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Author: SMITH, WILLIAM JAY
Matches Found: 379


Smith, William Jay    Poet's Biography
379 poems available by this author


1 THE EAGLE WARRIOR: AN INVOCATION       
First Line: This life-size ceramic man costumed as an eagle
Last Line: Tense-taloned, %be their emblem, be their witness, be their scribe
Variant Title(s): The Eagle Warrior: An Invocatio
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


2 THE CHEROKEE LOTTERY       
First Line: When the cherokees refused to leave
Last Line: The thunder rolled away, %and no rain fell
Variant Title(s): The Cherokee Lotter
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


3 OF 25    Poem Text    
First Line: Downing his drink to toasts of cut-rate jokes
Last Line: When camera clicks, with quick, conclusive fact
Variant Title(s): 3 For 25
Subject(s): War


3 OF 25       
First Line: Downing his drink to toasts of cut-rate jokes
Last Line: Is right only if he remains in black and white %when camera clicks with quick, conclusive fact
Variant Title(s): 3 For 2
Subject(s): War


3 THE TRAIL       
First Line: Past corn
Last Line: Tear %trail
Variant Title(s): The Trai
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


4 THE PUMPKIN FIELD       
First Line: What a grand lot they were
Last Line: And glowing still when I awoke-- %as they do now, and as they always will
Variant Title(s): The Pumpkin Fiel
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Politics; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


5 THE BONE-PICKER       
First Line: In the old days, when a choctaw died
Last Line: And in my heart I feel his claw, %and on the wind I hear his wail
Variant Title(s): The Buzzard Ma
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


6 THE PLAYERS       
First Line: A curtain of green divides--and there they are
Last Line: There will be no surrender, general. There will be no peace; %only the murderer who waits, only the
Variant Title(s): The Player
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


7 SITTING BULL IN SERBIA       
First Line: A hundred years ago, they say, buffalo bill
Last Line: Plunge down the western sky %headlong into the night
Variant Title(s): Sitting Bull In Serbi
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


A GREEN PLACE    Poem Text    
First Line: I know a place all fennel-green and fine
Subject(s): Landscape


A PARABLE    Poem Text    
First Line: Thougjh well acquainted, mind and heart
Subject(s): Hearts; Mind, The


A PAVANE FOR THE NURSERY        Recitation
First Line: Now touch the air softly
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


A PLAQUE FOR FOREST PARK    Poem Text    
First Line: The terrapin at times must surely tire
Subject(s): Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature


A TUNE FOR THE TELETYPE    Poem Text    
First Line: O teletype, tell us of time-clocks and trouble
Subject(s): Machinery & Machinists; Office Work; Life, Modern


ABRUPTLY ALL THE PALM TREES       
First Line: Abruptly all the palm trees rose like parasols
Last Line: And all the world went wading toward the wave
Variant Title(s): Abruptly All The Palm Trees Rose Like Parasol


ABRUPTLY ALL THE PALM TREES ROSE LIKE PARASOLS    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Palm Trees; Time


ACADEMIC PROCESSION    Poem Text    
First Line: Conversant with a day no longer ours
Subject(s): Graduations & Graduates; Academia


ACADEMIC PROCESSION       
First Line: Conversant with a day no longer ours
Last Line: This days' for earth's own guardians who but lack %the central corpse


AFRICAN SEQUENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: Down from the woodlands and over the whispering dunes
Subject(s): Africa


AFTER THE HURRICANE       
First Line: After the hurricane on the island of st. Croix
Last Line: And felt the foam uncurl along a coral reef %as over a necklace of skulls


ALL EARFTH'S DEVIDED    Poem Text    
First Line: All earth's divided in two parts
Subject(s): Activity; Thought; Exercise; Thinking


ALL EARTH'S DIVIDED       
First Line: All earth's divided in two parts
Last Line: And the mobs march on with mr. Hobbes %to the hymns of mrs. Eddy


AMERICAN PRIMITIVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Look at him there in his stovepipe hat
Subject(s): Men; Social Protest


