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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: SIMIC, CHARLES Matches Found: 635 Simic, Charles Poet's Biography 635 poems available by this author A BOOK FULL OF PICTURES Poem Text First Line: Father studied theology through the mail Subject(s): Books; Reading ABSENT SPIDER First Line: There's its web, but I never saw a spider here Last Line: Appeared astonished, pink and naked beyond belief ADDRESS WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS First Line: I accused history of gluttony Last Line: We have only tears of happiness left AGAINST WHATEVER IT IS THAT'S ENCROACHING Poem Text First Line: Best of all is to be idle Subject(s): Idleness; Laziness; Sloth; Indolence AGAINST WHATEVER IT IS THAT'S ENCROACHING First Line: Best of all is to be idle Subject(s): Idleness AGAINST WINTER Poem Text First Line: The truth is dark under your eyelids. Subject(s): Winter AGAINST WINTER First Line: The truth is dark under your eyelids Last Line: You're crazier than the weather, charlie ALL THESE MIRRORS First Line: And the one that's got it in for you Last Line: Already reddening under your left eye AMBIGUITY'S WEDDING First Line: Bride of awe, all that's left for us Last Line: Abbreviate me thus, in marriage AMOUR FOU First Line: Black sorrow tagging after you Last Line: Think you're both crazy ANCIENT AUTUMN First Line: Is that foolish youth, still sawing ANCIENT ENGINES AND BEASTS First Line: A very old horse in an old people's home ANIMAL ACTS Poem Text First Line: A bear who eats with a silver spoon. Subject(s): Animals ANIMAL ACTS First Line: A bear who eats with a silver spoon Last Line: When they all huddle in a cage, %smoking cheap cigars, lazily %marking the cards in the new deck ANIMAL TRAINER First Line: I endured your gaze, master ANNIVERSARY First Line: I'll walk the streets all day today Last Line: With the wind gusting off the river ANNIVERSARY First Line: I'll walk the streets all day today Last Line: Just as your gloved hand reaches for mine ANT AND THE BIRD First Line: In those far-off days they told time ARE RUSSIAN CANNIBALS WORSE THAN THE ENGLISH ARTIST First Line: Do you remember the crazy guy Last Line: Then going out one by one AT THE COOKOUT Poem Text First Line: The wives of my friends Subject(s): Love AT THE COOKOUT First Line: The wives of my friends Last Line: Were crawling with snakes Subject(s): Love AT THE NIGHT COURT First Line: You've combed yourself carefully AT THE VACANCY SIGN First Line: Past the sex shop Last Line: His own inner monkeys %in a mystery procession. %and the day unknown ... %and the hour fugitive ... AT THE VACANCY SIGN First Line: Past the butcher Last Line: And the hour fugitive AUSTERITIES First Line: From the heel Last Line: You can grin, %you can eat, %spit the crumbs %into our faces AUTUMN AIR First Line: Many years ago in china Last Line: Among the dragon-tailed, %razor-studded kites, %on a day, let's say %just as cold and windy as today AUTUMN SKY Poem Text First Line: In my great grandmother's time Subject(s): Sky; Stars; Time AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS First Line: A cat and a mouse were lapping milk AX First Line: Whoever swings an ax Last Line: Which understands historical probabilities, %lacking itself,in its essence, a future BABY PICTURES OF FAMOUS DICTATORS First Line: The epoch of a streetcar drawn by horses Last Line: While the dogs remained behind: %pedigreed bitches pregnant with bloodhounds BABYLON First Line: Every time I prayed BACK AT THE CHICKEN SHACK Poem Text First Line: What I need is a seraph and a pig Subject(s): Pigs; Food & Eating; Boars; Hogs BACK AT THE CHICKEN SHACK First Line: What I need is a seraph and a pig BALLAD First Line: What's that approaching like dusk like poverty Last Line: Glancing back under the dark trees %little girl skipping theowls' hushed way BALLAD OF THE WHEEL First Line: So that's what it's like to be a wheel Last Line: I have the impression %that it whispers to me %how all I have to do %to stop its turning %is to hold BATTLING GRAYS First Line: Another grim-lipped day coming out way Last Line: As you raise your saber to cut a spiderweb BEAUTY First Line: I'm telling you, this was the real thing, the same Last Line: The pink ham you sliced for me with your own hand BED First Line: It's an old iron bed BED MUSIC First Line: Our love was new Last Line: They could've brought some hooch, %we told the cops BEDTIME STORY First Line: When a tree falls in a forest Last Line: Who, as you already know, all look like %little black ridinghoods BEGGAR ON HOUSTON STREET First Line: He is prometheus, %he tells me Last Line: Didn't appear to be in the least %surprised about that BEGOTTEN OF THE SPLEEN Poem Text First Line: The virgin mother walked barefoot Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War BEGOTTEN OF THE SPLEEN First Line: The virgin mother walked barefoot Last Line: Even when the lights came on-- %and the lights came on: %thefloodlights in the guard towers Subject(s): World War Ii BESTIARY FOR THE FINGERS OF MY RIGHT HAND Poem Text First Line: Thumb, loose tooth of a horse Subject(s): Fingers BESTIARY FOR THE FINGERS OF MY RIGHT HAND First Line: Thumb, loose tooth of a horse Last Line: His touch is gentle. %it weighs a tear. %it takes the mote out of the eye Subject(s): Fingers BETROTHAL First Line: I found a key BIG MACHINE First Line: The garden of the machine at night BIG WAR First Line: We played war during the war BIRD First Line: You called out once, twice Last Line: Or so we found ourselves imagining BIRD First Line: A bird calls me Last Line: And dreamt I had %the eyes and ears %of that bird %watching me sleep BIRDS OF A FEATHER First Line: Cornell loved houdini who was famous for escaping from Last Line: We don't really belive any of this, but it sure looks that way sometimes BIRTHDAY STAR ATLAS First Line: Wildest dream, miss emily BLINDMAN'S BLUFF First Line: Death's an early riser Last Line: On the pavement already crowded %with schoolchildren BLOOD ORANGE First Line: It looks so dark the end of the world may be near Last Line: Lie cracked open on the floor BOOK FULL OF PICTURES First Line: Father studied theology through the mail Last Line: With my heart bleeding its branches Subject(s): Books BOSS HIRES First Line: I want a man who has nothing to gain Last Line: That he shall stay on, that the pay will never be just BREAD First Line: Stale hunk BREAKFAST First Line: Sinister caterers BREASTS Poem Text First Line: I love breasts, hard Subject(s): Breasts; Men BREASTS First Line: I love breasts, hard Last Line: I will tip each breast %like a dark heavy grape %into the hive %of my drowsy mouth Subject(s): Breasts; Men BRETHREN Poem Text First Line: A woodpecker hammers Subject(s): Woodpeckersl Nursing Homes; War BROOMS First Line: Only brooms Last Line: Into neat pyramids, %that have tombs in them, %already sacked by robbers, %once, long ago BROOMS First Line: Only brooms %know the devil %still exists Last Line: Already sacked by robbers %once long ago BUTCHER SHOP Poem Text First Line: Sometimes walking late at night Subject(s): Butchers; World War Ii; Second World War BUTCHER SHOP First Line: Sometimes walking late at night Last Line: Scraped clean - a river dried to its bed %where I am fed, %where deep in the night I hear a voice Subject(s): Butchers; World War Ii CABBAGE First Line: She was about to chop the head CACKLE First Line: Wee-hour world, insoluble world Last Line: For some you-know-what CAFE PARADISO First Line: My chicken soup thickened with pounded young almonds Last Line: Then sleep in a macedoine of wild berries with cream CAGED FORTUNETELLER First Line: Sleeplessness, you're like a pawnshop Last Line: And the nun who carries morphine to the dying, %the black nun in soft, furry slippers CAMEO APPEARANCE Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I had a small, nonspeaking part Subject(s): War CAMEO APPEARANCE First Line: I had a small, non-speaking part Last Line: But, of course, they didn't film that CARAVAN First Line: Geese know, over such wide plains CHAIR First Line: This chair was once a studen of euclid Last Line: But euclid kept quiet about that CHARLES SIMIC First Line: Charles simic is a sentence Last Line: Will they end with a period or a question mark? %they'll end with an exclamation point and an ink sp CHARM SCHOOL First Line: Madame gabrielle, were you really french Last Line: His three remaining hairs being combed CHARON'S COSMOLOGY Poem Text First Line: With only his dim lantern Subject(s): Charon; Styx (river) CHARON'S COSMOLOGY First Line: With only his dim lantern Last Line: Once in a long while a mirror %or a book which he throws %overboard into the dark river %swift and c Subject(s): Charon CHESSBOARD OF THE SOUL First Line: Around the boxes I can still hear cornell mumble to himself. In the Last Line: The black square and so did the other figures in the original places, %eternally, whenever I closed CHICKEN WITHOUT A HEAD First Line: When two times two was three Last Line: Ran, and is still running this good friday, %between raindrops, %hellfoxes on its trail CHILD RUNNING WITH SCISSORS First Line: Someone's calling his name Last Line: In the returning quiet CHILDHOOD OF PARMENIDES First Line: For asking, why is there something Last Line: And of course, philemon, who's about to die laughing %at the sight of an ass eating figs CHILDHOOD STORY First Line: The streets were wider, the houses