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Author: PLATH, SYLVIA
Matches Found: 535


Plath, Sylvia    Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
535 poems available by this author


18-APR       
First Line: The slime of all my yesterdays


A BETTER RESURRECTION    Poem Text    
First Line: I have no wit, I have no words, no tears
Subject(s): Loneliness


A BIRTHDAY PRESENT    Poem Text    
First Line: What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful?
Subject(s): Death; Birthdays; Dead, The


A LESSON IN VENGEANCE    Poem Text    
First Line: In the dour ages
Subject(s): Evil


A LIFE    Poem Text    
First Line: Touch it: it won't shrink like an eyeball,
Subject(s): Life; Insanity; Madness; Mental Illness


A SORCERER BIDS FAREWELL TO SEEM    Poem Text    
First Line: I'm through with this grand looking-glass hotel
Subject(s): Metaphor; Similes


A WINTER SHIP    Poem Text    
First Line: At this wharf there are no grand landings to speak of
Subject(s): Ships & Shipping


ABOVE THE OXBOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Here in this valley of discreet academies
Subject(s): Nature


ABOVE THE OXBOW       
First Line: Here in this valley of discreet academies
Last Line: And never saw how coolly we might move. For once %a high hush quieteens the crickets' cry
Subject(s): Nature


ADMONITION    Poem Text    
First Line: If you dissect a bird


ADMONITIONS       
First Line: Oh never try to knock on rotten wood


AERIALIST       
First Line: Each night, this adroit young lady


AFTERMATH    Poem Text    
First Line: Compelled by calamity's magnet
Subject(s): Fire


AFTERMATH       
First Line: Compelled by calamity's magnet


ALICANTE LULLABY    Poem Text    
First Line: In alicante they bowl the barrels
Subject(s): Spain


ALICANTE LULLABY       
First Line: In alicante they bowl the barrels
Last Line: Lullayed by susurrous lyres and viols


ALL THE DEAD DEARS    Poem Text    
First Line: Rigged poker-stiff on her back
Subject(s): Women


ALL THE DEAD DEARS       
First Line: Rigged poker-stiff on her back
Last Line: Riddled with ghosts, to lie %deadlocked with them, taking roots as cradles rock
Subject(s): Women


AMNESIAC    Poem Text    
First Line: No use, no use, now, begging recognize!
Subject(s): Amnesia


AMNESIAC       
First Line: No use, no use, now, begging recognize!
Last Line: I am never, never, never coming home!
Subject(s): Amnesia


AMONG THE NARCISSI    Poem Text    
First Line: Spry, wry, and grey as these march sticks
Subject(s): Convalescence


AMONG THE NARCISSI       
First Line: Spry, wry, and grey as these march sticks
Last Line: The narcissi look up like children, quickly and whitely
Subject(s): Convalescence


AN APPEARANCE    Poem Text    
First Line: The smile of iceboxes annihilates me
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life


APPEARANCE       
First Line: The smile of iceboxes annihilates me
Last Line: Abc, her eyelids say


APPLICANT       
First Line: First, are you our sort of a person?
Last Line: Will you marry it, marry it, marry it
Subject(s): Salespersons


APPREHENSIONS    Poem Text    
First Line: There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself
Subject(s): Depression, Mental; Mentally Depressed; Mental Distress


APPREHENSIONS       
First Line: There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself
Subject(s): Depression, Mental


APRIL 18    Poem Text    
First Line: The slime of all my yesterdays
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


APRIL AUBADE    Poem Text    
First Line: Worship this world of watercolor mood
Subject(s): Spring


APRIL AUBADE       
First Line: Worship this world of watercolor mood


AQUATIC NOCTURNE    Poem Text    
First Line: Deep in liquid / turquoise slivers
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


AQUATIC NOCTURNE       
First Line: Deep in liquid indigo


ARIEL    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Stasis in darkness
Subject(s): Animals; Horses


ARIEL       
First Line: Stasis in darkness
Last Line: Into the red %eye, the cauldron of morning
Subject(s): Animals; Horses


ARRIVAL OF THE BEE BOX       
First Line: I ordered this, this clean wood box
Last Line: The box is only temporary
Subject(s): Bees; Insects


BABYSITTERS       
First Line: It is ten years, now, since we rowed to children's island
Last Line: And from opposite continents we wave and call. %everything has happened
Subject(s): Child Care; Plath, Sylvia (1932-1963)


BALLOONS       
First Line: Since christmas they have lived with us
Last Line: Shred in his little fist


BALOONS    Poem Text    
First Line: Since christmas they have lived with us,
Subject(s): Baloons


BARREN WOMAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Empty, I echo to the least footfall,
Subject(s): Childlessness; Miscarriage


BARREN WOMAN       
First Line: Empty, I echo to the least footfall
Last Line: Blank-faced and mum as a nurse


BATTLE-SCENE; FROM THE COMIC OPERATIC FANTASY THE SEAFARER       
First Line: It beguiles %this little odyssey


BED BOOK, SELS.       
First Line: Most beds are beds
Last Line: For the shooting stars
Subject(s): Beds


BEE MEETING       
First Line: Who are these people at the bridge to meet me? They are the
Last Line: Whose is that long white box in the grove, what have they %acoomplished, why am I cold
Subject(s): Bees; Fear; Insects


BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER       
First Line: A garden of mouthings. Purple, scarlet-speckled, black
Last Line: Under the coronal of sugar roses %the queen bee marries the winter of your year
Subject(s): Bees; Fathers And Daughters; Insects


BEGGARS       
First Line: Nightfall, cold eye - neither disheartens


BERCK - PLAGE    Poem Text    
First Line: This is the sea, then, this great abeyance.
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


BERCK-PLAGE       
First Line: This is the sea, then, this great abeyance


BIRTHDAY PRESENT       
First Line: What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful?


BITTER STRAWBERRIES    Poem Text    
First Line: All morning in the strawberry field
Subject(s): Strawberries


BITTER STRAWBERRIES       
First Line: All that morning in the strawberry field


BLACK PINE TREE IN AN ORANGE LIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: Tell me what you see in it :
Subject(s): Pine Trees; Orange (color); Black (color)


BLACK PINE TREE IN AN ORANGE LIGHT       
First Line: Tell me what you see in it


BLACK ROOK IN RAINY WEATHER    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: On the stiff twig up there
Subject(s): Rooks


BLACK ROOK IN RAINY WEATHER       
First Line: On the stiff twig up there
Last Line: The long wait for the angel %for that rare, random descent
Subject(s): Rooks


BLACKBERRYING    Poem Text    
First Line: Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries
Subject(s): Blackberries


BLACKBERRYING       
First Line: Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries
Last Line: Of white and pewter lights, and a din like silversmiths %becting and beating at an intractable metal
Subject(s): Blackberries


BLUE MOLES    Poem Text    
First Line: They're out of the dark's ragbag, these two / moles dead in the pebbled rut
Subject(s): Animals; Moles


BLUE MOLES       
First Line: They're out of the dark's ragbag, these two %moles dead in the pebbled rut
Subject(s): Animals; Moles


BLUEBEARD    Poem Text    
First Line: I am sending back the key
Subject(s): Pirates; Piracy; Buccaneers


BLUEBEARD       
First Line: I am sending back the key
Last Line: That let me into bluebeard's study


