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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: SHAPIRO, KARL Matches Found: 274 Shapiro, Karl Poet's Biography 274 poems available by this author 1-OCT First Line: That season when the leaf deserts the bole Last Line: What shall uproot a house and bring this care into his eye 151ST PSALM First Line: Are you looking for us? We are here Last Line: Follow us 151ST PSALM First Line: Are you looking for us? We are here Last Line: Youth of all youth, ancient of days %follow us 7-JUL-78 First Line: You marked the day Last Line: Wholly unbidden from your inner day A CUT FLOWER Poem Text First Line: I stand on slenderness all fresh and fair Subject(s): Nature A GARDEN IN CHICAGO Poem Text First Line: In the mid-city, under an oiled sky Subject(s): Chicago; Gardens & Gardening A MODEST FUNERAL Poem Text First Line: Death passed by on fervid rubber wheels Subject(s): Funerals; Burials A ROBBERY Poem Text First Line: By day I had dispraised their life Subject(s): Crime & Criminals A ROOM IN ROME Poem Text First Line: The water-poet lay down with flowers Subject(s): Rome, Italy; Keats, John (1795-1821) ADAM AND EVE First Line: In the beginning, at every step, he turned Last Line: And it was autumn, the present world ADULT BOOKSTORE First Line: Round the green fountain thick with women AFTER THE SURRENDER First Line: After the surrender of japan %when hundreds of thousands of americans Last Line: It was then I knew we had lost the war AFTER THE WAR First Line: After a war the boys play soldier with real weapons. This is a real Last Line: In the war his communiques always mentioned god. We hated him Subject(s): World War Ii ALPHABET First Line: The letters of the jews as strict as flames Last Line: And all is rolled back in the book of days Subject(s): Jews AMERICANS ARE AFRAID OF LIZARDS Poem Text First Line: My american host in madras in his moist air-conditioned apartment Subject(s): Lizards AN ANNIVERSARY FOR F. O. MATTHIESSEN Poem Text First Line: To learn the meaning of his leap to death Subject(s): Matthiessen, F. O. (1902-1950); Suicide AND NOW, THE WEATHER First Line: The rain that ripens oranges ANTI-VALENTINE First Line: How do you get from the sacrifice of a goat Last Line: To be either, and so here's my bottom line: %I love you: please don't be my valentine ASIDE Poem Text First Line: Mail-day, and over the world in a thousand drag-nets Subject(s): War; Letters AT AUDEN'S GRAVE First Line: From vienna it's picture postcard all the way ATTENTION OF HYMEN Poem Text First Line: The atheist bride is dressed in blue Subject(s): Marriage; Jews; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Judaism AUBADE First Line: What dawn is it? Last Line: And this is the end for which we are together AUTO WRECK Poem Text First Line: Its quick soft silver bell beating, beating Subject(s): Automobile Accidents AUTO WRECK First Line: Its quick soft silver bell beating, beating Last Line: And spatters all we knew of denouement %across the expedient and wicked stones Subject(s): Automobile Accidents BACK First Line: One of the foremost organs of beauty BAD TASTE, INC. First Line: There is a shop in paris called bad taste Last Line: On to the waste pipe, the cloaca americana BALLADE OF THE SECOND-BEST BED Poem Text First Line: In the name of the almighty god, amen Variant Title(s): The Second-best Bed Subject(s): Wills; Beds; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616) BALLADE OF THE SECOND-BEST BED First Line: In the name of the almighty god, amen Variant Title(s): The Second-best Be BATHERS First Line: Man and woman, they enter the sea Subject(s): Sports BEAUTIFUL THING First Line: Autumn reminds me that you bit my lips, excellent nurse of the most famous Last Line: Darling you whisper (with such conviction) you worm BED First Line: Your clothes of snow and satin and pure blood Last Line: And let your gown be fresh as april grass, %and let your prothalamium be sweet Subject(s): Marriage BOUQUET First Line: All tropic places smell of mold. A letter from karachi smells of mold. A Last Line: Earliest recollection. Rome, the armpit of the universe BOURGEOIS POET First Line: The bourgeois poet closes the door of his study and lights his pipe. Why Last Line: Whose hands to pick it up BOURGEOIS POET, SELS. BOY-MAN Poem Text First Line: England's lads are miniature men Subject(s): England; English BOY-MAN