject(s): Relationships; Love; Hate PSALM First Line: I endure impure periods Last Line: Nothing between us %only breath PSALM First Line: When I return to you %wet from the bath Last Line: Who cares how it happens PSALM First Line: My head is uncovered to my naked hair Last Line: I am waiting for you %in a bed of pleasure PSALM First Line: Like a skin on milk %I write to you Last Line: What is the story %we want to know PURE PRODUCTS OF AMERICA First Line: In the middle of the southeast asian war Last Line: But I wish he'd quit Subject(s): Children; United States; War PURE UNKNOWN First Line: At this time every year I speculate Last Line: Boldly announced, through clear air, like a bell? QUESTION OF TIME First Line: I ask a friend. She informs me it is ten years Last Line: And barefoot, at that time, %and how you let me rest %a half a minute in your suntanned arms Subject(s): Time RAINY SEASON First Line: The marketplace opens Last Line: The pavement's slippery with rotten things, %and wetly shines, reflecting heaven RAVEL PIANO TRIO First Line: Say I am a starving trembling fawn on your lawn Last Line: Do you throw me food with your own %nailbitten agitated hand? RAVEN OF DEATH First Line: A grey november morning. We make love Last Line: Softly lifts to a black dot in the sky REBECCA'S WAY First Line: It is written that isaac loved me Last Line: I came a great distance %hoping to do exactly what I did REDON First Line: Blurred outlines and shadowed dove grays Last Line: Here is a sinister eye, an invitation REVOLUTION AS DESIRE First Line: Imagine yourself in the water Last Line: Such a lovesick roar RUNNER First Line: Sweat glides on the forehead of the gasping runner Last Line: Must be useless %to the runner Subject(s): Track Athletics RUSSIAN ARMY GOES INTO BAKU First Line: When the ethnic riots start, and the civilized west Last Line: Do not spend too much time %with an unhappy man RVR: WORK AND LOVE First Line: Your coach spins forward like an act of love Last Line: And skill shadowed by pain, helping me to face %bravely my own short art and my long defeat SAN JUAN WATERFRONT First Line: The balconied hotels present their rock fronts to the roaring sea Last Line: And vegetation, which the big hotels, lifting their knees, trample SATURDAY NIGHT Poem Text First Line: And here it comes: around the world Last Line: Out of their gourds, invent the sacred dance Subject(s): Night; Bedtime SATURDAY NIGHT First Line: And here it comes: around the world Last Line: Out of their gourds - invent the sacred dance Subject(s): Night SEASONAL First Line: When the full sun is on me this way Last Line: Everything else is theology and folly SECRET SHARER First Line: How many times in childhood, you were running SEX Poem Text First Line: I see the bare feet on the warm boardwalk Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore SEX DREAM First Line: I see the bare feet on the warm boardwalk Last Line: Who will bow, rise, and salute her %when she makes her move SINGING SCHOOL First Line: First they asked you to step through the many rooms Last Line: Now you have to make %your own story Subject(s): Family Life; Schools; Singing And Singers SINGLE WOMAN SPEAKING Poem Text First Line: The imaginary lover, form in the mind Subject(s): Imaginary Conversations; Single People; Bachelors; Unmarried People SISTERS First Line: See-saw! See-saw! Last Line: Later, when they are not, %they say. %and we obey! SOFTEN AND MELT Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The man made me soften and melt Subject(s): Love - Erotic SOMALIA First Line: Compared to being burned alive Last Line: Is very good, yes, good %as life can be SOME DAYS IN MARCH First Line: Sunlight between the blinds Last Line: And spring went away weeping SONG Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Some claim the origin of song Subject(s): Songs SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE First Line: A fine freedom a thrill %flows up our vertebrae Last Line: We are that mixed animal %you are that mixed god SONGS OF MIRIAM First Line: I'm a young girl Last Line: I who am maiden %woman and crone %I who am %miriam SONNET. TO TELL THE TRUTH Poem Text First Line: To tell the truth, those brick housing authority buildings Last Line: Now I've said everything nice I can about this Subject(s): Truth SONNET. TO TELL THE TRUTH First Line: To tell the truth, those brick housing authority buildings Last Line: Now I've said everything nice