BOCOLICS       
First Line: Mayday: two came to field in such wise


BRASILIA    Poem Text    
First Line: Will they occur,
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


BRASILIA       
First Line: Will they occur


BUCOLICS    Poem Text    
First Line: Mayday : two came to field in such wise :
Subject(s): Loss


BULL OF BENDYLAW       
First Line: The black bull bellowed before the sea
Last Line: And the bull on the king's highway
Subject(s): Bulls


BURNING THE LETTERS       
First Line: I made a fire; being tired


BURNNG THE LETTERS    Poem Text    
First Line: I made a fire; being tired
Subject(s): Letters; Fire


BURNT-OUT SPA       
First Line: An old beast ended in this place


BY CANDELIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: This is winter, this is night, small love ---
Subject(s): Babies; Candles; Night; Infants; Bedtime


BY CANDLELIGHT       
First Line: This is winter, this is night, small love
Last Line: To juggle with, my love, when the sky falls


CANDLES    Poem Text    
First Line: They are the last romantics, these candles
Subject(s): Candles


CANDLES       
First Line: They are the last romantics, these candles
Last Line: The shadows stoop over like guests at a christening
Subject(s): Candles


CHANNEL CROSSING    Poem Text    
First Line: On storm-struck deck, wind sirens caterwaul
Subject(s): English Channel


CHANNEL CROSSING       
First Line: On storm-struck deck, wind sirens caterwaul
Subject(s): English Channel


CHILD    Poem Text    
First Line: Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing
Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; Women


CHILD       
First Line: Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing
Last Line: Wringing of hands, this dark %ceiling without a star
Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters; Women


CHILD'S PARK STONES    Poem Text    
First Line: In sunless air, under pines
Subject(s): Stones; Granite; Rocks


CHILD'S PARK STONES       
First Line: In sunless air, under pines


CHILDLESS WOMAN    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Childlessness


CHILDLESS WOMAN       
First Line: The womb
Last Line: Gleaming with the mouths of corpses


CINDERELLA    Poem Text    
First Line: The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels
Subject(s): Fairy Tales


CINDERELLA       
First Line: The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels
Subject(s): Fairy Tales


CIRCUS IN THREE RINGS       
First Line: In the circus tent of a hurricane


COLOSSUS       
First Line: I shall never get you put together entirely
Last Line: No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel %on the blank stones of the landing
Subject(s): Fathers


COMPANIONABLE ILLS       
First Line: The nose-end that twitches, the old imperfections


CONTUSION    Poem Text    
First Line: Color floods to the spot, dull purple
Subject(s): Injuries


CONTUSION       
First Line: Color floods to the spot, dull purple


CONVERSATION AMONG RUINS       
First Line: Through portico of my elegant house you stalk


CONVERSATION AMONG THE RUINS    Poem Text    
First Line: Through portico of my elegant house you stalk
Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary


COURAGE OF SHUTTING-UP       
First Line: The courage of the shut mouth, in spite of artillery!


COURIERS       
First Line: The word of a snail on the plate of a leaf?
Last Line: Love, love, my season


CROSSING THE WATER    Poem Text    
First Line: The womb / rattles its pod, the moon


CROSSING THE WATER       
First Line: Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people
Last Line: Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens? %this is the silence of astounded souls


CRYSTAL GAZER    Poem Text    
First Line: Gerd sits spindle-shaped in her dark tent,
Subject(s): Fortune Tellers; Palmistry


CRYSTAL GAZER       
First Line: Gerd sits spindle-shanked in her dark tent


CUT    Poem Text    
First Line: What a thrill - / my thumb instead of an onion
Subject(s): Accidents


CUT       
First Line: What a thrill - %my thumb instead of an onion
Last Line: Dirty girl %thumb stump
Subject(s): Accidents


DADDY    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: You do not do, you do not do
Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Hate; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Nazis; Shoah; Judaism; National Socialism


DADDY       
First Line: You do not do, you do not do
Last Line: They always knew it was you. %daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through
Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers And Daughters; Hate; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Nazis


DANSE MACABRE       
First Line: Down among strict roots and rocks


DARK HOUSE    Poem Text    
First Line: This is a dark house, very big.
Subject(s): Houses


DARK WOOD, DARK WATER    Poem Text    
First Line: This wood burns a dark
Subject(s): Nature


DARK WOOD, DARK WATER       
First Line: This wood burns a dark %incense


DEAD       
First Line: Revolving in oval loops of solar speed


DEATH & CO.    Poem Text    
First Line: Two, of course there are two.
Subject(s): Death; Babies; Dead, The; Infants


DEATH & CO.       
First Line: Two, of course there are two
Last Line: The dead bell. %somebody's done for


DEATH OF MYTH-MAKING       
First Line: Two virtues ride, by stallion, by nag


DENOUEMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: The telegram says you have gone away
Subject(s): Circus; Loss


DENOUEMENT       
First Line: The telegram says you have gone away


DEPARTURE    Poem Text    
First Line: The figs on the fig tree in the yard are green;
Subject(s): Farewell; Grief; Parting; Sorrow; Sadness


DEPARTURE       
First Line: The figs on the fig tree in the yard are green


DETECTIVE       
First Line: What was she doing when it blew in


DIALOGUE BETWEEN GHOST AND PRIEST    Poem Text    
First Line: In the rectory garden on his evening walk
Subject(s): Ghosts; Justice


DIALOGUE BETWEEN GHOST AND PRIEST       
First Line: In the rectory garden on his evening walk
Last Line: Than man's red heart.'


DIALOGUE EN ROUTE       
First Line: If only something would happen


DIALOGUE OVER A OUIJA BOARD       
First Line: Go get the glass, then. But I know tonight will be


DIRGE FOR A JOKER    Poem Text    
First Line: Always in the middle of a kiss
Subject(s): Comedy; Death; Dead, The


DIRGE FOR A JOKER       
First Line: Always in the middle of a kiss


DISPOSSESSED       
First Line: The enormous mortgage must be paid somehow
Subject(s): Mortgages


DISQUIETING MUSES       
First Line: Mother, mother, what illbred aunt
Last Line: Mother, mother. But no frown of mine %will betray the company I keep
Subject(s): Women


DOOM OF EXILES    Poem Text    
First Line: Now we, returning from the vaulted domes
Subject(s): Exile


DOOM OF EXILES       
First Line: Now we, returning from the vaulted domes


DOOMSDAY    Poem Text    
First Line: The idiot bird leaps out and drunken leans
Subject(s): Disasters


DOOMSDAY       
First Line: The idiot bird leaps out and drunken leans


DREAM       
First Line: Last night,' he said, 'I slept well.'


DREAM WITH CLAM-DIGGERS    Poem Text    
First Line: This dream budded bright with leaves round the edges
Subject(s): Dreams; Innocence; Nightmares


DREAM WITH CLAM-DIGGERS       
First Line: This dream budded bright with leaves around the edges


EAVESDROPPER    Poem Text    
First Line: Your brother will trim my hedges!
Subject(s): Privacy


EAVESDROPPER       
First Line: Your brother will trim my hedges!