First Line: England's lads are miniature men Last Line: Forgive the europeans for their sins, %establish work, that values may go on Subject(s): England BUICK Poem Text First Line: As a sloop with a sweep of immaculate wing on her delicate spine Subject(s): Automobiles; Love - Erotic; Cars BUICK First Line: As a sloop with a sweep of immaculate wing on her delicate spine Last Line: And I touch you again as you tick in the silence and settle in sleep Subject(s): Automobiles; Erotic Love BURLESK First Line: Hart crane, though handicpped, did well with the burlesk: all but her belly Last Line: Our faces light up with intelligence CALDER First Line: To raise an iron tree CALIFORNIA PETRARCHAN First Line: I hear the sunset ambulances surround CALIFORNIA WINTER First Line: It is winter in california, and outside Last Line: Flooding the daylong valleys like the nile CALLING THE CHILD Poem Text First Line: From the third floor I beckon to the child Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters CALLING THE CHILD First Line: From the third floor I beckon to the child Last Line: And wags her head at last and makes a start %and starts her humorous marching up the stairs Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters CATHEDRAL BELLS First Line: All day the yellow elevator cage CHILD WHO IS SILENT First Line: The child who is silent stands against his father, lovingly looking up at him Last Line: Mozart. On the very top, legs crossed, at ease, sits the blue-eyed boy who holds his peace CHRISTMAS EVE: AUSTRALIA First Line: The wind blows hot. English and foreign birds Last Line: Curse lightly and pronounce your serious name Subject(s): Australia; Christmas CHRISTMAS TREE Poem Text First Line: Because the tree is joyous and as a child Subject(s): Christmas Trees CONFIRMATION First Line: When mothers weep and fathers richly proud Last Line: And woke the hidden boy CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR First Line: The gates clanged and they walked you into jail Subject(s): Conscientious Objectors CONSCRIPTION CAMP Poem Text First Line: Your landscape sickens with a dry disease Subject(s): Virginia (state) CONSCRIPTION CAMP First Line: Your landscape sickens with a dry disease Last Line: To his determined hungry burst of joy CONTRABAND First Line: I dreamed I held a poem and knew Last Line: And swiftly punishes the heart CONVERT First Line: Deep in the shadowy bethal of the tired mind Last Line: In the hour of many significant conversions CRACKING-PLANT First Line: From the top floor of the tulsa hotel I gaze at the night beauty of the crackin Last Line: On through the delicate oklahoma night, flying the thousand hot flags of laputa CROSSING LINCOLN PARK First Line: Car locked, I started home across the grass Last Line: Your face whiter than chalk CRUCIFIX IN THE FILING CABINET First Line: Out of the filing cabinet of true steel CURIOSITY First Line: Tiny bees come to see what I am Last Line: And a bee necks with a rose CUT FLOWER First Line: I stand on slenderness all fresh and fair Last Line: Must I die now? Is this a part of life? D.C. Poem Text First Line: The bad breed of the natives with their hates Subject(s): Confederate States Of America; Georgia (state); Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870); Confederacy D.C. First Line: The bad breed of the natives with their hates Last Line: The ways of lee, who, having lost the slaves, died farther south, a general in the wrong Subject(s): Confederate States Of America; Georgia (state); Lee, Robert Edward (1807-1870) DEATH OF EMMA GOLDMAN First Line: Triumphant of the final breath Last Line: And showed up grass a mortmain property DIRTY WORD First Line: The dirty word hops in the cage of the mind like the pondi-cherry culture Last Line: For I have outlived the bird, and I have murdered it in my early manhood DOME OF SUNDAY First Line: With focus sharp as flemish-painted face Last Line: Clean in the eye of one who stands transfixed %in fascination of her brightness Subject(s): Bourgeoisie; War DRUG STORE Poem Text First Line: It baffles the foreigner like an idiom Subject(s): Pharmacy & Pharmacists; Drug Store; Apothecary DRUG STORE First Line: It baffles the foreigner like an idiom Last Line: They slump in booths like rags, not even drunk Subject(s): Pharmacy And Pharmacists EDEN RETOLD: 1. THE SICKNESS OF ADAM Poem Text First Line: In the beginning, at every step, he