I can about this Subject(s): Truth SPACE OF THIS DIALOGUE, SELS First Line: 12/16/98 %volcano %let me speak it to you in a whisper Last Line: You can tell I'm lonely SPOON First Line: A child in his high chair when the spoon approaches Last Line: And self and utterance alike are gone STANZAS IN OCTOBER First Line: A long sound when the sky is overcast Last Line: Or dogs, we are listening %for the starry music %like listening is autumn for the honking Variant Title(s): The Memor STARING AT THE PACIFIC, AND SWIMMING IN IT First Line: The mind, she thinks Last Line: Haze, how the ocean holds Subject(s): Pacific Ocean; Swimming & Swimmers STARING AT THE PACIFIC, AND SWIMMING IN IT First Line: The mind, she thinks Last Line: Haze, how the ocean holds Subject(s): Pacific Ocean; Swimming STILL LIFE: A GLASSFUL OF ZINNIAS ON MY DAUGHTER'S KITCHEN TABLE Poem Text First Line: In the interminable quest for truth Last Line: A glassful of zinnias on the table Subject(s): Daughters; Flowers STILL LIFE: A GLASSFUL OF ZINNIAS ON MY DAUGHTER'S KITCHEN TABLE First Line: In the interminable quest for truth Last Line: A glassful of zinnias on the table Subject(s): Daughters; Flowers STOPPED AT A CORNER, NEAR MIDNIGHT, I WATCH First Line: Stopped at a corner, near midnight, I watch STORM First Line: The sky became the color of a bruise Last Line: Faint, fainter, trails of an explosion STORY OF JOSHUA First Line: We reach the promised land Last Line: To destroy jericho Subject(s): Bible; Religion STREAM Poem Text First Line: With swift delusional energy Last Line: A delusional / solidity Subject(s): Brooks; Streams; Creeks STREAM First Line: With swift delusional energy Last Line: A delusional %solidity Subject(s): Brooks STUDIO (HOMAGE TO ALICE NEEL) First Line: An oily rag at her feet in the warehouse of scents Last Line: And you're back in the basement studio Subject(s): Art And Artists; Paintings And Painters SUNLIGHT First Line: Low-flying: like watching one's own shadow SURFER DAYS First Line: Those were strange days, when we were kids Last Line: Gone like a flash %strange days SURVIVING Poem Text First Line: It is true that in this century Last Line: Tell me it is not merely the duty of grief Subject(s): Survival SURVIVING First Line: It is true that in this century Last Line: Tell me it is not merely the duty of grief Subject(s): Survival TAKING THE SHUTTLE WITH FRANZ Poem Text First Line: A search for metaphors to describe the thick Last Line: Vermin,' they think, imagining stamping us out Subject(s): Air Travel; Business; Travel; Businessmen; Businesswomen; Journeys; Trips TAKING THE SHUTTLE WITH FRANZ First Line: A search for metaphors to describe the thick Last Line: Throbs within them, under cashmere and cambric: %'vermin,' they think, imagining stamping us out Subject(s): Air Travel; Business; Travel TAVERNA, ATHENS 1974 First Line: Exactly right Last Line: We say to the guest, %it is we who invented the good %god dionysos, %the good word demos TAYLOR LAKE First Line: Sunning myself %I gaze at the naked bottom Last Line: I ain't holding my breath TEARING THE POEM UP AND EATING IT First Line: Take this, you said Last Line: I speak of all your countries, my dear god TERROR First Line: If nature is orderly we must create disorder Last Line: This very bad moment, %this very bad feeling. %go ahead, son. Conquer it TERRORIST TRIAL AND THE GAMES First Line: At the trail, half the people on the stand were maimed Last Line: A difference, murmurs the voice of rosemary THE ANNIVERSARY First Line: Of course we failed, by succeeding Last Line: In nothing. Don't leave me, don't leave me Subject(s): Anniversaries; Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives THE BLESSING OF THE OLD WOMAN, THE TULIP, AND THE DOG Poem Text First Line: To be blessed Subject(s): Blessings; God THE BOOK OF LIFE Poem Text First Line: Everything very hardy Last Line: Jews like ourselves have just begun to plant Subject(s): Books; Life; Reading THE BOYS, THE BROOM HANDLE, AND THE RETARDED GIRL Poem Text First Line: Who was asking for it - Last Line: Touching the girl Subject(s): Boys; Fights; Girls THE BRIDE First Line: Jerusalem sits on her mountains, a woman Last Line: Heavy because so angry, / so angry Subject(s): Brides THE CHANGE Poem Text First Line: Happening now! It is happening Last Line: Can you sense, under the ground, the great melting? Subject(s): Change; Daughters THE CLASS Poem Text First Line: We say things in this