EDGE    Poem Text    
First Line: The woman is perfected
Subject(s): Suicide


EDGE       
First Line: The woman is perfected
Last Line: She is used to this sort of thing. %her blacks crackle and drag
Subject(s): Suicide


ELECTRA ON AZALEA PATH    Poem Text    
First Line: The day you died I went into the dirt
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Graveyards; Dead, The


ELECTRA ON AZALEA PATH       
First Line: The day you died I went into the dirt
Last Line: It was my love that did us both to death
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers And Daughters


ELLA MASON AND HER ELEVEN CATS       
First Line: Old ella mason keeps her cats, eleven at last count


ELLEN MASON AND HER ELEVEN CATS    Poem Text    
First Line: Old ella mason keeps cats, eleven at last count
Subject(s): Cats; Spinsters; Old Maids


ELM; FOR RUTH FAINLIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root
Variant Title(s): The Elm Speaks
Subject(s): Elm Trees; Fear


ELM; FOR RUTH FAINLIGHT       
First Line: I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root
Last Line: It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults %that kill, that kill
Variant Title(s): The Elm Speak
Subject(s): Elm Trees; Fear


EPITAPH FOR FIRE AND FLOWER       
First Line: You might as well haul up


EPITAPH FOR FIRE AND POWER    Poem Text    
First Line: You might as well haul up
Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


EPITAPH IN THREE PARTS: 1       
First Line: Rocking across the lapis lazuli sea
Last Line: There is more than one good way to drown


EPITAPH IN THREE PARTS: 2       
First Line: In the air above my island flies
Last Line: There is more than one way to drown


EPITAPH IN THREE PARTS: 3       
First Line: Grasshopper goblins with green pointed ears
Last Line: There is more than one way to drown


EVENT    Poem Text    
First Line: How the elements solidify! ---
Subject(s): Babies; Despair; Infants


EVENT       
First Line: How the elements solidify!
Last Line: The dark is melting. We touch like cripples


EVERLASTING MONDAY       
First Line: The moon's man stands in his shell


EYE-MOTE       
First Line: Blameless as daylight I stood looking


FABLE OF THE RHODODENDRON STEALERS       
First Line: I walked the unwalked garden of rose-beds


FACE LIFT    Poem Text    
First Line: You bring me good news from the clinic
Subject(s): Hospitals


FACE LIFT       
First Line: You bring me good news from the clinic
Last Line: Mother to myself, I wake swaddled in gauze, %pink and smooth as a baby


FAMILY REUNION    Poem Text    
First Line: Outside in the street I hear
Subject(s): Reunions; Family Life; Relatives


FAMILY REUNION       
First Line: Outside in the street I hear


FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST       
First Line: I havenot ever seen my father's grave


FAUN       
First Line: Haunched like a faun, he hooed


FEARFUL       
First Line: This man makes a pseudonym


FEMALE AUTHOR    Poem Text    
First Line: All day she plays at chess with the bones of the world:
Subject(s): Women - Writers


FEMALE AUTHOR       
First Line: All day she plays at chess with the bones of the world


FEVER 103 DEGREES        Recitation by Author
First Line: Pure? What does it mean?
Subject(s): Fever; Sickness; Illness


FEVER 103 DEGREES       
First Line: Pure? What does it mean?
Last Line: My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats - %to paradise
Subject(s): Fever; Sickness


FIESTA MELONS    Poem Text    
First Line: In benidorm there are melons
Subject(s): Melons


FIESTA MELONS       
First Line: In benidorm there are melons


FINISTERRE    Poem Text    
First Line: This was the land's end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic,
Subject(s): Cliffs; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore


FINISTERRE       
First Line: This was the land's end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic


FIRESONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Born green we were
Subject(s): Fire


FIRESONG       
First Line: Born green we were %to this flawed garden


FLUTE NOTES FROM A REEDY POND    Poem Text    
First Line: Now coldness comes sifting down, layer after layer
Subject(s): Ponds


FOR A FATHERLESS SON    Poem Text    
First Line: You will be aware of an absence, presently,
Subject(s): Sons; Fathers


FOR A FATHERLESS SON       
First Line: You will be aware of an absence, presently


FROG AUTUMN    Poem Text    
First Line: Summer grows old, cold-blooded mother
Subject(s): Swamps; Bogs; Fens; Marshes


FROG AUTUMN       
First Line: Summer grows old, cold-blooded mother
Last Line: Houses himself elsewhere. Our folk thin %lamentably
Subject(s): Swamps


FULL FATHOM FIVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Old man, you surface seldom
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


FULL FATHOM FIVE       
First Line: Old man, you surface seldom
Subject(s): Sea


GETTING THERE    Poem Text    
First Line: How far is it?
Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains


GETTING THERE       
First Line: How far is it?
Last Line: The train rolled in that night
Subject(s): Railroads


GHOST'S LEAVETAKING       
First Line: Enter the chilly no-man's land of about


GIGOLO    Poem Text    
First Line: Pocket watch, I tick well.
Subject(s): Lust


GIGOLO       
First Line: Pocket watch, I tick well


GLUTTON       
First Line: He, hunger-struck, hard to slake
Subject(s): Gluttony


GO GET THE GOODLY SQUAB IN GOLD-LOBED CORN       


GOATSUCKER    Poem Text    
First Line: Old goatherds swear how all night long they hear
Subject(s): Goats; Birds


GOATSUCKER       
First Line: Old goatherds swear how all night long they hear


GOLD MOUTHS CRY    Poem Text    
First Line: Gold mouths cry with the green young
Subject(s): Autumn; Fall


GOLD MOUTHS CRY WITH THE GREEN YOUNG       


GORING       
First Line: Arena dust rusted by four bulls' blood to a dull redness
Subject(s): Travel


GREAT CARBUNCLE       
First Line: We came over the moor-top


GREEN ROCK, WINTHROP BAY    Poem Text    
First Line: No lame excuses can gloss over
Subject(s): Nature


GREEN ROCK, WINTHROP BAY       
First Line: No lame excuses can gloss over
Last Line: For the rock's dwarfed lump, for the drabbled scum, %for a churlish welcome
Subject(s): Nature


GULLIVER    Poem Text    
First Line: Over your body the clouds go
Subject(s): Babies; Infants


GULLIVER       
First Line: Over your body the clouds go
Last Line: The shadow of this lip, an abyss


HANGING MAN       
First Line: By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me
Last Line: If he were I, he would do what I did


HARDCASTLE CRAGS    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Flintlike, her feet struck
Variant Title(s): Night Walk
Subject(s): Forests; Woods


HARDCASTLE CRAGS       
First Line: Flintlike, her feet struck
Last Line: Her down to mere quatrz grit in that stony light, %she turned back
Variant Title(s): Night Wal
Subject(s): Forests


HEAVY WOMEN    Poem Text    
First Line: Irrefutable, beautifully smug
Subject(s): Pregnancy


HEAVY WOMEN       
First Line: Irrefutable, beautifully smug


HERMIT AT OUTERMOST HOUSE       
First Line: Sky and sea, horizon-hinged


I AM VERTICAL    Poem Text    
First Line: But I would rather be horizontal
Subject(s): Depression, Mental; Mentally Depressed; Mental Distress


I AM VERTICAL       
First Line: But I would rather be horizontal
Subject(s): Depression, Mental


I THOUGHT I COULD NOT BE HURT    Poem Text    


I WANT, I WANT    Poem Text    
First Line: Open-mouthed, the baby god


I WANT, I WANT       
First Line: Open-mouthed, the baby god


IN MIDAS' COUNTRY       
First Line: Meadows of god dust. The silver


IN PLASTER    Poem Text    
First Line: I shall never get out of this! There are two of me now
Subject(s): Hospitals; Plaster Casts