AMERICAN PRIMITIVE       
First Line: Look at him there in his stovepipe hat
Last Line: And I love my daddy like he loves his dollar
Subject(s): Men; Social Protest


ANDREW JACKSON       
Last Line: Except perhaps whether he like his coffee black, and with, or without, chicory


ANGRY MAN       
First Line: Reason slumbers; and in the terrible isolation of my anger I observe
Last Line: And the whip, having answered unreasoning reason, rests limp %at my side--a tassel, a tail, a reed


ANTIMACASSAR AND THE OTTOMAN       
First Line: I am leaving this house as soon as I can'
Last Line: And neither had flown to turkistan - %the antimacassar nor the ottoman


APRIL       
First Line: April has come, and all the hills
Last Line: A song of welcome...It is spring!


ARROW       
First Line: If body is a bow, and soul the string
Last Line: And being conquered, conquer - and so sing!


ARTIST AND HIS PENCIL: A SEARCH FOR THE PUREBLOODS       
First Line: Sixty-three indian tribes were represented in oklahoma - all
Last Line: Each one, each untouched tribe, recorded in a never-ending moment, %distinct and clear
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


AT DELPHI       
First Line: This morning on the edge of parnassus we watched the old woman
Last Line: The night drifts fully in, thread over fine, thin fingers at the %center of the earth


AT THE MOMENT THE DOCTOR APPEARED       
Last Line: Have hidden their cheese in my beard


AT THE TERMINAL    Poem Text    
First Line: Time is perched on the wrist in fond farewell
Subject(s): Farewell; Parting


AT THE TERMINAL       
First Line: Time's perched upon the wrist in fond farewell
Last Line: Green's the signal, love, where now you go %as there the peacock moves upon the snow


AT THE THEATER: THE DEATH OF OSCEOLA       
First Line: The theater was packed, and just before the curtain rose
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39); Native Americans - Removal


AT THE THEATER: THE DEATH OF OSCEOLA       
First Line: The theater was packed, and just before the curtain rose
Last Line: Osceola's head, along with the others in the doctor's cabinet, %went up in flames
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


AT THE TOMBS OF THE HOUSE OF SAVOY    Poem Text    
First Line: Turin beneath, on the green banks of the po
Subject(s): Graves; Italy; Tombs; Tombstones; Italians


AT THE TOMBS OF THE HOUSE OF SAVOY       
First Line: Turin beneath, on the green banks of the po
Last Line: As fishbone-fine his steps through vaults resound


AU TOMBEAU DE MARECHAL PET-DE-NAIN       
First Line: Travelers, pause - and lift you caps
Last Line: If your ears are good, you can hear perhaps %taps at carcass onne


AU TOMBEAU DU MARECHAL PET-DE-NAIN    Poem Text    
First Line: Travelers, pause - and lift your caps
Subject(s): Graves; Petain, Phillipe (1859-1951); Tombs; Tombstones


AUTUMN    Poem Text    
First Line: The color of stone when leaves are yellow
Subject(s): Autumn, Time; Squirrels


AUTUMN       
First Line: The color of stone when leaves are yellow
Last Line: While azure mists invade the hollow, %and turkey-red and leaves come down


BACHELOR'S-BUTTONS       
First Line: Bachelor's-buttons are fine to see
Last Line: And the blue thread breaks, and earth is cold


BALLAD FROM BEDLAM       
First Line: The firefly corresponds in urgent letters
Last Line: Our ornament derives from the bowels of our betters


BALLAD OF THE LADY QUID PRO QUO    Poem Text    
First Line: On the coasts of consternation
Subject(s): Horseback Riding; Likes & Dislikes; Conduct Of Life


BANJO TUNE       
First Line: Plunk-a-plunk! Plunk-a-plunk


BARBER       
First Line: The barber who arrives to cut my hair
Last Line: The barber's hands move over me like vines %in a dream as long as hair can ever grow


BARBER, WARTIME       
First Line: Seaman first class, name of cartocelli
Last Line: Night falls; men die - to him details are silly, %and trim, the dormant intellects