class. Like why it hurts Last Line: Though she would never say so in a class Subject(s): Classmates; Schools; Schoolmates; Students THE CRAZY LADY SPEAKING Poem Text First Line: I was the one in the irt tunnel Last Line: From each of their graves I rise, daughter. Embrace me Subject(s): Insanity; Talk; Women; Madness; Mental Illness THE DEATH GHAZALS Poem Text First Line: If a raindrop enters the ocean, good Last Line: Does your smeared forehead out-top the gracious mountain? Variant Title(s): Ghazals;death Of Ghazals Subject(s): Death; Dead, The THE DOGS AT LIVE OAK BEACH, SANTA CRUZ Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: As if there could be a world Last Line: Does your smeared forehead out-top the gracious mountain? Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore THE DOOR CLICKS. HE RETURNS TO ME' Poem Text Last Line: Is it measureless pain? Subject(s): Veterans; Homecoming; Marriage; Fathers & Sons THE DOOR CLICKS. HE RETURNS TO ME' Poem Text THE EIGHTH AND THIRTEENTH Poem Text First Line: The eighth of shostakovich Subject(s): Change THE END OF THE LINE Poem Text First Line: Finally the last passengers Subject(s): Trolley Cars THE EXCHANGE Poem Text First Line: I am watching a woman swim below the surface Subject(s): Dreams; Relationships; Swimming & Swimmers; Women; Nightmares; Swimmers THE FOOL STANDS UP TO TEACH KING LEAR AGAIN First Line: The systematic murder of the young Last Line: All I can do is demonstrate my joy Subject(s): Teaching & Teachers THE GUARDS KNEELED, THEY RAISED THEIR WEAPONS, THEY FIRED' Poem Text Last Line: Finally is liberated, then they pull the body out Subject(s): Birth; Sedation THE GUARDS KNEELED, THEY RAISED THEIR WEAPONS, THEY FIRED' Poem Text THE HISTORY OF AMERICA Poem Text First Line: A linear projection: a route. It crosses Last Line: Wonder you fear this bleeding pulse, no wonder Subject(s): History; United States; Historians; America THE IDEA OF MAKING LOVE Poem Text First Line: The idea of makling love - as sticking your tongue Subject(s): Love - Erotic THE IMPULSE OF SINGING First Line: That journey he made Last Line: How bitterly beautiful, before the madwomen ripped him? Subject(s): Singing & Singers; Travel; Journeys; Trips THE LEAF PILE Poem Text First Line: Now here is a typical children's story Last Line: The mark of my hand a blush on my son's cheek Subject(s): Family Life; Mothers; Sons; Relatives THE MARRIAGE NOCTURNE First Line: Stopped at a corner, near midnight, I watch Last Line: World that we cannot heal, that is our bride Subject(s): Marriage; Night; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Bedtime THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 1. THE BRIDGE Poem Text First Line: You never think it will happen to you Last Line: Elevation to depth, vista to crawling Subject(s): Cancer, Breast THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 10. YEARS OF GIRLHOOD (FOR MY STUDENTS) Poem Text First Line: All the years of girlhood we wait for them Last Line: When the babies nuzzle like bees Subject(s): Breasts THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 11. THE RIVER Poem Text First Line: Sluiced with the city's detritus Last Line: I hear you, I will come Subject(s): Mothers THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 12. EPILOGUE: NEVERTHELESS Poem Text First Line: The bookbag on my back, I'm out the door Last Line: The bookbag on my back, I have to run Subject(s): Breasts; Health THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 2. THE GURNEY Poem Text First Line: What's this long corridor above the street Last Line: How good it is, not to be anywhere Subject(s): Hospitals; Surgery THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 3. RIDDLE: POST-OP Poem Text First Line: A - tisket a - tasket Last Line: "guess what it is Subject(s): Cancer, Breast; Surgery THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 4. MASTECTOMY Poem Text First Line: I shook your hand before I went Last Line: Or might not have lain dormant forever Subject(s): Cancer, Breast THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 5. WHAT WAS LOST Poem Text First Line: What fed my daughters, my son Last Line: Ready to be harvested and eaten Subject(s): Breasts THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 6. DECEMBER 31 First Line: I say this year no different Last Line: Well and happy / new year Subject(s): Holidays; New Year THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 