IN PLASTER       
First Line: I shall never get out of this! There are two of me now
Last Line: And she'll perish with emptiness then, and begin to miss me
Subject(s): Hospitals; Plaster Casts


INCOMMUNICADO    Poem Text    
First Line: The groundhog on the mountain did not run
Subject(s): Groundhogs; Language; Woodchucks; Words; Vocabulary


INCOMMUNICADO       
First Line: The groundhog on the mountain did not run


INSOLENT STORM STRIKES AT THE SKULL       


INSOMNIAC    Poem Text    
First Line: The night is only a sort of carbon paper
Subject(s): Insomnia; Sleeplessness


INSOMNIAC       
First Line: The night sky is only a sort of carbon paper


JAILER       
First Line: My night sweats grease his breakfast plate


JILTED    Poem Text    
First Line: My thoughts are crabbed and sallow
Subject(s): Rejection


JILTED       
First Line: My thoughts are crabbed and sallow


KINDNESS    Poem Text    
First Line: Kindness glides about my house.
Subject(s): Kindness; Family Life; Relatives


KINDNESS       
First Line: Kindness glides about my house
Last Line: You hand me two children, two roses


LADY AND THE EARTHENWARE HEAD       
First Line: Fired in sanguine clay, the model head


LADY LAZARUS    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: I have done it again
Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Women; Shoah; Judaism


LADY LAZARUS       
First Line: I have done it again
Last Line: I rise with my red hair %and I eat men like air
Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Women


LAMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: The sting of bees took away my father
Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Dead, The


LAMENT; A VILLANELLE       
First Line: The sting of bees took away my father


LANDOWNERS    Poem Text    
First Line: From my rented attic with no earth
Subject(s): Houses


LANDOWNERS       
First Line: From my rented attic with no earth


LAST WORDS    Poem Text    
First Line: I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


LAST WORDS       
First Line: I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus
Last Line: It will be dark, %and the shine of these small things sweeter than the face of ishtar


LEAVING EARLY    Poem Text    
First Line: Lady, your room is lousy with flowers.
Subject(s): Flowers


LEAVING EARLY       
First Line: Lady, your room is lousy with flowers
Last Line: With a lung full of dust and a tongue of wood, %knee-deep in the cold and swamped by flowers?


LESBOS    Poem Text    
First Line: Viciousness in the kitchen!
Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Suicide; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men


LESBOS       
First Line: Viciousness in the kitchen!


LESSON IN VENGEANCE       
First Line: In the dour ages


LETTER IN NOVEMBER    Poem Text    
First Line: Love, the world
Subject(s): Walking; Autumn; Fall


LETTER IN NOVEMBER       
First Line: Love, the world suddenly turns, turns color. The streetlight
Last Line: The irreplaceable %golds bleed and deepen, the mouths of the rmopylae


LETTER TO A PURIST    Poem Text    
First Line: That grandiose colossus who
Subject(s): Imagination; Idealism; Fancy


LETTER TO A PURIST       
First Line: That grandiose colossus who


LIFE       
First Line: Touch it: it won't shrink like an eyeball
Last Line: Crawls out of the sea


LITTLE FUGUE    Poem Text    
First Line: The yew's black fingers wag
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


LITTLE FUGUE       
First Line: The yew's black fingers wag
Last Line: The clouds are a marriage dress, of that pallor
Subject(s): Music And Musicians


LORELEI    Poem Text    
First Line: It is no night to drown in
Subject(s): Sirens


LORELEI       
First Line: It is no night to drown in


LOVE IS A PARALLAX       
First Line: Perspective betrays with its dichotomy


LOVE LETTER    Poem Text    
First Line: Not easy to state the change you made
Subject(s): Letters; Habits; Change


LOVE LETTER       
First Line: Not easy to state the change you made
Last Line: Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift


LYONNESSE    Poem Text    
First Line: No use whistling for lyonnesse !
Subject(s): Cornwall, England


LYONNESSE       
First Line: No use whistling for lyonnesse!


MAD GIRL'S LOVE SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead


MAENAD    Poem Text    
First Line: Once I was ordinary:


MAGI    Poem Text    
First Line: The abstracts hover like dull angels:
Subject(s): Magi


MAGI       
First Line: The abstracts hover like dull angels


MAGNOLIA SHOALS    Poem Text    
First Line: Up here among the gull cries
Subject(s): Winter


MAGNOLIA SHOALS       
First Line: Up here among the gull cries


MAN IN BLACK    Poem Text    
First Line: Where the three magenta
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


MAN IN BLACK       
First Line: Where the three magenta
Last Line: All of it, together


MANOR GARDEN       
First Line: The fountains are dry and the roses over
Last Line: With their gifts to a difficult borning


MARY'S SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: The sunday lamb cracks in its fat
Subject(s): Bible; Religion; Theology


MARY'S SONG       
First Line: The sunday lamb cracks in its fat
Last Line: O golden child the world will kill and eat
Subject(s): Bible; Religion


MAUDLIN       
First Line: Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag


MAULDLIN    Poem Text    
First Line: Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag
Subject(s): Moon


MAYFLOWER       
First Line: Throughout black winter the red haws withstood
Last Line: They named their ship after the flower of may.


MEDALLION    Poem Text    
First Line: By the gate with star and moon
Subject(s): Snakes; Serpents; Vipers


MEDALLION       
First Line: By the gate with star and moon


MEDUSA    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs
Subject(s): Medusa; Mythology - Classical


MEDUSA       
First Line: Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs
Last Line: There is nothing between us
Subject(s): Medusa; Mythology - Classical


MEMOIRS OF A SPINACH-PICKER       
First Line: They called the place lookout farm


METAMORPHOSES OF THE MOON       
First Line: Cold moons withdraw, refusing to come to terms


METAMORPHOSIS    Poem Text    
First Line: Haunched like a faun, he hooed


METAPHORS    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: I'm a riddle in nine syllables
Subject(s): Pregnancy


METAPHORS       
First Line: I'm a riddle in nine syllables
Last Line: Boarded the train there's no getting off
Subject(s): Pregnancy


MIDSUMMER MOBILE       
First Line: Begin by dipping your brush in clear light


MIRROR    Poem Text    
First Line: I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions
Subject(s): Aging; Self


MIRROR       
First Line: I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions
Last Line: Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish
Subject(s): Aging; Self


MISS DRAKE PROCEEDS TG SUPPER    Poem Text    
First Line: No novice / in those elaborate rituals
Subject(s): Insanity; Hospitals; Madness; Mental Illness


MISS DRAKE PROCEEDS TO SUPPER       
First Line: No novice %in those elaborate rituals


MONOLOGUE AT 3 A.M.       
First Line: Better that every fiber crack


MONOLOGUE AT 3 AM    Poem Text    
First Line: Better that every fiber crack
Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation


MOON AND THE YEW TREE       
First Line: This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary
Last Line: And the message of the yew tree is blackness - blackness and silence
Subject(s): Moon; Yew Trees


MOONRISE    Poem Text    
First Line: Grub-white mulberries redden among leaves
Subject(s): Mulberry Trees; Night; Bedtime