turned Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Longing; Anger; God; Eve EDEN RETOLD: 2. THE RECOGNITION OF EVE Poem Text First Line: Whatever it was she had so fiercely fought EDEN RETOLD: 3. THE KISS Poem Text First Line: The first kiss was with stumbling fingertips Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Kisses; Eve EDEN RETOLD: 4. THE TREE OF GUILT Poem Text First Line: Why, on her way to the oracle of love Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Trees; Guilt; Eve EDEN RETOLD: 5. THE CONFESSION Poem Text First Line: As on the first day her first word was thou Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Sin; Trees; Food & Eating; Eve EDEN RETOLD: 6. SHAME Poem Text First Line: The hard blood falls back in the manly fount Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Shame; Eve EDEN RETOLD: 7. EXILE Poem Text First Line: The one who gave the warning with his wings Subject(s): Adam & Eve; Exiles; Eve EDITING POETRY First Line: Next to my office where I edit poems ( can poems be edited? ) there is the Last Line: The mail is heavy this morning ELEGY FOR A DEAD SOLDIER Poem Text First Line: A white sheet on the tail-gate of a truck Subject(s): Death; Soldiers; World War Ii; Dead, The; Second World War ELEGY FOR A DEAD SOLDIER First Line: A white sheet on the tail-gate of a truck Last Line: Upon a peace kept by a human creed %know that one soldier has not died in vain Subject(s): Death; Soldiers; World War Ii ELEGY FOR TWO BANJOS Poem Text First Line: Haul up the flag, you mourners Subject(s): War ELEGY FOR TWO BANJOS First Line: Haul up the flag, you mourners Subject(s): War ELEGY WRITTEN ON A FRONTPORCH First Line: The sun burns on its sultry wick Last Line: She turned her back upon the day %but will not lie at night alone Subject(s): Life EMILY DICKINSON AND KATHERINE ANNE PORTER Poem Text First Line: Emily dickson's father yanked on the baptist bell Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886); Baptists; Porter, Katherine Anne (1890-1980) EMILY DICKINSON AND KATHERINE ANNE PORTER First Line: Emily dickinson's father yanked on the baptist bell Last Line: To hold her to the light like a plucked flower EMPORIUM First Line: He must have read aladdin who rubbed his head Last Line: Time shall have time, and he his impotent revenge EPITAPH FOR JOHN AND RICHARD First Line: There goes the clock; there goes the sun Last Line: Once born, once married, and once dead ESSAY ON CHESS First Line: There are only a few games played by a pair FAME First Line: What kind of notation is in my time file for my life, especially my death Last Line: Only for fun. He'll tear up the punch cards and think for a minute FIGUREHEAD First Line: Watching my paralytic friend Subject(s): Healing FIREWORKS First Line: In midsummer darkness when primeval silences close Last Line: The volcanoes subside; we are given our liberty gratis FIRST TIME First Line: Behind shut doors, in shadowy quarantine Last Line: And almost gently asks: are you a jew? Subject(s): Sex FLY First Line: O hideous little bat, the size of snot Last Line: And dies between three cannibals Subject(s): Flies; Hate FRANKLIN First Line: The star of reason, ben, reposed in you Last Line: And curtis beats the independence bell FRENCH POETRY First Line: French poetry that always goes itself one better Last Line: Gloire, vrai, et cetera FULL MOON: NEW GUINEA First Line: These nights we fear the aspects of the moon Last Line: The bombs are falling darkly for our fate FUNERAL OF POETRY First Line: The password of the twentieth centry: communications (as if we had to Last Line: Home and watched it on television FUNERAL OF POETRY First Line: The password of the twentieth century: communications (as Last Line: Watched it on television FUTURE-PRESENT First Line: Remember the old days when the luxury liners Last Line: Into the blue-gray morning of the future-present GARAGE SALE First Line: Two ladies sit in the spotless driveway Last Line: As flat as the wallpaper of matise %strikes one as a cultural masterpiece %in this scene nothing ser Subject(s): Poetry And Poets GIRLS FIGHTING, BROADWAY First Line: How beautiful it is GLASS POEM First Line: The afternoon lies glazed upon the wall GLUTTON First Line: The jowls of his belly crawl and swell like the sea Last Line: And leave of his volume only the mould of his girth Subject(s): Gluttony GOING TO SCHOOL First Line: What