BATTLE OF TABU TABU       
First Line: The battle wagon steamed into the bay
Last Line: Lie goldfish eaten by the flying cats


BAY-BREASTED BARGE BIRD       
First Line: The bay-breasted barge bird delights in depressions
Last Line: As it slowly circles the dumps


BUFFALO HUNTER       
First Line: Nothing moved in this great emptiness
Last Line: To join him for his european tour
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


BURNING OF MALMAISON       
First Line: On a brisk cool evening when the wind
Last Line: All that was left: this small blue stain
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Politics; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


BUTTERFLY    Poem Text    
First Line: Of living creatures most I prize
Last Line: When mother leans to say good night
Subject(s): Butterflies; Insects; Bugs


BUTTERFLY       
First Line: Of living creatures most I prize
Last Line: When mother leans to say good night
Subject(s): Butterflies; Insects


CAT    Poem Text    
First Line: Cats are not at all like people
Subject(s): Animals; Cats


CAT       
First Line: Cats are not at all like people
Last Line: People, of course, will always be people, %but cats are cats
Subject(s): Animals; Cats


CHOCTAW STICK-BALL GAME       
First Line: During a period of several sunsets, by the cleansing
Last Line: That ball game that the tribe had called %'little brother to war'
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


CHRISTMAS TREE       
First Line: They brought the tree in from the snowbound wood
Last Line: To welcome all of us on christmas eve


CHRYSANTHEMUMS       
First Line: I had, here in the room before you came
Last Line: In darkness now, and overpowered die %of love, of love


CLERIHEW       
First Line: Jacques barzun
Last Line: Became the provost of columbia university


CLERIHEW       
First Line: Was william butler yeats %fond of dates?


CLOSING OF THE RODEO       
First Line: The lariat snaps, the cowboy rolls
Last Line: Good-bye, say the barber poles. %dark drum the vanishing horses' hooves
Subject(s): Labor And Laborers; Rodeos; Sports


COATI-MUNDI       
First Line: As I went walking one fine sunday
Subject(s): Friendship


COLUMBIS CIRCLE SWING    Poem Text    
First Line: Old mr. Christopher sailed an egg
Subject(s): Modern Life


COLUMBUS CIRCLE SWING       
First Line: Old mr. Christopher sailed an egg
Last Line: Will the day be as bright when it dawns at calais %as it was after dark at dover?


CONTEMPLATION OF A CONSPIRACY    Poem Text    
First Line: Where the table-leg projects into the yellow autumn sunlight
Subject(s): Conspiracy


CONVOY       
First Line: The ships are fitted, and the convoy sails
Last Line: Ask the man struck dead by the lifeboat somewhere aft
Subject(s): War


CROCODILE       


CROSSING       
First Line: That winter the southern land had all the contours
Last Line: Into the throat of the beast
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


CUPIDON       
First Line: To love is to give,' said the crooked old man
Last Line: And the wind crept up his accordion stair, %and under his iron door


CYCLIST       
First Line: Wheels turning slowly, circles humming, radiating silver
Last Line: And, at the cliff's edge, roses tumbled over gray stone, %and the sea, far off, unwound, a thin blue


DACHSHUNDS       
First Line: The dachshund leads a quiet life
Last Line: See planets wheeling overhead, %mysterious and slow %while morning buckles on his red, %and on the d


DARK VALENTINE    Poem Text    
First Line: This daylit doll, this dim divinity
Variant Title(s): Neo-classical Poem
Subject(s): War


DARK VALENTINE       
First Line: This daylit doll, this dim divinity
Last Line: And we advance. Is love disguised? %he is. As you imagined him
Variant Title(s): Neo-classical Poe
Subject(s): War


DARK, DARK, DARK       
First Line: Time after time after time comes el tiempo
Last Line: The wind removes the leaves, the burning leaves


DAY IN JUNE       
First Line: In a soft blue sky white clouds appear
Last Line: And build cloud castles in our dreams


DEAD SNAKE       
First Line: A gray financier in a thin black auto
Last Line: Decisive indeed the defeat of evil; %and inconclusive the triumph of good