MOONRISE       
First Line: Grub-white mulberries redden among leaves


MOONSONG AT MORNING       
First Line: O moon of illusion


MORNING IN THE HOSPITAL SOLARIUM       
First Line: Sunlight strikes a glass of grapefruit juice


MORNING SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Love set you going like a fat gold watch
Subject(s): Morning; Mothers; Time; Women


MORNING SONG       
First Line: Love set you going like a fat gold watch
Last Line: The clear vowels rise like balloons
Subject(s): Morning; Mothers; Time; Women


MUNICH MANNEQUINS       
First Line: Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children


MUSHROOMS    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Overnight, very whitely, discreetly
Subject(s): Mushrooms; Morels


MUSHROOMS       
First Line: Overnight, very whitely, discreetly
Last Line: Our foot's in the door
Subject(s): Mushrooms


MUSSEL HUNTER AT ROCK HARBOR    Poem Text    
First Line: I came before the water- / colorists came to get the
Subject(s): Mussels


MUSSEL HUNTER AT ROCK HARBOR       
First Line: I came before the water- %colorists came to get the
Last Line: Element - this relic saved %face, to face the bald-faced man
Subject(s): Mussels


MYSTIC    Poem Text    
First Line: The air is a mill of hooks----
Subject(s): Life


MYSTIC       
First Line: The air is a mill of hooks
Last Line: The heart has not stopped


NATURAL HISTORY    Poem Text    
First Line: That lofty monarch, monarch mind,
Subject(s): Thought; Thinking


NATURAL HISTORY       
First Line: That lofty monarch, monarch mind


NET-MENDERS       
First Line: Halfway up from the little harbor of sardine boats


NEVER TRY TO TRICK ME WITH A KISS    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Kisses


NEVER TRY TO TRICK ME WITH A KISS       


NEW YEAR ON DARTMOOR    Poem Text    
First Line: This is newness : every little tawdry
Subject(s): New Year; Babies; Infants


NEW YEAR ON DARTMOOR       
First Line: This is newness: every little tawdry


NICK AND THE CANDLESTICK    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: I am a miner. The light burns blue
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


NICK AND THE CANDLESTICK       
First Line: I am a miner. The light burns blue
Last Line: You are the baby in the barn
Subject(s): Children


NIGHT DANCES       
First Line: A smile fell in the grass %irretrievable!
Last Line: Touching and melting %nowhere


NIGHT SHIFT    Poem Text    
First Line: It was not a heart, beating.
Subject(s): Noises; Factories


NIGHT SHIFT       
First Line: It was not a heart, beating


NOTES TO A NEOPHYTE    Poem Text    
First Line: Take the general mumble
Subject(s): Writing & Writers


NOTES TO A NEOPHYTE       
First Line: Take the general mumble


NOVEMBER GRAVEYARD    Poem Text    
First Line: The scene stands stubborn: skinflint trees
Subject(s): Imagination;graves; Fancy; Tombs; Tombstones


NOVEMBER GRAVEYARD       
First Line: The scene stands stubborn: skinflint trees


ODE FOR TED    Poem Text    
First Line: From under the crunch of my man's boot
Subject(s): Hughes, Ted (1930-1998); Hughes, Edward James


ODE FOR TED       
First Line: From under crunch of my man's boot


OLD LADIES' HOME    Poem Text    
First Line: Sharded in black, like beetles
Subject(s): Women - Old Age; Nursing Homes; Old Age Homes; Assisted Living


OLD LADIES' HOME       
First Line: Sharded in black, like beetles


ON DECK    Poem Text    
First Line: Midnight in the mid-atlantic. On deck.
Subject(s): Ships & Shipping


ON DECK       
First Line: Midnight in the mid-atlantic. On deck


ON LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF A DEMON LOVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Here are two pupils
Subject(s): Eyes


ON LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF A DEMON LOVER       
First Line: Here are two pupils


ON THE DECLINE OF ORACLES    Poem Text    
First Line: My father kept a vaulted conch
Subject(s): Fathers


ON THE DECLINE OF ORACLES       
First Line: My father kept a vaulted conch


ON THE DIFFICULTY OF CONJURING UP A DRYAD    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Imagination; Writing & Writers; Dryads; Fancy


ON THE DIFFICULTY OF CONJURING UP A DRYAD       
First Line: Ravening through the persistent bric-a-brac


ON THE PLETHORA OF DRYADS       
First Line: Hearing a white saint rave


OTHER       
First Line: You come in late, wiping your lips
Last Line: No, it is not fatal


OTHER TWO       
First Line: All summer we moved in a villa brimful of echoes


OUIJA    Poem Text    
First Line: It is a chilly god, a god of shades,
Subject(s): Ouija Boards; Past


OUIJA       
First Line: It is a chilly god, a god of shades
Last Line: But floridly, his amorous nostalgias


OWL    Poem Text    
First Line: Clocks belled twelve. Main street showed otherwise
Subject(s): Birds


OWL       
First Line: Clocks belled twelve. Main street showed otherwise
Last Line: Shaken by owl cry
Subject(s): Birds


PARALYTIC    Poem Text    
First Line: It happens. Will it go on?
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Pain; Estrangement; Outcasts; Suffering; Misery


PARALYTIC       
First Line: It happens. Will it go on?
Last Line: Drunk on its own scents, %asks nothing of life
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Pain


PARLIAMENT HILL FIELDS    Poem Text    
First Line: On this bald hill the new year hones its edge.
Subject(s): Absence; Mothers; Separation; Isolation


PARLIAMENT HILL FIELDS       
First Line: On this bald hill the new year hones its edge
Last Line: I enter the lit house


PERSEUS    Poem Text    
First Line: Head alone shows you in the prodigious act
Subject(s): Perseus


PERSEUS; THE TRIUMPH OF WIT OVER SUFFERING       
First Line: Head alone shows you in the prodigious act


PHEASANT    Poem Text    
First Line: You said you would kill it this morning
Subject(s): Pheasants


PHEASANT       
First Line: You said you would kill it this morning
Last Line: I trespass stupidly. Let be, let be
Subject(s): Pheasants


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 1. WHO       
First Line: The month of flowering's finished. The fruit's in
Last Line: For weeks I can remember nothing at all


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 2. DARK HOUSE       
First Line: This is a dark house, very big
Last Line: Here's a cuddly mother


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 3. MAENAD       
First Line: Once I was ordinary
Last Line: Tell me my name


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 4. THE BEAST       
First Line: He was bullman earlier
Last Line: Duchess of nothing, %hairtusk's bride


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 5. FLUTE NOTES FROM A REEDY POND       
First Line: Now coldness comes sifting down, layer after layer
Last Line: Shall unhusk himself and steer into the air


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 6. WITCH BURNING       
First Line: In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks
Last Line: I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light


POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 7. THE STONES       
First Line: This is the city where men are mended
Last Line: I shall be as good as new


POEMS, POTATOES    Poem Text    
First Line: The word, defining, muzzles; the drawn line
Subject(s): Potatoes; Poetry & Poets


POEMS, POTATOES       
First Line: The word, defining, muzzles; the drawn line


POINT SHIRLEY    Poem Text    
First Line: From water-tower hill to the brick prison
Subject(s): Boston; Sea; Ocean


POINT SHIRLEY       
First Line: From water-tower hill to the brick prison
Last Line: Against both bar and tower the black sea runs
Subject(s): Boston; Sea