shall I teach in the vivid afternoon Last Line: The sun touches its image to the ground GOING TO WAR Poem Text First Line: Tell me not, evelyn, I fail Subject(s): War GRANT'S TOMB REVISITED First Line: Something unkempt about it GUN First Line: You were angry and manly to shatter the sleep of your throat Last Line: Which is savage to punish the dead for the sake of my sin HAIR First Line: One by one my troops desert. A hair at a time. One by one and there is no Last Line: The other day. This plot would tickle rabelais. A pubic hair turned silver grey HAIRCUT Poem Text First Line: O wonderful nonsense of lotions of lucky tiger Subject(s): Barbers; Hair HAIRCUT First Line: O wonderful nonsense of lotions of lucky tiger Last Line: And lie on the flat of my temples as proud as a wreath Subject(s): Barbers; Hair HIGH SCHOOL First Line: Waiting in front of the columnar high school (the old ones look like banks Last Line: Felt ashamed and grave. The horror of their years stoned me to death HOMECOMING Poem Text First Line: Lost in the vastness of the void pacific Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War HOMECOMING First Line: Lost in the vastness of the void pacific Last Line: And liberate in that high burst of love %the imprisoned souls of soldiers and of me Subject(s): World War Ii HOMEWRECK First Line: By and large there is no blood HOSPITAL Poem Text First Line: Inside or out, the key is pain. It holds Subject(s): Hospitals; Pain; Suffering; Misery HOSPITAL First Line: Inside or out, the key is pain. It holds Last Line: Are, for the most part, human but unbandaged HUMAN NATURE Poem Text First Line: For months and years in a forgotten war Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War HUMAN NATURE First Line: For months and years in a forgotten war Last Line: I am homesick for war Subject(s): World War Ii HUMANITIES BUILDING First Line: All the bad bauhaus comes to a head I AM AN ATHEIST WHO SAYS HIS PRAYERS Poem Text Subject(s): Atheism; Social Commentaries I AM AN ATHEIST WHO SAYS HIS PRAYERS Last Line: Plants on the cocktail table IMPACT First Line: High up on the patio window, centered exactly IN INDIA First Line: In india, the people form among the trees Last Line: Lay a revolver, knelt and, in good faith, %received his blessing and then shot him dead Subject(s): India IN THE WAXWORKS First Line: At midday when the light rebukes the world Last Line: Our sons and daughters, fallen apes INK! INK! First Line: Ballpoint pens are dead except they work Last Line: How come our poems have all turned into doilies? INTELLECTUAL First Line: The man behind the book may not be man Last Line: I laugh, I fight; and you, l'homme qui rit, %swallow your stale saliva, and still sit Subject(s): Reason INTERLUDE First Line: Much of the transfiguration that we hear Last Line: So small I could have drowned it with a tear ISRAEL Poem Text First Line: When I think of the liberation of palestine Subject(s): Israel (state) ISRAEL First Line: When I think of the liberation of palestine Last Line: Speak the name only of the living land Subject(s): Israel (state) ISRAFEL Poem Text First Line: Picture the grave in his diabolical dream Subject(s): Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849); Poetry & Poets ISRAFEL First Line: Picture the grave in his diabolical dream Subject(s): Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849); Poetry And Poets JAZZ First Line: August saturday night on the negro street the trolleys clang and break sweet Last Line: In the half-serious bazaar of the jew-store JEFFERSON Poem Text First Line: If vision can dilate, my noble lord Subject(s): Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826) JEFFERSON First Line: If vision can dilate, my noble lord Last Line: Like saints and salem devils JEW Poem Text First Line: The name is immortal but only the name, for the rest Subject(s): Jews; Judaism JEW First Line: The name is immortal but only the name, for the rest Last Line: Whether we suffer to die by the hands of ourselves, and to kill LANDSCAPE First Line: Twice as high as the beautiful street standard Last Line: Far to the southwest marches a cloud-wall %tainted with smog LEG First Line: Among the iodoform, in twilight-sleep Last Line: That if thou take me angrily in hand %and hurl me to the shark, I shall not die! Subject(s): Amputees; Healing; War LINES FOR A UNITARIAN CHURCH First Line: Little church of