DEATH OF A JAZZ MUSICIAN       
First Line: I dreamed that when I died a jukebox played
Last Line: And forward still the boatman moved, and made no sound


DESCENT OF ORPHEUS       
First Line: A cockatoo with nervous, quick cockade
Last Line: Sun is mirror to the fire, %and earth, reflected, crumbles at our touch


DIVER       
First Line: Down the dark-skinned diver dived
Last Line: The raging water fills my eyes


DIVING BELL       
First Line: Like one endangered in a diving bell
Last Line: On ocean bed I break from broken bell


DOG    Poem Text    
First Line: Dogs are quite a bit like people
Subject(s): Dogs


DOG       
First Line: Dogs are quite a bit like people
Last Line: People you've seen somewhere? Bowwow!


DON GIOVANNI IN CAMPAGNA       
First Line: Giovanni was a lumberjack
Last Line: Earth divided: john could see %(too late) the pit of hell


DREAM       
First Line: One day in a dream as I lay at the edge of a cliff
Last Line: And when I awoke I lay at the edge of a cliff


DRESSMAKER'S WORKROOM       
First Line: The dressmaker's dummy
Last Line: The garment is sews, %a shroud that encloses %bird-feather, bone


EARTH IT ROUNDS       
Last Line: In a sunlit room


EDWARDIAN LADY       
First Line: Alone in her mansion utterly bored
Last Line: And the echo of her strange ennui, %the echo of her strange ennui


ELEGY    Poem Text    
First Line: Look to the heavens, heliotrope
Subject(s): Heliotropes


ELEGY       
First Line: I stood between two mirrors when you died
Last Line: I say, dear friend, good morning and good night


ELEGY       
First Line: Love to the heavens, heliotrope
Last Line: The streets are numbered, shelled and soft: %eleventh, olive, chestnust, pine


ELEGY FOR A YOUNG ACTOR       
First Line: In a gray new england college town
Last Line: I kneel to place, %in memory, one single-petaled, pink, wild rose %in that young actor's mouth


EPIGRAM: 'POET'    Poem Text    
First Line: After,each,word,he,places,a,comma
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


EPIGRAM: CRITIC    Poem Text    
First Line: A short-order cook is the mealymouthed critic,
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Cookery


EPIGRAM: LADY BIOGRAPHER    Poem Text    
First Line: She devotes her life to the lives of others,
Subject(s): Biography; Women - Writers; Biographers


EPIGRAMS       
First Line: Critic
Last Line: Or if they all had married her


EPIGRAMS: POET       
First Line: After,each,work,he,places,a,comma
Last Line: It,gives,you,hiccoughs,when,you,read


EPIGRAMS: CRITIC       
First Line: A short-order cook is the mealymouthed critic
Last Line: Attacks an egg with a little egg beater %and serves it shirred, or blurred, or scrambled


EPIGRAMS: LADY BIOGRAPHER       
First Line: She devotes her life to the lives of others
Last Line: And now they'd have been if they'd had nice mothers, %or if they all had married her


EPITAPHS       
First Line: A lawyer
Last Line: Invites complete approval east and west


EPITAPHS: A GREENSKEEPER    Poem Text    
First Line: With patient care and sublety
Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening


EPITAPHS: A GREENSKEEPER       
First Line: With patient care and subtlety
Last Line: Gaze now on his green legacy


EPITAPHS: A LAWYER    Poem Text    
First Line: In life each man is tried
Subject(s): Biddle, Francis (1886-1968); Law & Lawyers


EPITAPHS: A LAWYER       
First Line: In life each man is tried
Last Line: All just men will agree-- %how brilliant his defense
Subject(s): Biddle, Francis (1886-1968); Law And Lawyers


EPITAPHS: A SMALL DOG       
First Line: Here fearless lies: with asian pride
Last Line: Now hear his bark in the rising tide
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


EPITAPHS: A STRIPPER    Poem Text    
First Line: Here lies the stripper stripped, disrobed for good
Variant Title(s): Epitaph Of A Stripper
Subject(s): Striptease Dancers