POLLY'S TREE    Poem Text    
First Line: A dream tree, polly's tree
Subject(s): Trees


POLLY'S TREE       
First Line: A dream tree, polly's tree


POPPIES IN JULY    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: Little poppies, little hell flames
Subject(s): Poppies


POPPIES IN JULY       
First Line: Little poppies, little hell flames
Last Line: But colorless. Colorless
Subject(s): Poppies


POPPIES IN OCTOBER    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts
Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening


POPPIES IN OCTOBER       
First Line: Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts
Last Line: That these late mouths should cry open %in a forest of frost, in a dawn of cornflowers
Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening


PRINCESS AND THE GOBLINS       
First Line: From fabrication springs the spiral stair


PRIVATE GROUND    Poem Text    
First Line: First frost, and I walk among the rose-fruit, the marble toes
Subject(s): Lakes; Winter; Pools; Ponds


PRIVATE GROUND       
First Line: First frost, and I walk among the rose-fruit, the marble toes


PROLOGUE TO SPRING    Poem Text    
First Line: The winter landscape hangs in balance now
Subject(s): Spring


PROLOGUE TO SPRING       
First Line: The winter landscape hangs in balance now


PROSPECT    Poem Text    
First Line: Among orange-tile rooftops
Subject(s): Fog; Rooks; Haze


PROSPECT       
First Line: Among orange-tile rooftops


PURDAH    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Jade / stone of the side
Subject(s): Women - Secluding


PURDAH       
First Line: Jade %stone of the side
Last Line: The cloak of holes
Subject(s): Women - Secluding


PURSUIT    Poem Text    
First Line: There is a panther stalks me down:
Subject(s): Fear


PURSUIT       
First Line: There is a panther stalks me down


QUEEN MARY'S ROSE GARDEN       
First Line: In this day before the day nobody is about


QUEEN'S COMPLAINT       
First Line: In ruck and quibble of courtfolk


RABBIT CATCHER       
First Line: It was a place of force
Last Line: Sliding shut on some quick thing, %the constriction killing me also


RAVAGED FACE       
First Line: Outlandish as a circus, the ravaged face


RECANTATION    Poem Text    
First Line: Tea leaves I've given up,
Subject(s): Lchemy & Alchemists


RECANTATION       
First Line: Tea leaves I've given up


RESOLVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Day of mist: day of tarnish
Subject(s): Colleges & Universities


RESOLVE       
First Line: Day of mist: day of tarnish


RHYME    Poem Text    
First Line: I've got a stubborn goose whose gut's
Subject(s): Geese


RHYME       
First Line: I've got a stubborn goose whose gut's


RIVAL       
First Line: If the moon smiled, she would resemble you


SCULPTOR    Poem Text    
First Line: To his house the bodiless
Subject(s): Baskin, Leonard (1922-2000)


SCULPTOR (FOR LEONARD BASKIN)       
First Line: To his his house the bodiless


SECRET! A SECRET! / HOW SUPERIOR       


SHEEP IN FOG    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: The hills step off into whiteness
Subject(s): Fog; Horseback Riding; Sheep; Haze


SHEEP IN FOG       
First Line: The hills step off into whiteness
Last Line: To let me through to a heaven %starless and fatherless, a dark water
Subject(s): Fog; Horseback Riding; Sheep


SHRIKE       
First Line: When night comes black


SLEEP IN THE MOJAVE DESERT    Poem Text    
First Line: Out here there are no hearthstones
Subject(s): Mohave Desert; Mojave Desert


SLEEP IN THE MOJAVE DESERT       
First Line: Out here there are no hearthstones
Last Line: And the crickets come creeping into our hair %to fiddle the short night away
Subject(s): Mohave Desert


SLEEPERS       
First Line: No map traces the street


SNAKECHARMER    Poem Text    
First Line: As the gods began one world, and man another,
Subject(s): Eden; Snakes; Music & Musicians; Serpents; Vipers


SNAKECHARMER       
First Line: As the gods began one world, and man another


SNOWMAN ON THE MOOR       
First Line: Stalemated their armies stood, with tottering banners


SOLILOQUY OF THE SOLIPIST       
First Line: I? %I walk alone


SOLILOQUY OF THE SOLIPSIST    Poem Text    
First Line: I walk alone;
Subject(s): Solipsism


SONG FOR A REVOLUTIONARY LOVE       
First Line: O throw it away, throw it all away on the wind


SONG FOR A SUMMER'S DAY    Poem Text    
First Line: Through fen and farmland walking
Subject(s): Country Life; Walking


SONG FOR A SUMMER'S DAY       
First Line: Through fen and farmland walking


SONNET TO SATAN    Poem Text    
First Line: In darkroom of your eye the moonly mind
Subject(s): Devil; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub


SONNET TO SATAN       
First Line: In darkroom of your eye the moonly mind


SONNET TO TIME       
First Line: Today we move in jade and cease with garnet


SONNET: TO EVA    Poem Text    
First Line: All right, let's say you could take a skull and break it
Subject(s): Despair


SONNET: TO EVA       
First Line: All right, let's say you could take a skull and break it


SORCERER BIDS FAREWELL TO SEEM       
First Line: I'm through with this grand looking-glass hotel


SOUTHERN SUNRISE       
First Line: Color of lemon, mango, peach


SOUTHERN SURPRISE    Poem Text    
First Line: Color of lemon, mango, peach,
Subject(s): Dawn; Sunrise


SOW    Poem Text    
First Line: God knows how our neighbor managed to breed
Subject(s): Pigs; Boars; Hogs


SOW       
First Line: God knows how our neighbor managed to breed %his great sow


SPIDER    Poem Text    
First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales
Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders; Allegories; Bugs


SPIDER       
First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales
Last Line: Ex machina. Nor did they seem deterred by this
Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders


SPINSTER    Poem Text    
First Line: Now this particular girl
Subject(s): Spinsters; Old Maids


SPINSTER       
First Line: Now this particular girl
Last Line: With curse, fist, threat %or love, either
Subject(s): Spinsters


STARS OVER THE DORDOGNE    Poem Text    
First Line: Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy
Subject(s): Stars


STARS OVER THE DORDOGNE       
First Line: Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy


STILLBORN    Poem Text    
First Line: These poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis.
Subject(s): Writing & Writers


STILLBORN       
First Line: These poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis
Last Line: And they stupidly stare, and do not speak of her


STINGS    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: Bare-handed, I hand the combs
Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs


STINGS       
First Line: Bare-handed, I hand the combs
Last Line: The mausoleum, the wax house
Subject(s): Bees; Insects


STOPPED DEAD       
First Line: A squeal of brakes


STREET SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: By a mad miracle I go intact
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


STREET SONG       
First Line: By a mad miracle I go intact
Subject(s): Music And Musicians


STRUMPET SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: With white frost gone
Subject(s): Prostitution; Harlots; Whores; Brothels


STRUMPET SONG       
First Line: With white frost gone


SUICIDE OFF EGG ROCK    Poem Text    
First Line: Behind him the hotdogs split and drizzled
Subject(s): Suicide


SUICIDE OFF EGG ROCK       
First Line: Behind him the hotdogs split and drizzled
Last Line: The forgetful surf creaming on those ledges