7. WINTERING Poem Text First Line: It snows and stops, now it is january Last Line: But a missing breast, well, you get used to it Subject(s): Breasts THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 8. NORMAL First Line: First classes, the sun is out, the darlings Last Line: To view it pickled in a mason jar Subject(s): Cancer, Breast THE MASTECTOMY POEMS: 9. HEALING Poem Text First Line: Brilliant - Last Line: I make vow after vow. Subject(s): Breasts; Healing; Cures THE NATURE OF BEAUTY Poem Text First Line: As sometimes whiteness forms in a clear sky Last Line: Tell where we've really been, much less remain Subject(s): Beauty; Nature THE ORANGE CAT Poem Text First Line: The orange cat on the porch Subject(s): Cats; Desire THE PLATEAU Poem Text First Line: The climb was long Subject(s): Togetherness; Relationships THE PURE PRODUCTS OF AMERICA Poem Text First Line: In the middle of the southeast asian war Last Line: But I wish he'd quit Subject(s): Children; United States; War; Childhood; America THE RUNNER Poem Text First Line: Sweat glides on the forehead of the gasping runner Last Line: To the runner Subject(s): Track Athletics; Running Races; Pole Vaulting; Discus Throwing; Shot Putting; Running Hurdles THE RUSSIAN ARMY GOES INTO BAKU Poem Text First Line: When the ethnic riots start, and the civilized west Last Line: With an unhappy man Subject(s): Russia – Army; War; Freedom; Cold War THE SINGING SCHOOL First Line: First they asked you to step through the many rooms Last Line: Your own story Subject(s): Family Life; Schools; Singing & Singers; Relatives; Students THE STORY OF JOSHUA Poem Text First Line: We reach the promised land Subject(s): Bible; Religion; Theology THE STUDIO (HOMAGE TO ALICE NEEL) First Line: An oily rag at her feet in the warehouse of scents Last Line: And you're back in the basement studio Subject(s): Art & Artists; Paintings And Painters THE VOCABULARY OF JOY Poem Text First Line: I'm on the grass in front of the library, writing Subject(s): Laughter; Interracial Marriage THE WAITING ROOM First Line: We ladies in the waiting room of the atchley pavilion Last Line: Tropical design on sleeves) has lit a cigarette Subject(s): Medicine; Women; Drugs, Prescription THE WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 1 Poem Text First Line: I write in rage against my sex Last Line: You go home Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations THE WINDOW, AT THE MOMENT OF FLAME Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: And all this while I have been playing with toys Subject(s): World Trade Center Tragedy (9/11/2001); New York City - Terrorist Attack, 9/11 THE WOMAN WHO RAN AWAY Poem Text First Line: At first no beasts appeared, nothing bright-fanged THEY HOIST IT, SHINING, THEY SUPPORT IT, UNDER ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS, Poem Text Last Line: A boy to the ring of killers. They bring him, crying,. Her throat leaps Subject(s): Birth THEY HOIST IT, SHINING, THEY SUPPORT IT, UNDER ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS, THEY HOIST IT, SHINING, THEY SUPPORT IT, UNDER ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS, Last Line: A boy to the ring of killers. They bring him, crying. Her throat leaps Subject(s): Family Life THIS DREAMER COMETH First Line: The reverend is telling the committee on assassinations Last Line: Any idea why the fbi would want to do something like that THISTLE Poem Text First Line: Thistle at meadow's edge Last Line: The snow grows heavier, falls on their stooping shoulders Subject(s): Politics & Government; War THISTLE First Line: Thistle at meadow's edge Last Line: We stay away from them Subject(s): Politics; War THOSE WHO KNOW DO NOT SPEAK, THOSE WHO SPEAK DO NOT KNOW First Line: They split up after attending the excellent experimental film Last Line: Warm beautiful spring day THREE MEN WALKING, THREE BROWN SILHOUETTES Poem Text First Line: They remember the dead who died in the resistance Subject(s): Men; Walking THREE MEN WALKING, THREE BROWN SILHOUETTES First Line: They remember the dead who died in the resistance Last Line: The snow grows heavier Subject(s): Men; Walking THREE WOMEN First Line: She came home from the dinner party Last Line: But she was right, she brooded, yes, she was right TO KILL THE DOVE First Line: You can go at it either way, said the gentleman Last Line: Again, to rest, to close the eyes, to kill the dove TO LOVE IS Poem Text TO LOVE IS Last