simple steel I-beams Last Line: Beautiful in the world, inside and out LIVING ROOMS OF MY NEIGHBORS First Line: The living rooms of my neighbors are like beauty parlors, like night-club Last Line: Neighborhood with a sky Subject(s): Neighbors LORD, I HAVE SEEN TOO MUCH First Line: Lord, I have seen too much for one who sat Last Line: The lust of godhead hideously exposed LOVE FOR A HAND Poem Text First Line: Two hands lie still, the hairy and the white, Subject(s): Marriage; Hands; Love; Weddings; Husbands; Wives LOVE FOR A HAND First Line: Two hands lie still, the hairy and the white Last Line: And breaks it open gently. Now he can see %the sweetness of the fruit, his hand eats hers LOVE POEM Poem Text First Line: Attempted suicide was your tour de force Subject(s): Suicide; Conduct Of Life LOWER THE STANDARD: THAT'S MY MOTTO MAGICIAN First Line: Tall in his top hat, tall and alone in the room Last Line: But only wait for till his dying year MANHOLE COVERS Poem Text Recitation First Line: The beauty of manhole covers - what of that? Subject(s): Streets; Avenues MANHOLE COVERS First Line: The beauty of manhole covers - what of that? Last Line: Strong with its cryptic american %its dated beauty Subject(s): Streets MESSIAS First Line: Alone in the darkling apartment the boy MIDNIGHT SHOW Poem Text First Line: The year is done, the last act of the vaudeville Subject(s): New Year MIDNIGHT SHOW First Line: The year is done, the last act of the vaudeville MINUTE First Line: The office building treads the marble dark Last Line: Rise and sweep past me, spinning threads of fear MOMA First Line: If it's an ism, give it a wide berth Last Line: As fools who come to pray remain to mock. %no, moma, do not close your glitzy front MONGOLIAN IDIOT Poem Text First Line: A dog that spoke, a monster born of sheep Subject(s): Disability MONGOLIAN IDIOT First Line: A dog that spoke, a monster born of sheep Last Line: Come from all life and for all life MOVIE ACTRESS Poem Text First Line: I shal sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow Subject(s): Motion Pictures; Actors & Actresses; Movies; Cinema; Actresses MOVING IN Poem Text First Line: May roses bloom beside the bloomberg windows Subject(s): Houses; Furniture MOVING IN First Line: I wish you for your birthday as you are Last Line: And bless one another MOZART'S JEW First Line: Much as I enjoy your minor immortality, da pone, I marvel where you Last Line: All of you don giovannis I like, and you especially, mozart's jew, da ponte MURDER OF MOSES First Line: By reason of despair we set forth behind you Last Line: Taught us all early justice, made us a race MY CENTURY First Line: All things remain to be simplified. I find I must break free of the poetry trap Last Line: Time, the human wolf pack and the killing light MY FATHER'S FUNERAL First Line: Lurching from gloomy limousines we slip MY GRANDMOTHER Poem Text First Line: My grandmother moves to my mind in context of sorrow Subject(s): Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers MY GRANDMOTHER First Line: My grandmother moves to my mind in context of sorrow Last Line: The tongues and tasks of her children's children Subject(s): Grandparents NATURE OF BELIEF First Line: When suffering is everywhere, that is of the nature of belief. When the leaders Last Line: In our veins. Now it floats in the clouds NEBRASKA First Line: I love nowhere where the factories die of malnutrition NECROPOLIS Poem Text First Line: Even in death they prosper; even in the death Subject(s): Wealth; Poverty; Death; Social Commentaries; Riches; Fortunes; Dead, The NECROPOLIS First Line: Even in death they prosper; even in the death NEW RING First Line: The new ring oppresses the finger, embarrasses the hand, encumbers NEWSBOY Poem Text First Line: Bearing his way through the traffic, under his arm Subject(s): Newspapers; Boys; Journalism; Journalists NEWSBOY First Line: Beating his way through the traffic, under his arm NIGGER Poem Text First Line: And did ever a man go black with sun n a belgian swamp Subject(s): Blacks NIGGER First Line: And did ever a man go black with sun in a belgian swamp NOSTALGIA Poem Text First Line: My soul stands at the window of my room Subject(s): Memory; Nostalgia NOSTALGIA First Line: My soul stands at the window of my room Last Line: Let the wind blow, for many a man shall die Subject(s): Memory; Nostalgia OFFICE LOVE First Line: Office