bigger CHORUS FOR ONE VOICE First Line: I'm going to lie down next to you Last Line: Wanted: a needle swift enough %to sew this poem into a blanket CITY First Line: At least one crucified at every corner Last Line: Neither did the crucified on the next corner CLASSIC BALLROOM DANCES Poem Text First Line: Grandmothers who wring the necks Subject(s): Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature CLASSIC BALLROOM DANCES First Line: Grandmothers who wring the necks Last Line: Where they also hold charity raffles %on rainy monday nights of an eternal november CLEAR AND THE OBSCURE First Line: The translator is a close reader Last Line: Turns obscure in the fading daylight CLEO DE MERODE Poem Text First Line: Joseph cornell could not draw, paint, or sculpt, and yet he was a Subject(s): Cornell, Joseph (1903-1972) CLEO DE MERODE First Line: Joseph cornell could not draw, paint, or sculpt, and yet he was a Last Line: Cleo de merode, by the way, was a famous f\ballerina and femme %fatale of the 1890's Subject(s): Cornell, Joseph (1903-1972) CLOUDS GATHERING Poem Text First Line: It seemed the kind of life we wanted. Subject(s): Love CLOUDS GATHERING First Line: It seemed the kind of life we wanted Last Line: The dark pines and grasses strangely still CLUB MIDNIGHT First Line: Are you the sole owner of a seedy nightclub Last Line: In the dark, long after the joint closes COAL Poem Text First Line: Dismembered angel Subject(s): Love COCKROACH Poem Text First Line: When I see a cockroach Last Line: With my baby pictures Subject(s): Cockroach COLD First Line: As if in a presence of an intelligence Last Line: A flicker of a light or two %far above and beyond the large cage COLD BLUE TINGE First Line: The pink-cheeked jesus Last Line: He'll have a long life, though, %catching mice for the baker, %and the undertaker COLLARD GREENS AND BLACK-EYE PEAS First Line: To know the absolute COLLECTOR'S TWEEZERS First Line: Who let these many bats loose Last Line: The answer is still, no one COME WINTER Poem Text First Line: The mad and homeless take shelter Subject(s): Winter COME WINTER First Line: The mad and homeless take shelter Last Line: Straining to catch a glimpse of them CONCERNING MY NEIGHBORS, TGHE HITTITES Poem Text First Line: Great are the hittites. Subject(s): Hittites CONCERNING MY NEIGHBORS, THE HITTITES First Line: Great are the hittites Last Line: May all roads lead %out of a sow's ear %to what's worth %twoin the bush CONEY ISLAND INSIDE EVERY HEAD First Line: Modernism in art and literature gave unparalleled freedom to the Last Line: Explored the unknown as much as it is possible for any artist and poet %to do so CONGRESS OF THE INSOMNIACS First Line: Mother of god, everyone is invited Last Line: Sleeplessness is like metaphysics. %be there CONQUERING HERO IS TIRED First Line: Often I sit at your window Last Line: The little birds hopping and chirping on the sill %are all p CONTRIBUTOR'S NOTE First Line: I pleaded with my death to at least allow me to nibble my pencil while Last Line: Blurred the sight of her and made her vanish forever CORNELL'S WHITE NIGHTS First Line: Insomnia is an all-night travel agency with posters advertising far Last Line: In the meantime, silence and your shadow on the bare wall COUNTRY FAIR Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: If you didn't see the six-legged dog Subject(s): Animals; Dogs COUNTRY FAIR First Line: If you didn't see the six-legged dog Last Line: And that was the whole show Subject(s): Animals; Dogs COUNTRY LUNCH First Line: A feast in the time of plague Last Line: Whose nose has started to bleed CRAZY ABOUT HER SHRIMP Poem Text First Line: We don't even take time Subject(s): Love - Erotic CRAZY ABOUT HER SHRIMP First Line: We don't even take time Last Line: I shout to the gods above Subject(s): Erotic Love CREPUSCULE WITH NELLIE Poem Text First Line: Monk at the five spot Subject(s): Jazz; Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music & Musicians CREPUSCULE WITH NELLIE First Line: Monk at the five stop Last Line: And where the hell was nellie? Subject(s): Jazz; Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music And Musicians CROWS First Line: Just so that each stark Last Line: Thus, wings half-open, %making two large algebraic x's %as if for emphasis, %or in the mockery of... DANDELIONS First Line: We were fabulously lucky Last Line: Snuggled together and looking glum DARK CORNER First Line: Say, how'd you find me Last Line: My pants need your finger to hold them up DARK FARMHOUSES First Line: Windy evening %chinablue snow Last Line: A shovel %and a spade DARK TV SCREEN First Line: The memory of this day's evil Last Line: My hands and sex bathed in the fires of the evening DAY MARKED WITH A SMALL WHITE STONE First Line: The kindest of traps Last Line: In a ring %of magnanimous coyotes, %in a ring of %dreamy, once-in-a-lifetime %something or other DEAD IN PHOTOGRAPHS First Line: They were all mere beginners Last Line: The little boy walked up to the camera %and stuck his tongue out at us DEAR HELEN First Line: There's a thing in the world DEAR ISAAC NEWTON First Line: You famous apple Last Line: Into the unthinkable? DEATH, THE PHILOSOPHER First Line: He gives excellent advice by example DECEMBER First Line: It snows DECEMBER TREES First Line: Dark woods, I give myself entirely over Last Line: And reached among their branches for irons, %the black ones with night frost on DEMONOLOGY (1) First Line: He's a devil while his mother's a saint Last Line: Found in an old prayer book, %picked, someone claims, %by the young devil's father for his bride DEMONOLOGY (2) First Line: The devil's got his finger in every pie Last Line: A run of teeny black devils in my urine DEPARTMENTS OF PUBLIC MONUMENTS First Line: If justice and liberty DESCRIPTION First Line: That which brings it Last Line: Where the grim doctor %won't use any anaesthetic %when he takes bread %out of their mouths DISMANTLING THE SILENCE First Line: Take down its ears first Last Line: Search for its heart. You will need %to crawl far into the empty heavens %to hear it beat DIVINE COLLABORATOR First Line: He's the silent partner of everything we write; the father of all lan Last Line: Remember, love, %this is god writing! DIVINE KALEIDOSCOPE First Line: The quest for the lost and the beautiful, cornell-orpheus in the city Last Line: Composure and tender (slow fade-out) glance rebuke regret as she fades %from view. %this is extraord DOG ON A CHAIN First Line: So that's how it's going to be Last Line: There's no moon, bark and growl %to keep yourself company DOGS HEAR IT First Line: This machinery is very ancient Last Line: Told me to rest my jaws DON'T WAKE THE CARDS Poem Text First Line: Since my chronic bad luck Subject(s): Card Games; Love - Erotic; Playing Cards DON'T WAKE THE CARDS First Line: Since my chronic bad luck Last Line: Don't wake the damn cards DRAWING THE TRIANGLE First Line: I reserve the triangle Last Line: One hopes for tangents %surreptitiously in attendance %despite the rigors of the absolute DRAWN TO PERSPECTIVE First Line: On a long block Last Line: The warm summer evening; %the kid on roller skates; %the couple about to embrace %at the vanishing p DREAMSVILLE First Line: He happened to find himself on the stairs of a Last Line: Some bushes in the park DUERE'S HARE HISSES AND FALLS EARLY EVENING ALGEBRA First Line: The madwoman went marking x's EARLY MORNING IN JULY First Line: The streets were cool Last Line: On eighth avenue EAST EUROPEAN COOKING First Line: While marquis de sade had himself buggered Last Line: Regarding whose excellence we were in complete %agreement %since he didn't forget the toothpicks wit EL LIBRO DE LA SEXUALIDAD First Line: The pages of all the books are blank Last Line: Is a long-tailed comet in the night sky ELEGY First Line: I thought I heard my name Last Line: Coming to put a finger %on my lips later ELEGY First Line: Note %as it gets darker Last Line: In the open air %at the end %of a dead-end %road %rarely traveled %o love ELEMENTARY COSMOGONY First Line: How to the invisible Last Line: For a long apprenticeship %that has as its last %and seventhrule: %the submission to chance ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS, 11 First Line: It's a store that specializes in antique porcelain ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 1 First Line: The old farmer in overalls hanging from a barn beam ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 10 First Line: She's pressing me gently with a hot steam iron ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 2 First Line: Things were not so black as somebody painted them ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 3 First Line: He calls one dog rimbaud and the other holderlin ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 4 First Line: My mother was a braid of black smoke ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 5 First Line: Margaret was copying a recipe for 'saints roasted with onions' ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 6 First Line: A poem about sitting on a new york rooftop on a chill autumn evening ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 7 First Line: A week-long holiday in a glass paperweight bought at coney island ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 8 First Line: My father loved the strange books of andre breton ELEVEN PROSE-POEMS: 9 First Line: Where ignorance is bliss, where one lies at night on