EPITAPHS: A STRIPPER       
First Line: Here lies the stripper stripped, disrobed for good
Last Line: The house lights dim: each pointed, star-tipped breast %invites complete approval east and west
Variant Title(s): Epitaph Of A Strippe
Subject(s): Striptease Dancers


EPITHALAMIUM    Poem Text    
First Line: O orange were her underclothes
Subject(s): Wedding Song; Death; Epithalamium; Dead, The


EPITHALAMIUM IN OLIVE DRAB       
First Line: O orange were her underclothes
Last Line: They did not fly to ho - no - lu - lu %in the cabin of a clipper


EVENING AT GRANDPONT    Poem Text    
First Line: Who under a stone bridge in the dark
Variant Title(s): Evening At Grandpoint
Subject(s): Swans; Bridges


EVENING AT GRANDPONT       
First Line: Who under a stone bridge in the dark
Last Line: Like china's universities before the gate
Variant Title(s): Evening At Grandpoin


EVERY MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT       
Last Line: Then rest when I turn out the light


FARM       
First Line: Old macdonald has a farm
Last Line: Wind and rain and snow %never do the slighest harm-- %with an ee - I ee - I - o


FEW MINUTES BEFORE SUNSET       
First Line: Heir apparent, prince of purest majesty
Last Line: And a mother who must mourn a dear, dead son, %summer and the swan, the cold, white plumes


FIRST GREEN       
First Line: Nature's first green is gold,
Last Line: Pink buds are opening, %for it is spring


FISHER KING       
First Line: The tall fijian spears a giant turtle
Last Line: His image, from the dark unconscious drawn, %come shimmering and powerful to light


FISHING FOR ALBACORE    Poem Text    
First Line: Past oil derricks, gray docks. Intracite layout of oil pipes
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Tuna Fish; Anglers


FISHING FOR ALBACORE       
First Line: Past oil derricks, gray docks, intricate layout of oil pipes, searchlights
Last Line: As on some permanent atoll, I see my son, smiling, holding his %fish, reflected, blue and silver, in


FLIGHT OF THE ONE-EYED BAT       
First Line: The night has a thousand eyes
Last Line: Night opens a thousand eyes, %the bat closes one


FLOOR AND THE CEILING       
First Line: Winter and summer, whatever the weather
Last Line: And what is a ceiling when the ceiling has flown?


FOOD FOR THOUGHT       
First Line: Lemon or sugar, sour or sweet
Last Line: In a nutshell, then, in an epigram, %as I am, I eat; as I eat, I am


FOR A DEAF ANGORA CAT    Poem Text    
First Line: The jungle lies about you, and the ground
Subject(s): Cats; Deafness


FOR A DEAF ANGORA CAT       
First Line: The jungle lies about you, and the ground
Last Line: With omens, thunder peals; and still you turn %to all, my sweet, your exquisite deaf ear


FROM: NONSENSE NOTES ON GENTLEMEN IN VARIOUS PLACES       
First Line: A gentleman, feeling the heat one day in ghana
Last Line: Lickety-split down the street like a bob-tailed cur


FULL CIRCLE: THE CONNECTICUT CASINO       
First Line: O / o / o the first full moon of the year 2000
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39); Native Americans - Removal


FULL CIRCLE: THE CONNECTICUT CASINO       
First Line: O %o %o the first full moon of the year 2000
Last Line: And where all races live together %in lasting peace and perfect harmony
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


FUNERAL       
First Line: Now he is gone where worms can feed
Last Line: The body's blood-fed beasts in all %their fury, while the lifted spade %lets earth fall


GALILEO GALILEI       
First Line: Comes to knock and knock again
Last Line: Galileo galilei %comes to knock and knock again %at a small secluded doorway %in the ordinary brain


GARDENS       
First Line: Now that is what I call a garden!' the reluctant texan tourist
Last Line: Is among the most natural and rewarding-- %and yet most mysterious - of human activities


GIRAFFE    Poem Text    
First Line: When I invite the giraffe to dine
Last Line: A meal of bananas, figs, and dates
Subject(s): Friendship


GIRAFFE       
First Line: When I invite the giraffe to dine
Subject(s): Friendship


GIRL IN GLASS       
First Line: You've stood there long enough,' I said
Last Line: You've stood there long enough.'