SURGEON AT 2 A.M.       
First Line: The white light is artificial, and hygienic as heaven


SWARM       
First Line: Somebody is shooting at something in our town
Last Line: Napoleon is pleased, he is pleased with everything. %o europe! O ton of honey!
Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Napoleon I (1769-1821)


TALE OF A TUB    Poem Text    
First Line: The photographic chamber of the eye
Subject(s): Baths & Bathing; Imagination; Showers & Showering; Fancy


TALE OF A TUB       
First Line: The photographic chamber of the eye


TEMPER OF TIME       
First Line: An ill wind is stalking


TERMINAL    Poem Text    
First Line: Riding home from credulous blue domes,
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


TERMINAL       
First Line: Riding home from credulous blue domes


THALIDOMIDE    Poem Text    
First Line: O half moon---
Subject(s): Moon


THALIDOMIDE       
First Line: O half moon %half-brain, luminosity


THE APPLICANT    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: First, are you our sort of a person?
Subject(s): Salespersons; Selling


THE ARRIVAL OF THE BEE BOX    Poem Text    
First Line: I ordered this, this clean wood box
Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs


THE BABYSITTERS    Poem Text    
First Line: It is ten years, now, since we rowed to children's island
Subject(s): Child Care; Plath, Sylvia (1932-1963); Baby Sitters; Governesses


THE BEAST    Poem Text    
First Line: He was the bullman earlierm


THE BEE MEETING    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: Who are these people at the bridge to meet me? They are the
Subject(s): Bees; Fear; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs


THE BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER    Poem Text    
First Line: A garden of mouthings. Purple, scarlet-speckled, black
Subject(s): Bees; Fathers & Daughters; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs


THE BULL OF BENDYLAW    Poem Text    
First Line: The black bull bellowed before the sea
Subject(s): Bulls


THE BURNT-OUT SPA    Poem Text    
First Line: An old beast ended in this place:
Subject(s): Decay; Rot; Decadence


THE COLOSSUS    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: I shall never get you put together entirely
Subject(s): Fathers


THE COMPANIONABLE ILLS    Poem Text    
First Line: The nose-end that twitches, the old imperfections---
Subject(s): Tolerance


THE COURIERS    Poem Text    
First Line: The word of a snail on the plate of a leaf?
Subject(s): Seasons


THE DEAD    Poem Text    
First Line: Revolving in oval loops of solar speed,
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


THE DEATH OF MYTH-MAKING    Poem Text    
First Line: Two virtues ride, by stallion, by nag
Subject(s): Mythology; Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals


THE DISPOSSESSED    Poem Text    
First Line: The enormous mortgage must be paid somehow
Subject(s): Mortgages


THE DISQUIETING MUSES    Poem Text    
First Line: Mother, mother, what illbred aunt
Subject(s): Women


THE EVERLASTING MONDAY    Poem Text    
First Line: Thou shalt have an everlasting
Subject(s): Moon


THE EYE-MOTE    Poem Text    
First Line: Blameless as daylight I stood looking
Subject(s): Nostalgia; Eyes


THE FEARFUL    Poem Text    
First Line: This man makes a pseudonym


THE GHOST'S LEAVETAKING    Poem Text    
First Line: Enter the chilly no-man's land of about
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


THE GLUTTON    Poem Text    
First Line: He, hunger-struck, hard to slake
Subject(s): Gluttony


THE GORING    Poem Text    
First Line: Arena dust rusted by four bulls' blood to a dull redness
Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips


THE GREAT CARBUNCLE    Poem Text    
First Line: We came over the moor-top
Subject(s): Light


THE HANGING MAN    Poem Text    
First Line: By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Torture; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE HERMIT AT OUTERMOST HOUSE    Poem Text    
First Line: Sky and sea, horizon-hinged
Subject(s): Hermits


THE MANOR GARDEN    Poem Text    
First Line: The fountains are dry and the roses over
Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening


THE MOON AND THE YEW TREE    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary
Subject(s): Moon; Yew Trees


THE MUNICH MANNEQUINS    Poem Text    
First Line: Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children.
Subject(s): Silence; Language; Munich, Germany; Words; Vocabulary


THE NIGHT DANCES    Poem Text    
First Line: A smile fell in the grass.
Subject(s): Babies; Infants


THE OTHER    Poem Text    
First Line: You come in late, wiping your lips
Subject(s): Adultery


THE OTHER TWO    Poem Text    
First Line: All summer we moved in a villa brimful of echos,
Subject(s): Self-deceit


THE QUEEN'S COMPLAINT    Poem Text    
First Line: In ruck and quibble of courtfolk
Subject(s): Giants


THE RAVAGED FACE    Poem Text    
First Line: Outlandish as a circus, the ravaged face
Subject(s): Self; Despair


THE RIVAL    Poem Text    
First Line: If the moon smiled, she would resemble you.
Subject(s): Absence; Moon; Separation; Isolation


THE SHRIKE    Poem Text    
First Line: When night comes black
Subject(s): Revenge; Jealousy


THE SLEEPERS    Poem Text    
First Line: No map traces the street
Subject(s): Sleep; Dreams; Nightmares


THE SNOWMAN ON THE MOOR    Poem Text    
First Line: Stalemated their armies stood, with tottering banners
Subject(s): Quarrels'


THE STONES    Poem Text    
First Line: This is the city where men are mended.
Subject(s): Illness; Hospitals


THE SURGEON AT 2 A.M.    Poem Text    
First Line: The white light is artificial, and hygienic as heaven.
Subject(s): Surgery; Hospitals


THE SWARM    Poem Text    
First Line: Somebody is shooting at something in our town
Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Napoleon I (1769-1821); Beekeeping; Bugs


THE THIN PEOP;E    Poem Text    
First Line: They are always with us, the thin people
Subject(s): Slenderness; Thinness


THE TIMES ARE TIDY    Poem Text    
First Line: Unlucky the hero born
Subject(s): Time; Heroism; Heroes; Heroines


THE TRIAL OF MAN    Poem Text    
First Line: The ordinary milkman brought that dawn
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THIN PEOPLE       
First Line: They are always with us, the thin people


THREE WOMEN    Poem Text    
First Line: I am slow as the world. I am very patient,
Subject(s): Women


THREE WOMEN; A POEM FOR THREE VOICES       
First Line: I am slow as the world. I am very patient
Last Line: Crack through stone, and they are green with life


TIMES ARE TIDY       
First Line: Unlucky the hero born


TINKER JACK AND THE TIDY WIVES       
First Line: Come lady, bring that pot


TO A JILTED LOVER    Poem Text    
First Line: Cold on my narrow
Subject(s): Rejection


TO A JILTED LOVER       
First Line: Cold on my narrow cot I lie


TO EVA DESCENDING THE STAIR    Poem Text    
First Line: Clocks cry: stillness is a lie, my dear;


TO EVA DESCENDING THE STAIR; A VILLANELLE       
First Line: Clocks cry: stillness is a lie, my dear


TOTEM    Poem Text    
First Line: The engine is killing the track the track is silver,


TOTEM       
First Line: The engine is killing the track, the track is silver
Last Line: Death with its many sticks


TOUCH-AND-GO    Poem Text    
First Line: Sing praise for statuary:
Subject(s): Statues