EMILY'S THEME First Line: My dear trees, I no longer recognize you Last Line: Their faces demonic in its flames EMPEROR First Line: Wears a pig mask %over his face Last Line: He is playing with a million broken toys EMPIRE OF DREAMS Poem Text First Line: On the first page of my dreambook Subject(s): Dreams; War; Nightmares EMPIRE OF DREAMS First Line: On the first page of my dreambook Last Line: Which I am afraid to put on ENTERTAINING THE CANARY First Line: Yellow feathers, %is it true Last Line: Or I'll throw her black slip %over your gilded cage ERASER First Line: A summons because the marvelous prey is fleeing Last Line: As my mother shakes her apron full of little erasers %for me to peck like breadcrumbs ERRATA Poem Text First Line: Where it says snow Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary ERRATA First Line: Where it says snow Last Line: That beer-bottle my greatest mistake %the word I allowed to be written %when I should have shouted % EUCLID AVENUE First Line: All my dark thoughts Last Line: A place known %as infinity, %its screendoor screeching, %endlessly screeching EUPHEMIA GRAY'S PUBIS First Line: As for me, I like them with plenty of hair, mr. Ruskin. I remember Last Line: Stroll on, like fish in a fishtank we'll be having for late dinner tonight EVENING First Line: The snail gives off stillness Last Line: The grass knows a word or two. %it is not much. It repeats the same word %again and again, but not t EVENING CHESS First Line: The black queen raised high Last Line: In my father's angry hand EVENING WALK Poem Text First Line: You give the appearance of listening Subject(s): Night; Trees; Walking; Bedtime EVENING WALK First Line: You give the appearance of listening Last Line: Who won't come to dinner. %lost children singing to themselves EVENING WITH THE MASTER First Line: With a tiny bird-whistle Last Line: A soul with a falcon's hood %bent over a school slate %whichscreeches and bleeds darkly %as it lets EVER SO TRAGIC First Line: Heart - as in latin popsongs EVERYBODY KNOWS THE STORY ABOUT ME AND DR. FREUD Last Line: We glared at each other before going our separate ways, never to meet %again' EVERYTHING'S FORESEEABLE. EVERYTHING'S FORESEEN EXPLAINING A FEW THINGS First Line: Every worm is a martyr Last Line: If it clears, scratch on the door EXPLORERS Poem Text First Line: They arfrive inside Subject(s): Togetherness EXPLORERS First Line: They arrive inside Last Line: It says: 'I'm happy %we are finally all here... %let's make this our home.' EYES FASTENED WITH PINS Poem Text First Line: How much death works Subject(s): Death; Dead, The EYES FASTENED WITH PINS First Line: How much death works Last Line: Undressing slowly, sleepily, %and stretching naked %on death's side of the bed FABULOUS SPECIES First Line: That which consists Last Line: That dimmed-out movie theater FALL DAY First Line: As gray as that slumped Last Line: Grim and earnest %unlettered and benighted %I believe hieroglyphically FATHER OF LIES First Line: I have a garden with nothing Last Line: And their eyes are closed FEAR Poem Text First Line: Fear passes from man to man Subject(s): Fear FEAR First Line: Fear passes from man to man Last Line: All at once the whole tree is trembling %and there is no sign of the wind FEBRUARY First Line: The one who lights the wood stove Last Line: Gaunt, wide-eyed; %her lips saying the stark headlines %going up in flames FIGURE IN THE LANDSCAPE First Line: The vision of heaven Last Line: As if never to close them again FIGURING First Line: A zero burped by Last Line: A zero. Write it kid! %and he writes it. %the dumb-looking one %at the blackboard FIRST DAY OF SUMMER First Line: Birds shit while they sing Last Line: And I'm looking for my toy trumpet FIRST FROST First Line: The time of the year for the mystics FLY First Line: Gesticulating fly, frightened away Last Line: The blind man tapping his cane FLY First Line: He was writing the history of optimism FOLK SONGS First Line: Sausage-makers of history Last Line: White butterflies, and white chickens FOR THE LOVERS OF THE ABSOLUTE First Line: A skinny arm thrown under FOR THE SAKE OF AMELIA Poem Text First Line: Tending a cliff-hanging grand hotel Subject(s): Hotels; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses FOR THE SAKE OF AMELIA First Line: Tending a cliff-hanging grand hotel Last Line: And the mask of tragedy over her pubic hair Subject(s): Hotels FOR THE VERY SOUL OF ME First Line: At the close of a sweltering night Last Line: For something to cover him with FORCE ILLEGIBLE First Line: Did cornell know what he was doing? %yes, but mostly no. Does Last Line: Religious madness, it converts them all. A force illegible FOREST BIRDS First Line: It! It! %that's what the unknown bird said Last Line: Last half-note, %half-twig. %I'm very anxious, %they're very anxious %to have it remain %like that FOREST WALK First Line: Today we took a long walk in the forest Last Line: We could see the plane's landing lights FORK Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: This strange thing must have crept Subject(s): Tableware; Cutlery; Forks; Plates FORK First Line: This strange thing must have crept Last Line: Its head which like your fist %is large, bald, beakless and blind Subject(s): Tableware FREE THE GOLDFISH Poem Text First Line: A pet store window / with an aquarium Subject(s): Goldfish FREE THE GOLDFISH First Line: A pet store window %with an aquarium Last Line: As if not to make a sound Subject(s): Goldfish FRESH NOTIONS & CO. First Line: They didn't answer to repeated knocks Last Line: In the moment before the match is lilt, %and then the elevator took me down FRIENDS OF HERACLITUS First Line: Your friend has died, with whom Last Line: Speeding by on roller skates FURNITURE MOVER Poem Text First Line: Ah the great Subject(s): Furniture; Moving & Movers FURNITURE MOVER First Line: Ah the great Last Line: And me behind the door %in the gloom %I think I would %let you do %what you must GALLOWS ETIQUETTE First Line: Our sainted great-great Last Line: Confirmed pessimists %and other party-poopers %categoricallyreject %such far fetched notions %of gal GAME First Line: A child played being a gravedigger Last Line: They ought to call him in by now: %the carrot-haired girl in the hen house; %her sister at the salt- GAZE WE KNEW AS A CHILD First Line: People who look for symbolic meaning fail to grasp the inherent Last Line: At cross purposes. Neither one by itself is sufficient. It's that mingling of %the two that makes up GHOST STORIES WRITTEN First Line: Ghost stories written as algebraic equations. Last Line: Signs, and then it's quiet again. GHOSTS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: It's mr. Brown looking much better Subject(s): Ghosts GHOSTS First Line: It's mr. Brown looking much better Last Line: Without one of us breaking the silence GRANDMOTHER LOGIC First Line: The great nietzche supposedly %once shaved a horse in turin Last Line: After the shave GRAVEYARD ON A HILL First Line: Let those who so desire continue to dream Last Line: Right up t the branch they fell from GRAVITY First Line: I'd like to see it once Last Line: Still swaying under its weight, %like beasts of burden, %going home over the freshly fallen snow GREAT HORNED OWL First Line: One morning the grand seigneur Last Line: Studies the empty woodshed, %the old red chevy on blocks. %alas! He's got to be going GREAT INFIRMITIES First Line: Everyone has only one leg Last Line: Coming so close and giving up GREAT PICNIC First Line: Brain lazy as the muddy river over yonder Last Line: Under your new beach blanket GREEN LAMPSHADE Poem Text First Line: All the page of all the books Subject(s): Books; Reading GRIM CONTINGENCIES First Line: If the wicked didn't get such kicks Last Line: Making everybody howl with laughter GROCERY First Line: Figure or figures unknown Last Line: One of its pans %for their innards %the other one for yours-- %and yours heavier HAPPINESS First Line: Do not flatter yourself Last Line: A lost ant going the wrong way, perhaps, %under your black shoe? HAPPY END First Line: And then they pressed the melon Last Line: And even a stick used in childbeating %blossomed by the little crooked road %my hunch told me to fol HAPPY HARD TIMES First Line: The baby jesus asleep in your arms Last Line: In the heart-shaped mirror you kept there HARSH CLIMATE Poem Text First Line: The brain itself in its skull Subject(s): Mind, The; Cold HARSH CLIMATE First Line: The brain itself in its skull Last Line: A large ocean liner caught in the ice. %a few lights still burning on the deck. %silence and fierce HAVE YOU MET MISS JONES First Line: I have. At the funeral Last Line: Miss jones, the guest book proclaimed HAVE YOU MET MISS JONES? Poem Text First Line: I have. At the funeral Subject(s): Funerals; Beauty; Burials HEALER First Line: In a rundown tenement Last Line: In his hallway there are %many wheelchairs, on the stairs %the long howl of the idiot %led on his mo HEARING STEPS First Line: Someone is walking through the snow Last Line: Until the last word and the last sound %of this language I am speaking is forgotten HEIGHTS OF FOLLY Poem Text First Line: O crows circling over my head and cawing! Subject(s): Happiness; Joy; Delight HEIGHTS OF FOLLY First Line: All you crows out there HELP WANTED First Line: They ask for a knife Last Line: It's one of my many talents %(I assure them) %chirping and whistling like an aviary %spreading the c HENRI ROUSSEAU'S BED Poem Text