love, love of money and fight, love of calculated sex. The offices reek Last Line: Word of mouth like gangsters. There the power lies and is sexless OLD HORSEFLY First Line: Unseasonable weather, says the commentator Last Line: Did I get it? I feel a pang - of what OLD POET First Line: Coming to the end of his dated poems in the complete edition, knowing what Last Line: With poetry remember him. Cities without poetry OLIVE TREE First Line: Save for a lusterless honing-stone of moon ON BEING YANKED FROM A FAVORITE ANTHOLOGY Poem Text First Line: Fame gave me a wrench and I cried ouch Subject(s): Fame; Poetry & Poets; Reputation ON BEING YANKED FROM A FAVORITE ANTHOLOGY First Line: Fame gave me a wrench and I cried ouch! ON READING KEATS IN WAR TIME First Line: As one long lost in no-man's-land of war Subject(s): Keats, John (1795-1821); Poetry & Poets ON READING KEATS IN WAR TIME First Line: As one long lost in no-man's-land of war Subject(s): Keats, John (1795-1821); Poetry And Poets PARIS Poem Text First Line: City of man Subject(s): Paris, France PHARMACY Poem Text First Line: It baffles the foreigner like an idiom Subject(s): Pharmacy & Pharmacists; Drug Store; Apothecary PHENOMENON First Line: How lovely it was, after the official fright Last Line: Her faulty snowfall brilliantly denied Subject(s): Death PHILOMELA. PROCNE. TEREUS Poem Text First Line: Procne said, it happened at my wedding Subject(s): Mythology; Marriage; Rape; Sisters; Revenge; Weddings; Husbands; Wives PIANO First Line: The perfect ice of the thin keys must break Last Line: Bursts into voice forever calling PIANO TUNER'S WIFE First Line: That note comes clear, like water running clear PIGEONS First Line: In the denouement of the beautiful storm POET Poem Text First Line: Left leg flung out, head cocked to the right Subject(s): Poetry & Poets POET First Line: Left leg flung out, head cocked to the right Last Line: Shall list and flounder in the troughs of grass %and none shall speak his name Subject(s): Poetry And Poets POET IN RESIDENCE First Line: To some it's a jewel in the belt of alma mater POETS OF HELL First Line: Poe, a very sick man in baltimore Last Line: And spits into the constellated skies Subject(s): Baudelaire, Charles (1821-1867); French Poetry - Symbolism; Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849); Poetry And Poets; Rimbaud, Arthur (1854-1891) POETS' CORNER First Line: As richly documented as the hell of priests, yes, there is a hell, the hell of Last Line: Faultless sermons. Some succumb to pageantry, some to algolagnia POTOMAC First Line: The thin potomac scarcely moves Last Line: The money fade like leaves from green to brown, %and embassies dissolve to molecules Subject(s): Potomac River; Rivers; Washington, D.c. PREMISES First Line: Moving must be in out nature PROGRESS OF FAUST First Line: He was born in deutschland, as you would suspect Last Line: In an american desert at war's end %where, at his back, a dome of atoms rose Subject(s): Faust RANDALL JARRELL Poem Text First Line: Randall, I like your poetry terribly, yet I'm afraid to say so. Not that my Subject(s): Jarrell, Randall (1914-1965) RANDALL JARRELL First Line: Randall, I like your poetry terribly, yet I'm afraid to say so. Not that my Last Line: Who wouldn't be. But I rush to read you, whatever you print. That's news Subject(s): Jarrell, Randall (1914-1965) RECAPITULATIONS Poem Text First Line: I was born downtown on a wintry day Subject(s): Birth; Family Life; Jews; World War Ii; Coming Of Age; Youth; Blacks; Divorce; Christianity; Conduct Of Life; Child Birth; Midwifery; Relatives; Judaism; Second World War RECAPITULATIONS First Line: I was born downtown on a wintry day Last Line: With ' a most victorian jew.' RECOGNITION OF EVE First Line: Whatever it was she had so fiercely fought Last Line: She was already turning beautiful Subject(s): Bible; Religion RED INDIAN Poem Text First Line: Purest of breed of all the tribes Subject(s): Native Americans; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America RED INDIAN First Line: Purest of breed of all the tribes Last Line: And moves their mournful quest RETIREMENT Poem Text First Line: Something tells him he is off-limits Subject(s): Retirement RETIREMENT First Line: Something tells him he is off-limits ROETHKE First Line: Glottal as a bottle, everybody loves you, only you don't believe it. Hulk Last Line: The flukes splash, ha-ha