TOUCH-AND-GO       
First Line: Sing praise for statuary


TOUR       
First Line: O maiden aunt, you have come to call


TRIAL OF MAN       
First Line: The ordinary milkman brought that dawn


TRIO OF LOVE SONGS: 1       
First Line: Major faults in granite
Last Line: Moves to our minor love


TRIO OF LOVE SONGS: 2       
First Line: My love for you is more
Last Line: Link to his lyric action %a periodic goal


TRIO OF LOVE SONGS: 3       
First Line: If you dissect a bird
Last Line: You'll halt the clock %that syncopates our love


TULIPS    Poem Text    
First Line: The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here
Subject(s): Tulips


TULIPS       
First Line: The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here
Last Line: The water I taste is warm and salt, like the sea, %and comes from a country far away as health
Subject(s): Tulips


TWO CAMPERS IN CLOUD COUNTRY    Poem Text    
First Line: In this country there is neither measure nor balance
Subject(s): Canada; Nature; Canadians


TWO CAMPERS IN CLOUD COUNTRY       
First Line: In this country there is neither measure nor balance
Last Line: We'll wake blank-brained as water in the dawn
Subject(s): Canada; Nature


TWO LOVERS AND A BEACHCMBER BY THE RED SEA    Poem Text    
First Line: Cold and final, the imagination
Subject(s): Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore


TWO LOVERS AND A BEACHCOMBER BY THE REAL SEA       
First Line: Cold and final, the imagination


TWO SISTERS OF PERSEPHONE    Poem Text    
First Line: Two girls there are: within the house
Subject(s): Women


TWO SISTERS OF PERSEPHONE       
First Line: Two girls there are: within the house


TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 1    Poem Text    
First Line: The day she visited the dissecting room
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter; Cadavers


TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 1       
First Line: The day she visited the dissecting room
Last Line: In their jars the snail-nosed babies moon and glow. %he hands her the cut-out heart like a cracked h
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses


TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 2    Poem Text    
First Line: In brueghel's panorama of smoke and slaughter
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter; Cadavers


TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 2       
First Line: In brueghel's panorama of smoke and slaughter
Last Line: Yet desolation, stalled in paint, spares the little country %foolish, delicate, in the lower right-h
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses


VANITY FAIR    Poem Text    
First Line: Through frost-thick weather
Subject(s): Witchcraft & Witches


VANITY FAIR       
First Line: Through frost-thick weather


VERBAL CALISTHENICS    Poem Text    
First Line: My love for you is more
Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary


VIRGIN IN A TREE    Poem Text    
First Line: How this tart fable instructs
Last Line: Till irony's bough break
Subject(s): Environment; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation


VIRGIN IN A TREE       
First Line: How this tart fable instructs
Last Line: Easy and often as each breath
Subject(s): Environment; Trees


WAKNG IN WINTER    Poem Text    
First Line: I can taste the tin of the sky --- the real tin thing.
Subject(s): Winter


WALKING IN WINTER       
First Line: I can taste the tin of the sky - the real tin thing


WATERCOLOR OF GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS    Poem Text    
First Line: There, spring lambs jam the sheepfold. In air
Subject(s): Cambridge, England; Environment; Fields; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Pastures; Meadows; Leas


WATERCOLOR OF GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS       
First Line: There, spring lambs jam the sheepfold. In air
Last Line: The owl shall stoop from his turret, the rat cry out
Subject(s): Cambridge, England; Environment; Fields


WHITENESS I REMEMBER    Poem Text    
First Line: Whiteness being what I remember
Subject(s): Horseback Riding


WHITENESS I REMEMBER       
First Line: Whiteness being what I remember
Last Line: Thrown: fear, wisdom, at one: all colors %spinning to still in his own whiteness
Subject(s): Horseback Riding


WHITSUN    Poem Text    
First Line: This is not what I meant:
Subject(s): Picnics; Seashore; Barbecues; Beach; Coast; Shore


WHITSUN       
First Line: This is not what I meant


WHO    Poem Text    
First Line: The month of flowering's finished. The fruit's in,


WIDOW'    Poem Text    
First Line: Widow. The word consumes itself
Subject(s): Widows & Widowers


WIDOW. THE WORD CONCUMES ITSELF       


WINTER LANDSCAPE, WITH ROOKS    Poem Text    
First Line: Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone
Subject(s): Despair


WINTER LANDSCAPE, WITH ROOKS       
First Line: Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone


WINTER SHIP       
First Line: At this wharf there are no grand landings to speak of


WINTER TREES    Poem Text    
First Line: The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve
Subject(s): Environment; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation


WINTER TREES       
First Line: The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve
Last Line: The shadows of ringdoves chanting, but easing nothing
Subject(s): Environment; Trees


WINTER'S TALE       
First Line: On boston common a red star


WINTERING    Poem Text    
First Line: This is the easy time, there is nothing doing
Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs


WINTERING       
First Line: This is the easy time, there is nothing doing
Last Line: The bees are flying. They taste the spring
Subject(s): Bees; Insects


WITCH BURNING    Poem Text    
First Line: In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
Subject(s): Witchcraft & Witches; Insanity; Madness; Mental Illness


WORDS    Poem Text    
First Line: Axes / after whose stroke the wood rings
Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary


WORDS       
First Line: Axes %after whose stroke the wood rings
Last Line: From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars %govern a life
Subject(s): Language


WORDS FOR A NURSERY       
First Line: Rosebud, knot of worms


WORDS HEARD, BY ACCIDENT, OVER THE PHONE    Poem Text    
First Line: O mud, mud, how fluid! ---
Subject(s): Telephones


WORDS HEARD, BY ACCIDENT, OVER THE PHONE       
First Line: O mud, mud, how fluid!


WREATH FOR A BRIDAL    Poem Text    
First Line: What though green leaves only witness
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


WREATH FOR A BRIDAL       
First Line: What though green leaves only witness
Last Line: Let flesh be knit, and each step hence go famous
Subject(s): Love - Marital


WUTHERIN HEIGHTS    Poem Text    
First Line: The horizons ring me like faggots,
Subject(s): Bronte, Emily (1818-1848); Solitude; Nature; Loneliness


WUTHERING HEIGHTS       
First Line: The horizons ring me like faggots


YADDO: THE GRAND MANOR    Poem Text    
First Line: Woodsmoke and a distant loudspeaker
Subject(s): Parties


YADDO: THE GRAND MANOR       
First Line: Woodsmoke and a distant loudspeaker


YADWIGHA, ON A RED COUCH, AMONG LILLIES    Poem Text    
First Line: Yadwigha, the literalists once wondered how you
Subject(s): Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910)


YADWIGHA, ON A RED COUCH, AMONG LILLIES; A SESTINA       
First Line: Yadwigha, the literalists once wondered how you


YEARS    Poem Text    
First Line: They enter as animals from the outer
Subject(s): Motion


YEARS       
First Line: They enter as animals from the outer


YOU'RE    Poem Text    
First Line: Clownlike, happiest on your hands,
Subject(s): Babies; Infants


YOU'RE       
First Line: Clownlike, happiest on your hands
Last Line: A clean slate, with your own face on


ZOO KEEPER'S WIFE       
First Line: I can stay awake all night, if need be


ZOO-KEEPER'S WIFE    Poem Text    
First Line: I can stay awake all night, if need be ---
Subject(s): Marriage; Animals; Weddings; Husbands; Wives