First Line: I took my bed into the forest Subject(s): Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910); Beds; Forests; Woods HENRI ROUSSEAU'S BED First Line: I took my bed into the forest HEROIC MOMENT First Line: I went bare-assed into the battle. The president himself heard of Last Line: Dirty witch-and she, so pretty, chopping the onions, laughing and cry- %ing over the stew pot HISTORY First Line: Men and woman with kick-me signs on their HISTORY First Line: On a gray evening Last Line: Said to myself %why not close my eyes now %before the late %world news and weather HISTORY BOOK First Line: A kid found its loose pages Last Line: And the barge passes, %the one they named 'victory' %from which a cripple waves HISTORY OF COSTUMES First Line: Top hats and double-breasted black suits Last Line: Among the ballroom mirrors on page 1944 HITCHHIKERS Poem Text First Line: Hard times brought them out early Subject(s): Hitchhikers; Misfortune HITCHHIKERS First Line: Hard times brought them out early %on this dreary stretch of road Last Line: Not forgetting to stop for you, mister, %if you are down on your luck yourself HOT NIGHT First Line: Langhaired jesus, %arms outstretched Last Line: The palm trees converging %and parting up ahead HOTEL INSOMNIA Poem Text First Line: I liked my little hole Subject(s): Hotels; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses HOTEL INSOMNIA First Line: I liked my little hole Last Line: For a moment, I was sobbing myself Subject(s): Hotels HOTEL STARRY SKY First Line: Millions of empty rooms with tv sets turned on Last Line: Is the new madonna and her infant child HOUSE Poem Text First Line: My house has grown smaller Subject(s): Houses HOW TO PSALMODIZE Poem Text First Line: Someone awake when others are sleeping, Subject(s): Poetry & Poets HURRICANE SEASON First Line: Just as the world was ending Last Line: Rainblurred %with its couple of fake %egyptian stone lions I'M CHARLES Poem Text First Line: Swaying handcuffed Subject(s): Self IMMORTAL First Line: You're shivering my memory IMPLEMENTS OF AUGURY First Line: Something like an empty chair and table IN A FOREST OF QUESTION MARKS YOU WERE NO BIGGER IN A FOREST OF WHISPERS First Line: There is a blind hen Last Line: Just raised on his back %a charred straw IN ECSTASY OF SURRENDER First Line: My father steps out Last Line: While being unwilling to %just then IN MIDSUMMER QUIET First Line: Ariadne's bird Last Line: Bird! %dreaming of my own puzzles %and mazes IN PITTSFIELD First Line: A rat came on stage Last Line: Which didn't figure in the play Subject(s): Rats IN STRANGE CITIES First Line: The way a curving street Last Line: In all his terror %and royal splendor IN THE ALLEY First Line: You, with an earring, who diligently IN THE COURTHOUSE First Line: It was morning outdoors, %while here it's evening Last Line: In a hurry swarming everywhere IN THE LIBRARY Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: There's a book called Subject(s): Books; Angels; Reading IN THE LIBRARY First Line: There's a book called Last Line: The books are whispering. %I hear nothing, but she does IN THE RATHOLE First Line: A street of madhouses Last Line: The house always wins, %the madhouse made of cards.' Subject(s): Card Games IN TIMES OF WIDESPREAD EVIL First Line: What a pretty madhouse on top of that hill INANIMATE OBJECT First Line: In my long late night talks with the jailers, I raised Last Line: Long night talks with my jailers INEXPLICABLE First Line: How quickly it made itself at home %in our living room Last Line: Have its say, lover-like, in your eat INFINITE First Line: On a long shot, I went searching Last Line: With love screaming bloody murder INHERITANCE First Line: This is my father's gray blanket Last Line: Prisoners! I believe one covers one's head %because the lights are left on %in cells throughout the INITIATE First Line: St. John of the cross wore dark glasses Last Line: The drunk who followed me whispered, %while appraoising me from head to foot INNER MAN Poem Text First Line: It isn't the body Subject(s): Self INNER MAN First Line: It isn't the body Last Line: Though you utter %every one of my words, %you are a stranger. %it's time you spoke.' Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Exiles; Marginality, Social INSOMNIACS' DEBATING SOCIETY First Line: Our heads like stacks Last Line: It's just our imagination. %imagine that INTERLUDE First Line: A worm Last Line: She was an old woman %who forgot things easily. %dear me, %she whispered INVENTION OF NOTHING First Line: I didn't notice Last Line: I climb on the table %(the chair is gone already) %I sing through the throat %of an empty beer-bottl IT WAS THE EPOCH OF THE MASTERS OF LEVITATION Last Line: Their empty sleeves on the blind woman's clothesline IT'LL BURST INTO FLAMES First Line: Mama was beginning to worry about me Last Line: As she walked the parapet again the sunset Subject(s): Family Life; Mothers KITCHEN HELPER First Line: I'm your choppping board Last Line: And seasonings %only you know the name of KNIFE First Line: Father-confessor Last Line: If it's a poem %you want, %take a knife; %a star of solitude, %it will rise and set in your hand LANDSCAPE WITH CRUTCHES First Line: So many crutches. Now even the daylight Last Line: And my mother, mind you, using %two knives for crutches as she squats to pee LATE ARRIVAL First Line: The world was already here Last Line: For you to wonder at %before resuming your walk LATE CALL First Line: A message for you, %mouse turd Last Line: A wrong number, surely? %a slipup? %an erratum LATE SEPTEMBER Poem Text First Line: The mail truck goes down the coast Subject(s): Omens LATE TRAIN Poem Text First Line: A few couples walking off into the dark Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains LATE TRAIN First Line: A few couples walking off into the dark Last Line: While I stretched my neck to hear the tick Subject(s): Railroads LE DAME E I CAVALIERI First Line: Considering our resources, it was a staggering sum Last Line: Looks good but tastes something awful LEAVES First Line: Lovers who take pleasure Last Line: With that one leaf twittering %now darkly, now luminously LEAVING AN UNKNOWN CITY Poem Text First Line: That mutt with ribs showing Subject(s): Farewell; Travel; Parting; Journeys; Trips LESSON First Line: It occurs to me now Last Line: At the memory of my uncle %charging a barricade %with a homemade bomb, %I burst out laughing Subject(s): World War Ii LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC Poem Text First Line: Of neighbors' voices and dishes Subject(s): Relationships LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC First Line: Of neighbors' voices and dishes %being cleared away Last Line: The music over, the night cold LITTLE TEAR-GLAND THAT SAYS First Line: Then there was johann Last Line: Meant to increase the imagination %of the homo sapiens. %and then...The viennese waltz LITTLE UNWRITTEN BOOK Poem Text First Line: Rocky was a regular guy, a loyal friend Subject(s): Animals; Cats LITTLE UNWRITTEN BOOK First Line: Rocky was a regular guy, a loyal friend Last Line: And now the bird is silent too Subject(s): Animals; Cats LIVE AT CLUB MOZAMBIQUE First Line: Our nation's future is coming into view Last Line: A bit of fresh roadkill in his beak LONE TREE First Line: A tree spooked %by its own evening whispers Last Line: Bare twig: %a finger of suspicion LOST GLOVE First Line: Here's a woman's black glove Last Line: And the homeless sleep standing up LOVE POEM First Line: Feather duster Last Line: The little bell on the nanny goat LOVE TALK Poem Text First Line: The truth is, we are nearer to heaven LOVE WORKER First Line: Diligent solely in what concerns love Last Line: Like the clouds, the white clouds MADONNAS TOUCHED UP WITH A GOATEE First Line: Most ancient metaphysics, (poor metaphysics!) Last Line: They all looked like they'd read darwin and that madman %pavlov, %and were about to ask us for a lig MAGIC STUDY OF HAPPINESS First Line: In the smaller theater in the world the bread crumbs speak. It's a mystery Last Line: Are like illicit lovers when they're exceeding and unaccountably %happy MAKE YOURSELF INVISIBLE Poem Text First Line: Drew islands with palm trees Subject(s): Seashore; Family Life; Beach; Coast; Shore; Relatives MAKE YOURSELF INVISIBLE First Line: Drew islands with palm trees Last Line: Where the little red birds %had just fallen silent MAKERS OF LABYRINTHS First Line: I must be absolutely alone when I think Last Line: Made giddy by our youth and our love MAN First Line: Some power company employee Last Line: Sorry and all that... %standing here on the corner, %smokingbutts, whispering. %stargazing a bit too MAN ON THE DUMP First Line: He looked the way I imagine melville's bartleby to have looked the Last Line: Hero was gerard de nerval, famous for promenading teh streets of paris %with a live lobster on a lea Subject(s): Labrunie, Gerard (1808-1855) MANY ZEROS First Line: The teacher rises voiceless before a class Last Line: The stars like teeth marks on children's pencils. %listen toit, he says happily MARCHING First Line: After I forgot about the horses Last Line: Like boats looking for survivors at sea %but no son of yours will rise from the deep MARCHING MUSIC First Line: Our history is both tragic and comic MARINA'S EPIC First Line: The eskimos were ravaging peru Last Line: And nod in our direction MARKED PLAYING CARDS Poem Text First Line: I took my tv and bass fiddle