baby ROOM IN ROME First Line: The water-poet lay down with flowers above SCARLET FEVER First Line: Across the somber areaway the next apartment is almost close SCYROS Poem Text First Line: The doctor punched my vein Subject(s): War SCYROS First Line: The doctor punched my vein Last Line: And war began next wednesday on the danes Subject(s): War SHYLOCK Poem Text First Line: Home from the court he locked the door and sat Subject(s): Hate; Despair; Conduct Of Life SHYLOCK First Line: Home from the court he locked the door and sat Last Line: And lights them with a taper and sits down SNOB Poem Text First Line: At what time in its little history Subject(s): Snobs & Snobbery SOUTHERNER First Line: He entered with the authority of politeness Last Line: Who know how to conform, how to compel, %and how from the best bush to receive a flower Subject(s): Southern States SPIDER MUMS First Line: The spider mums are yellow STATUE OF LIBERTY First Line: To the poor (aux pauvres) crime alone (le crime seul) opens SUNDAY: NEW GUINEA Poem Text First Line: The bugle sounds the measured call to prayers Subject(s): New Guinea; Sabbath; Soldiers; Sunday SUNDAY: NEW GUINEA First Line: The bugle sounds the measured call to prayers Last Line: And your love's presence, snowy, beautiful, and kind Subject(s): New Guinea; Sabbath; Soldiers SURROUNDED Poem Text First Line: Suddenly my suburb is surrounded by churches Subject(s): Suburbs; Christianity; Churches; Cathedrals SYNAGOGUE First Line: The synagogue dispirits the deep street Last Line: That storms the falling altar of the world TABLEAU First Line: Early in the morning in the office in the army I am on duty TEASING THE NUNS Poem Text First Line: Up in the elevator went the nuns Subject(s): Nuns TENNYSON First Line: Like many of us he was rather disgusting Subject(s): Tennyson, Alfred (1809-1892); Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron TENNYSON First Line: Like many of us he was rather disgusting Subject(s): Tennyson, Alfred (1809-1892) TERMINAL Poem Text First Line: Over us stands the broad electric dace Subject(s): Railroads; Travel; Railways; Trains; Journeys; Trips TERMINAL First Line: Over us stands the broad electric dace Last Line: Distance is dead and light can only die Subject(s): Railroads; Travel THE ALPHABET Poem Text First Line: The letters of the jews as strict as flames Subject(s): Jews; Judaism THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR Poem Text First Line: The gates clanged and they walked you into jail Subject(s): Conscientious Objectors THE CONTRABAND Poem Text First Line: I dreamed I held a poem and knew Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares THE CROSS-TREE Poem Text First Line: Doctor, doctor, a little of your love Subject(s): Soldiers; War; Army Life; Suicide; Drills & Minor Tactics THE CRUCIFIX IN THE FILING CABINET Poem Text First Line: Out of the filing cabinet of true steel Subject(s): Cross, The; Jews; Judaism THE DIRTY WORD Poem Text First Line: The dirty word hops into the cage of the mind Subject(s): Jews; Birds; Survival; Judaism THE DOME OF SUNDAY Poem Text First Line: With focus sharp as flemish-painted face Subject(s): Bourgeoisie; War; Middle Class THE FIGUREHEAD Poem Text First Line: Watching my paralytic friend Last Line: With rosy clouds of sediment Subject(s): Healing; Cures THE FIRST TIME Poem Text First Line: Behind shut doors, in shadowy quarantine Subject(s): Sex THE FLY Poem Text Recitation First Line: O hideous little bat, the size of snot Subject(s): Flies; Hate THE INTELLECTUAL Poem Text First Line: The man behind the book may not be man Subject(s): Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals THE INTERLUDE Poem Text First Line: Much of transfiguration that we hear Subject(s): Insects; Death; Religion; Transfiguration; Bugs; Dead, The; Theology THE LEG Poem Text First Line: Among the iodoform, in twilight-sleep Subject(s): Amputees; Healing; War; Cures THE OLD HORSEFLY Poem Text First Line: Unseasonable weather, says the commentator Last Line: Did I get it? I feel a pang – of what? THE OLIVE TREE Poem Text First Line: Save for a lusterless honing-stone of moon Subject(s): Jews; Olive Trees & Olives; Judaism THE POETS OF HELL Poem Text First Line: Poe, a very sick man in baltimore Subject(s): Baudelaire, Charles (1821-1867); French Poetry - Symbolism; Poe, Edgar Allan (1809-1849); Poetry & Poets; Rimbaud, Arthur (1854-1891) THE POTOMAC First Line: The thin potomac scarcely moves Subject(s): Potomac River; Rivers; Washington, D.c. THE PROGRESS OF FAUST Poem Text First Line: He was born in deutschland, as you would suspect Subject(s): Faust THE PURITAN Poem Text First Line: In tender may when the sweet laugh of christ Subject(s): Puritans THE RECOGNITION OF EVE Poem Text First Line: Whatever it was she had so fiercely fought Last Line: She was already turning beautiful Subject(s): Adam & Eve THE SICKNESS OF ADAM Poem Text First Line: He entered with the authority of politeness Last Line: On earth. Sadly the angel watched them go Subject(s): Adam & Eve THE TWINS Poem Text First Line: Likeness mas made them animal and shy Subject(s): Twins THERE WAS THAT ROMAN POET First Line: There was that roman poet who fell in love at fifty-odd Last Line: And went her way in a wild odor of roses and garlic TINGLING BACK First Line: Sometimes deeply immured in white-washed tower TORNADO WARNING First Line: It is a beauteous morning but the air turns sick Subject(s): Tornadoes TORNADO WARNING First Line: It is a beauteous morning but the air turns sick Subject(s): Tornadoes TOURISTS First Line: Except for a lone electric wire trailing up the mountain to the TRAVELOGUE FOR EXILES Poem Text First Line: Look and remember. Look upon this sky Subject(s): Exiles TRAVELOGUE FOR EXILES First Line: Look and remember. Look upon this sky Subject(s): Exiles TROOP TRAIN Poem Text First Line: It stops the town we come through. Workers raise Subject(s): Army Life; World War Ii; Drills & Minor Tactics; Second World War TROOP TRAIN First Line: It stops the town we come through. Workers raise Last Line: The place of life found after trains and death - %nightfall of nations brilliant after war Subject(s): Army Life; World War Ii TWINS First Line: Likeness has made them animal and shy Last Line: The old indignity of esau's race %and dromio's denouement of tragic mirth UNIVERSITY Poem Text First Line: To hurt the negro and avoid the jew Subject(s): Universities & Colleges UNIVERSITY First Line: To hurt the negro and avoid the jew Last Line: And show us, rotted and endowed, %its senile pleasure Subject(s): Universities & Colleges V-LETTER Poem Text First Line: I love you first because your face is fair Variant Title(s): Love Letter (by V-mail From Australia) Subject(s): Love; War V-LETTER First Line: I love you first because your face is fair Last Line: Whether I live or fail Variant Title(s): Love Letter (by V-mail From Australia Subject(s): Love; War VIETNAM MEMORIAL First Line: It lies on its side on the grassy mall VIRGINIA CHILD First Line: Aunt lucy was an actual slave. She held me in her arms. I have W.H.A. First Line: Without him many of us would have never happened Last Line: God bless the live poets whom his death enhances WAITING FOR THE POPE Poem Text First Line: We have stood for hours in front of the yellow palace Subject(s): Pius Xii, Pope (1876-1958) WAITRESS Poem Text First Line: Whoever with the compasses of his eyes Subject(s): Restaurants; Waiters & Waitresses; Women; Cafes; Diners WAITRESS First Line: Whoever with the compasses of his eyes Last Line: Reddens and blazes - 'english spoken here WASHINGTON CATHEDRAL Poem Text First Line: From summer and the wheel-shaped city Last Line: He's only a good alien, nominally happy Subject(s): Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.c WASHINGTON CATHEDRAL First Line: From summer and the wheel-shaped city Last Line: He is only a good alien, nominally happy WESTERN TOWN First Line: Strange western town at the round edge of night Last Line: At rest now on a sketchy chart. Tomorrow, %somewhere, a city will take the train apart WHITE NEGRESS First Line: Who has not seen brancusi's white negress WHITMAN Poem Text First Line: Like queen victoria, he used the regal we Last Line: Messiah!, muse of the modern, mother! Subject(s): Whitman, Walt (1819-1891) WHITMAN First Line: Like queen victoria, he used the regal we Last Line: Messiah, muse of the modern, mother WOOD First Line: Wood for the fireplace, wood for the floor, what is the life span? Sometimes Last Line: Among the blinding stucco, soft among the cool and stony facings, the marbly infinitude YOU CALL THESE POEMS? First Line: In hyderabad, city of blinding marble palaces Last Line: And lots of allusions from other people's books |
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