Line: What matter if I can %never accomplish it Subject(s): Love TO ONE IN MOURNING First Line: Because of your sorrow TRANSLATION First Line: Pelicans with the nine-foot wingspans Last Line: Baked into concrete, a feather %blown across sand TRIPTYCH First Line: Plunging his arms through storm blue Last Line: Remote from any earth where buildings stand TWO WRITERS: FOR J.D. First Line: She is packing her bags meticulously, including Last Line: Turning and sighing. Nobody wants to, he says, but you will UNSAID, OR WHAT SHE THINKS WHEN SHE GETS MY LETTER First Line: Bug off, mom Last Line: I think how she could yawn, she could tear it up. %she could forget to open it UPPER BROADWAY SUNDAY First Line: It is high noon over upper broadway Last Line: Dionysos has swallowed apollo Subject(s): Broadway, New York City; City & Town Life UPPER BROADWAY SUNDAY First Line: It is high noon over upper broadway Last Line: He imagines apollo has swallowed dionysos, %dionysos has swallowed apollo VOCABULARY OF JOY First Line: I'm on the grass in front of the library, writing Last Line: In the late twentieth century %when I say this VOCATION Poem Text First Line: To play among the words like one of them Subject(s): Girls VOICES First Line: This happens when I am driving Last Line: To help it through to the end WAITING ROOM First Line: We ladies in the waiting room of the atchley pavilion Last Line: Tropical design on sleeves) has lit a cigarette Subject(s): Medicine; Women WANTING ALL First Line: Husband, it's fine the way your mind performs Last Line: Self as you shut it %like a trunkful of treasures? Wait, %I cry, as the lid slams on my fingers WANTING TO BE IN LOVE AS IN SUNLIGHT First Line: I want it even when nobody's loving me Last Line: Staying right up there Subject(s): Love WANTING TO BE IN LOVE AS IN SUNLIGHT First Line: I want it even when nobody's loving me WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 1 First Line: I write in rage against my sex Last Line: And never wanted %anything but a little female comfort Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 2 First Line: Contents of one day's mail. Amnesty international Last Line: Do you know, my innocent friend %as I pour you a cup of tea %sometimes I want to kill you Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 3 First Line: Please, you say Last Line: In on me, sneering, we can't afford a bigger %apartment, she used to want me Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 4 First Line: The state of the union Last Line: Lost one third of its crown %survives but is %not beautiful to look at Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 5 First Line: Forgive me Last Line: You are crying %I like to see men cry Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 6 First Line: I run my mind over a handful of names Last Line: I get tired of this pulpy body. %I get damned tired of telling people %what they already know Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 7 First Line: Sometimes you feel on the border: an ounce more effort Last Line: Eat your cookie, drink your tea. %you falsely think I mean to comfort you Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 8 First Line: Heaps of broken stones weathering slowly, a mountain Last Line: A yellow bar of sunlight, in which gray motes %are flying, touches his cage Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WAR OF MEN AND WOMEN: 9 First Line: The worst of it is that we hear the dead Last Line: There is my crippled self, who wipes the crumbs %into a garbabe bag, %hands you your jacket back, le Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships WARNING First Line: I will no longer lightly walk behind WARNING First Line: Let them grow afraid Last Line: Let them grow afraid %let them grow afraid %in real life let them grow afraid WAS DREAMING' WAS DREAMING' Last Line: Cold and %very afraid Subject(s): Dreams WATCHING THE FEEDER First Line: Snow has been falling, and the purple finches Last Line: For existence itself Subject(s): Snow; Birds; Life WATCHING THE FEEDER First Line: Snow has been falling, and the purple finches WATERLILIES AND JAPANESE BRIDGE Poem Text First Line: He is the drowsy girl who rows 'between the sleeping Last Line: "-is it from him? Or around him? His old man's forehead / Subject(s): Bridges; Flowers; Japan; Japanese WATERLILIES AND JAPANESE BRIDGE First Line: He is the drowsy girl who rows 'between the sleeping Last Line: - is it