to the pawnshop MARKED PLAYING CARDS First Line: I took my tv and bass fiddle to the pawnshop Last Line: I was ready to be the rest of my clothes on her MARKED PLAYING CARDS First Line: I took my tv and bass fiddle to the pawnshop Last Line: I was ready to bet the rest of my clothes on her Subject(s): Love MARVELS OF THE CITY First Line: I went down the tree-lined street of false gods Last Line: Just took our orders and said nothing MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS First Line: The poets of the late tang dynasty Last Line: Back and forth, searching for something %for that bloody crow to read MASTER OF CEREMONIES First Line: He's shouting again from the rooftop Last Line: Pastry chef, I believe, you're next MATCHES First Line: Very dark when I step Last Line: Great loves that go out %in a puff MEANING First Line: Hidden like that small boy MEDICI SLOT MACHINE 1942-1952 First Line: The name enchants, and so does the idea - the juxtaposition of the Last Line: Deserted platform with its freshly wiped mirror is the new wonder-working %icon of the holy virgin MEDITATION IN THE GUTTER First Line: Of things undescribable! %things unspeakable Last Line: By which its life, too, is being held MEMORY First Line: With all the dead friends and loved ones Last Line: And finding no words in one's mouth MEN DEIFIED BECAUSE OF THEIR CRUELTY First Line: Is it true tyrants have long fingers? Last Line: Because, of course, his hands are bloody MIDPOINT First Line: No sooner had I left a Last Line: Knowing that on the day %of my departure %it will vanish forever %just as a. Did MINDS ROAMING First Line: My neighbor was telling me Last Line: And the little mouse that cat caught MIRRORS AT 4 A.M. Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: You must come to them sideways Subject(s): Mirrors; Self MIRRORS AT 4 A.M. First Line: You must come to them sideways Last Line: To wipe your brow surreptitiously MISFORTUNE ON THE WAY First Line: And not even a cloud in the sky MISS NOSTRADAMUS First Line: Once I adored a seeress, a long-legged one. We Last Line: Babe is being thrown out of a high window by a %woman in flames MISSING CHILD First Line: You of the dusty, sun-yellowed picture Last Line: With its poster of a firemen's ball MUMMY'S CURSE Poem Text First Line: Befriending an eccentric young woman MUTTERING PERHAPS, OR HUMMING First Line: I avidly read the classics MY DARLING PREMONITION First Line: She's got something important to tell me Last Line: But what about? %she wouldn't say MY FATHER'S DREAM First Line: He's writing the history of silence MY FRIEND SOMEONE First Line: By the sudden draft of cool air Last Line: Of white petals and shadows MY MAGICIAN First Line: Someone pulled me out of a tux sleeve Last Line: Where the white clouds float and sheep graze MY PROGRESS ON STILTS First Line: Old-timer, third-rate orpheus Last Line: And thinking they deepen the silence MY QUARREL WITH THE INFINITE First Line: I preferred the fleeting Last Line: Of crows and their shadows MY SHOES Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Shoes, secret face of my inner life Subject(s): Shoes; Boots; Sneakers; Shoemakers MY SHOES First Line: Shoes, secret face of my inner life Last Line: With your mute patience, forming %the only true likeness of myself Subject(s): Shoes MY WEARINESS OF EPIC PROPORTIONS First Line: I like it when Last Line: And of course she can %by that lovely little path %that winds through %the olive orchard MY WIFE LIFTS A FINGER TO HER LIPS First Line: Night is coming Last Line: No, he can't see the fleas MYSTERY WRITER First Line: I figured, well, since I can't sleep Last Line: And I had no one specific in mind MYSTIC LIFE First Line: It's like fishing in the dark Last Line: White shirt-tails and all -- %I'll be damned NANCY JANE Poem Text First Line: Grandma laughing on her deathbed. Subject(s): Death; Dead, The NAVIGATOR First Line: I summoned columbus %at four in the morning Last Line: As if it knew %where it's going where it's been NAVIGATOR First Line: I summoned christopher columbus Last Line: Only the wind rushing off with a screech %as if it just remembered %where it's going, where it's bee NEAREST NAMELESS First Line: So damn familiar Last Line: And I felt myself tremble NEW YORK POEMS First Line: In new york on 14th street Last Line: By a woman in flames NIGHT IN THE HOUSE OF CARDS First Line: A lot of dust has settled today Last Line: The girl on the back of the card wore NIGHT PICNIC First Line: There was the sky, starless and vast Last Line: And then finally, she moistened her lips NORTH First Line: The ancients knew the sorrows of exile Subject(s): Exiles; North, The NORTHERN EXPOSURE First Line: When old women say, it smells of snow Last Line: As if someone is scribbling over them %with a piece of charcoal found in the cold stove NOTE Poem Text First Line: A rat came on stage Subject(s): Rats NOTE First Line: A rat came on stage Last Line: Where someone hit him, %in earnest, %once, and then twice more, %with a heavy object Subject(s): Rats NOTE SLIPPED UNDER A DOOR Poem Text First Line: I saw a high window struck blind Subject(s): Houses NOTE SLIPPED UNDER A DOOR First Line: I saw a high window struck blind Last Line: I saw stones that had come %from a great purple distance %huddle around the front door NURSERY RHYME First Line: The little pig goes to market Last Line: I see a blur, a speck, meager, receding, %our lives trailing in its wake O FADING MEMORY! First Line: In my childhood, toy shops still sold miniature theaters made of Last Line: War was just over. There was little to do but imagine OBSCURE BEGINNINGS First Line: I was a winter fly on the ceiling Last Line: The red parrot screaming in the parrot house OCTOBER ARRIVING First Line: I only have a measly ant OCTOBER LIGHT First Line: That same light by which I saw her last Last Line: And lay still around her two feet ODD SYMPATHIES First Line: Your continuous yawning makes Last Line: Previously secreted %till this rash epidemic OFFICIAL INQUIRY AMONG THE GRAINS OF SAND First Line: You're wholly anonymous. %you believe yourself living incognita Last Line: The indistinguishable you OLD COUPLE Poem Text Subject(s): Old Age; Togetherness; Mortality OLD COUPLE First Line: They're waiting to be murdered Last Line: I know his hand has reached hers %just as she was about to turn on the lights OLD MOUNTAIN ROAD First Line: In the dusk of the evening Last Line: Child! I though of calling out, %knowing myself a born doubter OLD POSTCARD OF 42ND STREET AT NIGHT First Line: I'm looking for the mechanical chess player with a red turban. I hear Last Line: Five-headed cerberus, and two eyes opened wide in astonishment OLD WORLD First Line: I believe in the soul; so far Last Line: Oh to be one of them, the wine whispered to me ON PRETEXT First Line: A child was taught ON THE ROAD TO SOMEWHERE ELSE First Line: The leaves made us think Last Line: In the quick flare of a match ON THE SAGGING PORCH First Line: Sits the grim-looking president Last Line: And growl at you a little, %is called judas ON THIS VERY STREET IN BELGRADE Poem Text First Line: Your mother carried you Subject(s): Belgrade, Serbia; Balkan Conflicts (yugoslavia) ON THURSDAY First Line: I met the mortician on the street ONCE-OVER First Line: Slaves of fatality, at times you remember Last Line: With the grainy old film noir over ONE TO WORRY ABOUT First Line: I failed miserably at imagining nothing Last Line: As if all along she knew what I was thinking ORACULO ASTRAL First Line: A bamboo cage on the sidewalk Last Line: Lying blank on the table between us OUR ANGELIC ANCESTOR First Line: Rimbaud should have gone to america instead of lad chad. He'd Last Line: Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley OUTSIDE A DIRTROAD TRAILER First Line: O exegetes, somber hermeneuts OUTSIDE BIAGGI'S FUNERAL HOME First Line: Three old women sat knitting Last Line: After a long, long while PAIN First Line: I was doing nothing in particular Last Line: I sometimes used as a mirror PAINTERS OF ANGELS AND SERAPHIM First Line: After a long lunch of roast lamb PARADISE MOTEL Poem Text First Line: Millions were dead; everybody was innocent Subject(s): Hotels; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses PARADISE MOTEL First Line: Millions were dead; everybody was innocent Last Line: Had too much red in it, too much pink Subject(s): Hotels PART OF THE MISSING WHOLE First Line: Empty space and silence. The city like a chessboard in which the Last Line: In a bare, whitewashed room %with a quiet sign PARTIAL EXPLANATION First Line: Seems like a long time Last Line: On the conversation %of cooks Subject(s): Restaurants PAST THE ANIMAL HOSPITAL First Line: Maria, the lovebug, perez Last Line: And she said nothing PAST-LIVES THERAPY Poem Text First Line: They explained to me the bloody bandages Subject(s): Farm Life; Birth; War; Agriculture; Farmers; Child Birth; Midwifery PASTORAL First Line: I came to a meadow Last Line: Spat in the palms of my hands %to catch stars in them %like fireflies %and light her way to me PASTORAL HARPSICHORD First Line: A house with a sagging porch Last Line: I went out to make chamber music %against the sunflowers in the yard PEACEFUL KINGDOM First Line: The bird who watches me Last Line: My sister says if I drink %of that water I will die... %that's why the heart beats: %to waken the wa PEACEFUL TREES First Line: All shivers Last Line: Whispering %to the master-whisperers %of their own %early evening silences PIECES OF THE CLOCK LIE SCATTERED First Line: So, hurry up! PIETY Poem Text First Line: A plain black cotton dress Last Line: With eyes closed Subject(s): Piety PIETY First Line: A plain black cotton dress Last Line: If you close your eyes, %there's even a tiny rip %on the level of thighs, %the curlicue of blackest Subject(s): Piety PIGEONS AT DAWN Poem Text First Line: Extraordinary efforts are being made Subject(s): Morning; City & Town Life; Pigeons PIGEONS AT DAWN First Line: Extraordinary efforts are being made Last Line: All but invisible, but for her slender arm PILLOW First Line: Are we still travelling? Last Line: For those who grit their teeth in sleep %to lay down their heads PLACE First Line: They were talking about the war PLACE AT THE OUTSKIRTS First Line: Gods trying different costumes Last Line: Waiting to take your order PLACE IN THE COUNTRY First Line: How well these dogs and their fleas POEM Poem Text First Line: Every morning I forget how it is Subject(s): Shoes; Boots; Sneakers; Shoemakers POEM First Line: Those happy days when I climbed Last Line: They lay squeezed like the poor in their beds, %and I was the captain in the crow's nest POEM First Line: My father writes all day, all night Last Line: When the bottle empties %his great dark hand %bigger than the earth %feels for the moon's spigot POEM First Line: Every morning I forget how it is Last Line: How I have to put them on, %how bending over to tie them up %I will look into the earth POEM WITHOUT A TITLE Poem Text First Line: I say to the lead Subject(s): Lead (metal) POEM WITHOUT A TITLE First Line: I say to the lead Last Line: Nobody answers. %lead. Bullet. %with names like that %the sleep is deep and long POINT First Line: This is the story Last Line: Inside the tongue %a loose hair. %inside the hair, %they found %whatever %is destroyed %each time %I POLICE DOGS IN A DOG-GROOMER'S WINDOW POPULAR MECHANICS First Line: The enormous engineering problems POSITION WITHOUT A MAGNITUDE First Line: As when someone Last Line: And you shudder %as you realize it's only you %on your way %to the blinding sunlight %of the street POVERTY First Line: When I looked at my poverty PRIMER First Line: This kid got so dirty Last Line: To make you sleepy, %and make you grow strong PRISONER First Line: He is thinking of us Last Line: It's been so long. He has trouble %deciding what else is there. %and all along the suspicion %that w PRIVATE EYE Poem Text First Line: To find clues where there are none Subject(s): Detective Stories PRIVATE EYE First Line: To find clues where there are none Last Line: I'm not closing up till he breaks Subject(s): Detective Stories PRODIGAL First Line: Dark morning rain Last Line: Knocking at the front door PRODIGY Poem Text Recitation First Line: I grew up bent over Subject(s): Children; Games; World War Ii; Childhood; Recreation; Pastimes; Amusements; Second World War PRODIGY First Line: I grew up bent over Last Line: In chess, too, the professor told me, %the masters play blindfolded, %the great ones on several boar Subject(s): Children; Games; World War Ii PROMISES OF LENIENCY AND FORGIVENESS Poem Text First Line: Orphanage in the rain PROMISES OF LENIENCY AND FORGIVENESS First Line: Orphanage in the rain Last Line: Like wigs, fright wigs for the infinite PROMPTER First Line: The one who had been whispering Last Line: And not this great sweep of nothing PROSE POEM Poem Text First Line: I was stolen by the gypsies. My parents stole me right back. Then the PSALM First Line: Old ones to the side Last Line: The forest is old, older than sleep, %older than this psalm I'm making up as I go PUPPET SHOW: HEROIC AGE First Line: Icarus wore bright red sneakers Last Line: Ulysses was the name of a three-legged dog PUPPET SHOW: IN THE NIGHT First Line: The winds are making soup Last Line: Weathervane soup PUPPET SHOW: PUPPET First Line: The infinite number of lines Last Line: Looks like a child's scribble PUPPET SHOW: QUICK EATS First Line: The deaf and dumb waiter Last Line: To a blind old woman PUPPET SHOW: STOREFRONT CHURCH First Line: A scar-faced preacher Last Line: A condom with spikes PUPPET SHOW: THE MYSTIC HOUR First Line: God liks to dress himself as the devil Last Line: Full of children at play PUPPET-MAKER Poem Text First Line: In his fear of solitude, he made us. Subject(s): City & Town Life; Solitude; Night; Loneliness; Bedtime PYRAMIDS AND SPHINXES First Line: There's a street in paris Last Line: With the head of a sphinx staring at me QUALITY OF LIGHT First Line: You worship a few oblique truths QUICK EATS First Line: Trees like evangelists Last Line: Storm-threatening west QUIET TALK WITH ONESELF First Line: As spring flowers are promised by Last Line: Eyes on the lookout for some angelic customer to serve - %some daisy picking poppies instead of dais RASKILNIKOV First Line: Philosophical murderer, times are propitious Last Line: Speeding through the red light? READ YOUR FATE Poem Text First Line: A world's disappearing. Subject(s): Fate; Destiny READ YOUR FATE First Line: A world's disappearing Last Line: As if after a rooster %with its head chopped off READING HISTORY First Line: At times, reading here Last Line: And thinks of me as god, %as devil RELAXING IN A MADHOUSE First Line: They had already attached the evening's tears to the windowpanes Last Line: In the white pavilion the nurse was turning water into wine. Cloud RIDDLE Poem Text First Line: Hangs by a thread Subject(s): Riddles ROACH MOTEL First Line: The fears of my mother Last Line: Because I keep lying all the time ROAD IN THE CLOUDS First Line: Your undergarments and mine Last Line: Down a steep winding road %to the blue sea ROADSIDE STAND First Line: In the watermelon and corn season Last Line: Straightening crumpled bills in a cigar box ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE Poem Text First Line: To gireve, always to suffer Subject(s): Grief; Transience; Sorrow; Sadness; Impermanence ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE First Line: To grieve, always to suffer Last Line: And its dumb tongue begins to move darkly ROMANTIC SONNET Poem Text Subject(s): Family Life; Childhood Memories; Relatives ROMANTIC SONNET First Line: Evenings of sovereign clarity Last Line: O time, I keep chewing and chewing ROSALIA First Line: An especially forlorn human specimen Last Line: White snowflakes falling for rosalia rissi %but as many lampblack ones! ROUGH OUTLINE First Line: The famous torturer takes a walk Last Line: Down by the slaughterhouse a dog-like creature howled %then the snow started to fall again RURAL DELIVERY First Line: I never thought we'd end up Last Line: Homeward lit by the same fuel %as the snow glinting in the gloom %of the early nightfall RUSTY KEY First Line: From a cigar box full of rusty keys %in a roadside junk shop Last Line: And someone sobbing bitterly %causing all that rust SCARECROW First Line: God's refuted, but the devil's not SCHOOL FOR DARK THOUGHTS First Line: At daybreak Last Line: There are windows %and blackboards, %one can only see through %with eyes closed SCHOOL OF METAPHYSICS First Line: Executioner happy to explain Last Line: He wanted me to understand %right then and there Subject(s): Education; Metaphysics SECRET First Line: I have my excuse, mr. Death Last Line: On her lips, and held it there SECRET HISTORY Poem Text First Line: Of the light in my room: Subject(s): Time SECRET OF THE YELLOW ROOM First Line: Sloth's best. Lolling on a sofa Last Line: To click on the yellow table lamp SELF-PORTRAIT IN BED First Line: For imaginary visitors, I had a chair Last Line: Worrying about my soul, I'm sure SERVING TIME Poem Text First Line: Another dreary day in time's invisible Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Time; Convicts SEVERE FIGURES First Line: If death and liberty SHADOW PUBLISHING COMPANY First Line: This couple strolling arm in arm Last Line: Only the scent of the lilacs on the pillow SHAVING AT NIGHT First Line: The profile of a man who waits Last Line: There's still the upper-lip to examine, %the trembling chin,the throat %with its large adam's apple SHELLEY Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Poet of the dead leaves driven like ghosts Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822) SHELLEY First Line: Poet of the dead leaves driven like ghosts Last Line: Afraid of my small windowless room %cold as a tomb of an infant emperor Subject(s): Poetry And Poets; Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822) SHIP OF FOOLS First Line: I'm a stowaway in the crow's nest Last Line: Coming to deliver pink roses to the nun SHIRT First Line: To get into it Last Line: Doubling back now %through a knotted sleeve SILENT CHILD First Line: He steals a hair SIX PROSE POEMS First Line: The clouds told him their names in the quiet of the summer ... SLAUGHTERHOUSE FLIES First Line: Evenings, they ran their bloody feet Last Line: Just as the blade drops down on them SLEEP First Line: The woodpecker goes beating a little drum Last Line: Every beast shall see its track and wonder SLURRED WORDS First Line: Taking cover in the closet Last Line: At the end of his long stick SOAP BUBBLE SET (1936) First Line: A soap bubble went to meet infinity Last Line: World is beautiful but not sayable. That's why we need art SOLITUDE First Line: There now, where the first crumb Last Line: The ants are putting on %their quakers' hats %and setting out to visit you SOLVING THE RIDDLE First Line: The cloud's a clue. O cloud! Last Line: Inside my wine bottle %I was constructing a lighthouse %while all the others %were making sailing sh SOME NIGHTS First Line: Many fine pastries line the shelves Last Line: Filled with almonds of heaven and hell SOMETHING First Line: Here come my night thoughts Last Line: So you don't go off muttering %I saw something SPOON First Line: An old spoon Last Line: Ready to scratch %today's date %and your name %on the bare wall SPOONS WITH REALISTIC DEAD FLIES ON THEM First Line: I cause great many worries to my mother Last Line: Looks both ways crossing the street %at two gusts of nothing and nothing SPRING First Line: That is what I saw -- old snow on the ground Last Line: And have a good laugh, while covering herself SQUINTING SUSPICIOUSLY First Line: I am watching time crawl roachlike Last Line: A blanket over you, and so do I ST. THOMAS AQUINAS First Line: I left parts of myself everywhere Last Line: And I could see nothing but overflowing ashtrays %the human-faced flies were busy examining STONE Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Go inside a stone Subject(s): Stones; Granite; Rocks STONE First Line: Go inside a stone Last Line: Just enough light to make out %the strange writings, the star-charts %on the inner walls STORY OF HAPPINESS First Line: Happiness, unknown woman, %there's a childhood picture Last Line: Over the nevada desert, when STORY OF MY LUCK First Line: Thre was a famous palm reader Last Line: And all I could do was scratch my head STREAM First Line: The ear threading Last Line: All night meditating %on what she asks of me %when she doesn't %when I hear myself say %she doesn't STREET First Line: Heavy mirror carried Last Line: By someone I can't even see, %to whom, too, I'm bowing STREET CORNER THEOLOGY First Line: It ought to be clear that cornell is a religious artist. Vision is his Last Line: Making art in america is about saving one's soul STREET OF JEWELERS First Line: What each one of these hundreds Last Line: Specks of dust in the dying sunlight STREET PREACHER First Line: Regiments of the damned, halt! Last Line: Its orange lights flashing all by themselves %all night long Variant Title(s): The Preacher Say STREET SCENE First Line: A blind little boy Last Line: The two of them grinning at me STREET VENTRILOQUIST First Line: The bearded old man on the corner Last Line: That already had that seen-a-ghost look STRICTLY BUCOLIC First Line: Are these mellifluous sheep Last Line: Plus the cauldrons of stinking cabbage and boiled turnips %which don't figure in this idyll STRONG BOY First Line: Lifting dumbbells for all to see STUB ON A RED PENCIL First Line: You were sharpened to a fine point Last Line: Stub on a red pencil SUFFERING Poem Text First Line: Shall I sell it door to door? Subject(s): Doppeldoppelgangers SUITCASE STRAPPED WITH A ROPE First Line: They made themselves so tiny Last Line: Unless, of course, it was a burglar %and he knew another way to go SUMMER IN THE COUNTRY First Line: One shows me how to lie down in a field of clover Last Line: Having the nerve to ask me to go get her a whip SUMMER MORNING Poem Text Recitation First Line: I love to stay in bed Subject(s): Morning SUMMER MORNING First Line: I love to stay in bed Last Line: And all of a sudden! %in the midst of that quiet, %it seems possible %to live simply on this earth Subject(s): Morning SUMMONS First Line: The robes of the judges are magnificent Last Line: And the old cleaning women who sweep them, %knowing each flake by its suffering and name SUNDAY PAPERS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The butchery of the innocent Subject(s): War; Sabbath; Religion; Innocence; Sunday; Theology SUNSET'S COLORING BOOK First Line: The blue trees argue with the red wind Last Line: The golden mountain touches the black sky TALKING TO LITTLE BIRDIES Poem Text First Line: Not a peep out of you now Subject(s): Birds TALKING TO LITTLE BIRDIES First Line: Not a peep out of you now Last Line: As you watch me go to speak to them TALKING TO THE CEILING First Line: The moths rustle the pages of the evening papers Last Line: Little rain, keep on falling softly TAPESTRY Poem Text First Line: It hangs from heaven to earth Subject(s): Tapestries TAPESTRY First Line: It hangs from heaven to earth Last Line: They'll shave his beard, nose, ears and hair, %to make him look like everyone else Subject(s): Tapestries TATTOOED CITY Poem Text First Line: I, who am only an incomprehensible Subject(s): Self; City & Town Life TATTOOED CITY First Line: I, who am only an incomprehensible Last Line: With other unknown divinities %in an underpass with rain falling TERMS First Line: A child crying in the night Last Line: Listening to a child crying in the night %with a hope, %it will go on crying a little longer TERRA INCOGNITA First Line: America still waits to be discovered. Its tramps and poets resemble Last Line: On the street again, the man in the white suit turning the corner %could be the ghost of the dead po THAT SLANT OF LIGHT First Line: My trees, I no longer recognize you Last Line: Still fussing to tuck her dreaming children %into her dark garments THE ALTAR Poem Text First Line: The plastic statue of the virgin THE BATHER Poem Text First Line: Where the path to the lake twists out of sigh Subject(s): Swimming & Swimmers THE BODY Poem Text First Line: This last continent Subject(s): Body, Human THE CLOCKS OF THE DEAD Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: One night I went to keep the clock company Subject(s): Clocks; Time; Silence THE ELUSIVE SOMETHING Poem Text First Line: Is it in some crack in the pavement Subject(s): Longing THE FLIES Poem Text First Line: Here are the baits, the hooks Subject(s): Flies THE FRIENDS OF HERACLITUS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Your friend has died, with whom Subject(s): Death; Friendship; Imaginary Conversations; City & Town Life; Philosophy & Philosophers; Dead, The THE GRASS Poem Text First Line: It all hangs now on a blade of grass Subject(s): Grass; Longing THE IMMORTAL Poem Text First Line: You're shivering my memory Subject(s): Teaching & Teachers; Memory; Time; Memory; Educators; Professors THE INITIATE Poem Text First Line: St. John of the cross wore dark glasses Subject(s): City & Town Life THE INNER MAN Poem Text First Line: It isn't the body Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Dissenters; Exiles; Marginality, Social; Estrangement; Outcasts THE INVITATION Poem Text First Line: We are going to serve a late lunch Subject(s): Food & Eating THE LESSON Poem Text First Line: It occurs to me now Subject(s): World War Ii; Second World War THE MAN ON THE DUMP Poem Text First Line: He looked the way I imagine melville's bartleby to have looked the Subject(s): Labrunie, Gerard (1808-1855); Nerval, Gerard De (188-1855) THE MELON Poem Text First Line: There was a melon fresh from the garden Subject(s): Melons; Death; Hornets; Family Life; Dead, The; Relatives THE NORTH Poem Text First Line: The ancients knew the sorrows of exile Subject(s): Exiles; North, The THE OLDEST CHILD Poem Text First Line: The night still frightens you. Subject(s): Night; Children; Bedtime; Childhood THE PARTIAL EXPLANATION Poem Text Recitation First Line: Seems like a long time Subject(s): Restaurants; Cafes; Diners THE PILLOW Poem Text First Line: Are we still travelling? Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation THE PROMPTER Poem Text First Line: The one who had been whispering Subject(s): Nothingness; Nihilism; Voids THE SCHOOL OF METAPHYSICS Poem Text First Line: Executioner happy to explain Subject(s): Education; Metaphysics THE SOMETHING Poem Text First Line: Here come my night thoughts Subject(s): Thought; Thinking THE SUPRFEME MOMENT Poem Text First Line: As an ant is powerless Subject(s): Ants; Death; Dead, The THE VICES OF THE EVENING Poem Text First Line: The way the light and shadow Subject(s): Evening; Shadows; Sunset; Twilight THE WHITE ROOM Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The obvious is difficult Subject(s): Summer; Trees; Mind, The THE WOODEN TOY Poem Text First Line: The brightly-painted horse Subject(s): Toys; Childhood Memories THEATRICAL COSTUMES First Line: A present from neighborly burglars Last Line: And blowing the smoke out his mouth THEORY First Line: If a cuckoo comes into the village Last Line: Of cuckoos to cuckoo must cuckoo alone Variant Title(s): The Way It I THESE ARE POETS WHO SERVICE CHURCH CLOCKS First Line: Many people have already speculated about the relationship Last Line: Cosmic church in which we always stand aloe. Silence is the only %language god speaks THESE HOMEMADE DOLLS ARE NO GOOD First Line: Philosophers practicing their scissor-clips THESEUS AND ARIADNE First Line: I shall go about with my eyes closed. The streets will no longer be Last Line: There! Up and down broadway where I play my game THIS MORNING Poem Text First Line: Enter without knocking, hard-working ant. Subject(s): Ants; Longing THIS MORNING First Line: Enter without knocking, hard-working ant Last Line: Muting each drop in her wild-beating heart THOUSAND YEARS WITH SOLITUDE First Line: Toward evening %when it stops snowing THUS First Line: Blue devils' Last Line: The kind storefront gypsies make %when they sit staring at the rain, %their lips just barely moving TIDBIT First Line: He stuck his nose TIGER First Line: In san francisco, that winter Last Line: The gritty winds, he once wrote TO ALL HOG-RAISERS, MY ANCESTORS First Line: When I eat pork, it's solemn business TO HELEN First Line: Tomorrow early I'm going to the doctor TO THE ONE TUNNELLING First Line: Penitentiaries secured for the night Last Line: Through a small crack in our door TO THE ONE UPSTAIRS Poem Text First Line: Boss of all bosses of the universe Subject(s): God TO THE ONE UPSTAIRS First Line: Boss of all bosss of the infinite universe Last Line: As I scribble this note to you in the dark TO THINK CLEARLY First Line: What I need is a pig and an angel Last Line: As he struts across the yard TOAD'S POOLHALL First Line: I'm tired of all this, I said Last Line: And then I missed the shot TOMB OF STEPHANE MALLARME First Line: Beginning to know Last Line: Death's great amateur %night %the childhood of parmenides %oh yeah TOWARD NIGHTFALL First Line: The weight of tragic events TOY FACTORY Poem Text First Line: My mother works here Subject(s): Toys; World War Ii; Second World War TOY FACTORY First Line: My mother works [or, is] here Last Line: Their spades are heavy, %their spades are much too heavy. %perhaps that's how %it's supposed to be? Subject(s): Toys; World War Ii TRAGIC ARCHITECTURE First Line: School, prison, trees in the wind Last Line: Lashed by the driving wind TRAGIC SENSE OF LIFE First Line: Because few here recall the old wars Last Line: Dark woods everywhere, closing in on me TRAVELER IN A STRANGE LAND First Line: A white pigeon pecking on the marble steps of the library watched Last Line: Next, it p[erched on the shoulder of a black man riding a bicycle at %daybreak down sixth avenue TRAVELLING First Line: I turn myself into a sack Last Line: But I say nothing, what can a sack %stuffed to its throat say? TRAVELLING SLAUGHTERHOUSE First Line: Durer, I like that horse of yours Last Line: He says, we are a travelling slaughterhouse. %ah the poor horse, he lets me eat his heart out! TREE OF SUBTLETIES First Line: The leaves of that tree in the yard, %if you ask me, are hinting Last Line: Was whispering his verses %to the white chickens pecking the corn TREES AT NIGHT First Line: Putting out the light Last Line: To which death attaches %a fluttering handkerchief. %and the wind makes %a big deal out of it TREES IN THE OPEN COUNTRY First Line: Like those who were eyewitnesses TROUBLE WITH POETRY First Line: The only thing poetry has always been good for is to make children Last Line: My grandfather I can't sleep at night TRUE HISTORY First Line: Which cannot be put into words Last Line: With a sheet draped over his head TRUTH OF POETRY First Line: A toy is a trap for dreamers. The true toy is a poetic object Last Line: Revery, an object that would enrich the imagination of the viewer and %keep him company forever TURN ON THE LIGHTS First Line: A tiny, no-see fly, %buzzing, pestering us Last Line: And bitten raw in the dark TWO DOGS First Line: An old dog afraid of his own shadow TWO RIDDLES First Line: Hangs by a thread Last Line: All that's known about it, %is that it goes goes %without saying UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT First Line: The tunnel of love at the fair Last Line: Moonlit and deserted parking lots UNSEEN HAND First Line: It goes about its business, %catching flies Last Line: This short breathe, %before the final snatch UNTITLED (PINK PALACE) C. 1946-48 First Line: Another oneiric play house. A phantom palace in a forest of bare Last Line: Microscopic figures one images were strolling the day the artist drew %the scene UNTITLED (WHITE BALLS IN COTS) MID 1950 First Line: This box has the appearance of a game board, a puzzle, or perhaps Last Line: How's this terrifying game to be played? UTOPIA CUISINE First Line: It's raining on utopia parkway. The invalid brother is playing with Last Line: Forges of antiquities, lovers of times past, employ the same method VARIANT First Line: A police dog eating grass Last Line: Obviously, what the poor mutt needs %is a mean old stepmother %to tap him on the back %quickly %not VAUDEVILLE DE LUXE First Line: My baby's got a black dat bone.' Last Line: In the meantime, you've got to whisper to the black cat bone if you %want to do its thing VIA DEL TRITONE First Line: In rome, on the street of that name Last Line: In that monstrous heat that gives birth %to false memories and tritons VOICE FROM THE CAGE First Line: Mr. Zoo keeper, will you be making your rounds today? We are Last Line: Ors is a circus of quick, terrified glances VOYAGE TO CYTHERIA First Line: I'll go to the island of cythera Last Line: In the evening darkness VOYAHE TO CYTHERA Poem Text First Line: I'll go the island of cythera Subject(s): Love - Unrequited WALL First Line: That's the only image Last Line: And nothing else; and nowhere %to go back to; %and no one else %as far as I know to verify WANTED POSTER First Line: From off a closed, block-long post office Last Line: To go around grinning at every woman you meet? WAR First Line: The trembling finger of a woman WATCH REPAIR Poem Text First Line: A small wheel Subject(s): Watches WATCH REPAIR First Line: A small wheel Last Line: We raise it %to the lips %of the nearest %ear Subject(s): Watches WATCHING THE HEARSE First Line: Your hearse pulled by deep summer twilight Last Line: Saying, of course, the whole thing is a joke WATER First Line: Not only a fear. She exists. %I swear it. I see her often Last Line: One must practice to become her equal WATERMELONS Poem Text First Line: Green buddhas / on the fruit stand Subject(s): Watermelons WATERMELONS First Line: Green buddhas %on the fruit stand Last Line: And spit out the teeth Subject(s): Watermelons WE COMPREHEND BY AWE First Line: Whiteman, too, saw poetry everywhere. In 1913 appolinaire spoke Last Line: Stones of the pavement, the hidden signs of the new melancholy WE WERE SO POOR Last Line: Fur collar which she stroked until its sparks lit up the cellar WEATHER OF THE SOUL First Line: It's raining, it's pouring WHAT MOZART SAW ON MULBERRY STREET First Line: If you love watching movies from the middle on, cornell is your Last Line: Surrealist. He believes in charms and good luck WHAT THE GYPSIES TOLD MY GRANDMOTHER WHILE SHE WAS STILL A First Line: War, illness and famine will make you their favorite grandchild Last Line: Question no further, that's all I know WHAT THE WHITE HAD TO SAY First Line: Because I am the bullet Last Line: At the speed of night. That milk tooth %you left under the pillow, it's grinning WHERE CHANCE MEETS NECESSITY First Line: Somewhere in the city of new york thereare four or five still Last Line: An infinite number of interesting objects in an infinite number of unlikely %places WHEREIN OBSCURELY Poem Text First Line: On the road with billowing poplars Subject(s): Togetherness WHEREIN OBSCURELY First Line: On the road with billowing poplars WHISPERS IN THE NEXT ROOM First Line: The hospital barber, for instance Last Line: No one, not even myself, %bent as I was, intently, over the razor WHITE Poem Text First Line: Out of poverty Subject(s): White (color); Conduct Of Life WHITE ROOM First Line: The obvious is diicult Last Line: In that bright light - %and trees waiting for the night WHITE: 1 First Line: Out of poverty Last Line: It touched you once, twice, %and tore like a stitch %out of a new wound WHITE: 2 First Line: What are you up to son of a gun? Last Line: Does anyone still say a prayer %before going to bed? %white sleeplessness. %no one knows its weight WHOSE EYES TO CATCH, WHOSE EYES TO AVOID First Line: She has just walked by WILLIAM AND CYNTHIA First Line: Says she'll take him to the museum WINDOW First Line: Serious-looking %nearsighted old woman WINDOW DECORATOR First Line: I see you put christmas lights Last Line: A solitary flake freshly fallen %on her flushed cheek WINDOW WASHER First Line: And again the screech of the scaffold Last Line: Before these dark offices, %and their anonymous multitudes %bent over this day's wondrously useless WINDY EVENING Poem Text First Line: This old world needs propping up Subject(s): Wind WINDY EVENING First Line: This old world needs propping up WINTER EVENING First Line: These hunches I get, cold shivers Last Line: Their tragic robes, %and so did the night WINTER NIGHT First Line: The church is an iceberg Last Line: An iceberg, the book says, is a large drifting %piece of ice, broken off a glacier WINTER SUNSET First Line: Such skies were seen on the eve of great battles WITH CHARLES AND HOLLY AT GIUBBE ROSSE IN FLORENCE First Line: He's a wise man who conquers hope Last Line: Saying nothing just then %about the few of us thus engaged WITH EYES VEILED First Line: First they dream about it WITH HEART RACING First Line: Give yourself over to the moment Last Line: As they give ear to the rain WITHOUT A SOUGH OF WIND First Line: Against the backdrop WOMAN AT THE BAR First Line: She watched men turn into animals WOODEN TOY First Line: The brightly-painted horse Last Line: Psst, someone said behind my back WORLD First Line: As if I were a shade tree WORLD DOESN'T END, SELS. WORLD DOESN'T END, SELS. First Line: I was stolen by the gypsies. My parents stole me right back. Then the Last Line: Dish, the even more absurd vanity mirror, and the faintly sounding sil %ver bell Subject(s): Future Life WORM OF CONSCIENCE First Line: Nightcrawler, is it time? WRITINGS OF THE MYSTICS First Line: On the counter among many Last Line: Since it must be long past dinner, the one they ate quickly %happy that your small portion %went to |
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