from him? Or around him? His old man's forehead %garlanded Subject(s): Bridges; Flowers; Japan WEST FOURTH STREET Poem Text First Line: The sycamores are leafing out Subject(s): Imigrants; City & Town Life; Greenwich Village, New York City WHAT ELSE First Line: Here is what else the soul does. It tugs me Last Line: It likes the beach. In winter, it wants to die Subject(s): Soul WHAT ELSE First Line: Here is what else the soul does. It tugs me Last Line: Springtime it goes completely crazy. Summers, %it likes the beach. In winter, it wants to die WHAT I WANT Poem Text First Line: Yes, that's what I want right now Subject(s): Conduct Of Life WHAT I WANT First Line: Yes, that's what I want right now Last Line: What I want %is to listen, what I want %is to follow instructions WHILE DRIVING NORTH First Line: Note: when I drive alone Last Line: Literature the same Subject(s): Driving & Drivers; Solitude; Poetry & Poets WHILE DRIVING NORTH First Line: Note: when I drive alone Last Line: Writing doesn't record tranquillity, %mostly the land records catastrophe. %literature the same WIDOW IN A STONE HOUSE First Line: Someone was calling me: come out! Come out! Last Line: Listen. We think we can see you Subject(s): Widows & Widowers WIDOW IN A STONE HOUSE: 1 First Line: Someone was calling me: come out! Come out! Last Line: Back through my white door, hearing coward, coward! %as I thrust my icy feet under my blanket WIDOW IN A STONE HOUSE: 2 First Line: Don't hate me. In the morning there will be still Last Line: Smelling its rooty, complicated freshness, %they will believe there is no nothingness WIDOW IN A STONE HOUSE: 3 First Line: Saying goodbye to this world Last Line: Now the keen cloudy voices say: %listen. We're trying to find you. %listen. We think we can see you WINDSHIELD First Line: You are supposed to roll your windows up Last Line: Of yours, man, right in his bones Variant Title(s): Windowglass Subject(s): Automobiles; Windows; Cars WINDSHIELD First Line: You are supposed to roll your windows up Last Line: Of yours, man, right in his bones Variant Title(s): Windowglas Subject(s): Automobiles; Windows WISHES First Line: The dead man's wishes are flying apart like spores Last Line: Liberty's song. Its triumph and lament Subject(s): Wishes WISHES First Line: The dead man's wishes are flying apart like spores Last Line: Playing, touching his crushed guitar, %liberty's song, its triumph and lament Subject(s): Wishes WOMAN WALKING IN THE SUBURBS First Line: October stillness and the last leaves hang Last Line: Flows with all fairness WOMAN WHO RAN AWAY First Line: At first no beasts appeared, nothing bright-fanged Last Line: Only then did the trees begin to hiss, %boulders to roar, %mushrooms to writhe from the wet forest f WOODEN VIRGIN WITH CHILD First Line: Once the trunk of a lovely tree %she sits on her narrow chair Last Line: His wish also to pity her, she %who is said to be the incarnation of pity WOODLAND SPRING First Line: To speak of mushrooms Last Line: And in the forest, too, %even the evil ones melt in a night of rain WORDS FOR A WEDDING First Line: Free and rejoicing, walk into this prison Last Line: And breathe easy. Finally you are here Subject(s): Marriage WORDS FOR A WEDDING First Line: Free and rejoicing, walk into this prison WRINKLY LADY DANCER First Line: Going to be an old wrinkly lady dancer Last Line: The afternoon! I danced! Naked with you! Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Women; Wrinkles WRINKLY LADY DANCER First Line: Going to be an old wrinkly lady dancer Last Line: The afternoon! I danced! Naked with you! Subject(s): Dancing And Dancers; Women; Wrinkles YEARS Poem Text First Line: I have wished you dead and myself dead Subject(s): Relationships; Time YEARS First Line: I have wished you dead and myself dead Last Line: And leaned over the railing at the top- %strong and warm, that summer wind Subject(s): Relationships; Time YOM KIPPUR First Line: We destroy we break we are broken Last Line: But the foolish old woman who lives there refuses to leave Subject(s): Yom Kippur YOU WHO DENY: A HARANGUE First Line: You who deny, my impulse is to shake you Last Line: We go on Subject(s): Social Protest YOU WHO DENY: A HARANGUE First Line: You who deny, my impulse is to shake you YOUNG WOMAN, A TREE First Line: The life spills over, some days Last Line: Cold slime, %as deep as that Subject(s): Trees; Women; Youth |
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