GIRL IN THE BLACK RAINCOAT       
First Line: Thinking of you this evening
Last Line: Into the unknown, knowing, %walks with me


GREEN PLACE       
First Line: I know a place all fennel-green and fine
Last Line: And thin-ribbed earth pokes out against the snow?


HAPPINESS       
First Line: Sorrow is human, what of happiness
Last Line: While roosters toss gold coins into the night


HATS    Poem Text    
First Line: Round or square
Subject(s): Hats


HE WILL NOT HEAR    Poem Text    
First Line: He will not see the leaf-green sky
Last Line: By their transparent number
Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology)


HE WILL NOT HEAR       
First Line: He will not see the leaf-green sky
Last Line: Through the seasons, torn %by their transparent thunder


HIPPOPOTAMUS    Poem Text    
First Line: The hippopotamus -- hippo for short
Last Line: Then sinks back under, and disappears
Subject(s): Animals


HIPPOPOTAMUS       
First Line: The hippopotamus -- hippo for short
Last Line: Then sinks back under, and disappears
Subject(s): Animals


HORN-RIMMED HEN       
First Line: The horn-rimmed hen
Last Line: Like chicken feed


HOTEL CONTINENTAL    Poem Text    
First Line: O I feel like the kinks in the paws of the sphinx!
Last Line: On goes the phone with a tone all its own / p - lease! P – lease! P – lease!
Subject(s): War


HOTEL CONTINENTAL       
First Line: O I feel like the kinks in the paws of the sphinx!
Last Line: On goes the phone with a tone all its own: %p--lease! P--lease! P--lease!
Subject(s): War


HOW LIKE THE GALLERY YOU ARE    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Love


HUCK       
First Line: Huckster, your sickening soft-sell
Last Line: And write, by god, the way I please


HUCKSTER       
First Line: Come join us, huck, upon the raft
Last Line: And bring home dollars in duffel-bags


HULL BAY, ST. THOMAS       
First Line: We come, with a busload of children, nervous from the heat, down
Last Line: The prow of the boat dividing nothing but the oncoming night


HUNT       
First Line: Each vowel black and white with silver sound
Last Line: How in each poem life is justified


IDIOT BELOW THE EL       
First Line: From summer's tree the leopard leaves are torn
Last Line: An iron hoop goes clanking down the street


IMAGINARY DIALOGUES       
First Line: Said marcia brown to carlos baker


IN MEMORIAM WALLACE STEVENS    Poem Text    
First Line: One summer day a blackbird sang
Subject(s): Stevens, Wallace (1879-1955)


IN MEMORIAM WALLACE STEVENS       
First Line: One summer day a blackbird sang
Last Line: Are things which must be nature fail, %but, being beautiful, are true


INDEPENDENCE DAY       
First Line: Life is inadequate, but there are many real
Last Line: The wind, an indian paintbrush, sweeps the sky


INHABITANTS OF ATLANTIS       
First Line: In an aquarium above the bar, the fish
Last Line: While in the dim blue distance clangs a bell %which echoes through the flooded room, %and underwater


INTERIOR    Poem Text    
First Line: He took the universe in his room
Subject(s): Thought; Thinking


INTERIOR       
First Line: He took the universe into his room
Last Line: Gates opening before him quietly %upon a rose-banked carriage waiting in the rain


INVITATION TO GROUND ZERO    Poem Text    
First Line: Into the smouldering ruin now go down:
Subject(s): World Trade Center Tragedy (9/11/2001); New York City - Terrorist Attack, 9/11


IRONIES OF AGE       
First Line: The naked mirror man is old and gray
Last Line: He'll pray the lord his simple soul to keep %when white above is dark below


ITALIAN SONG       
First Line: Bigger than belladonna makes the eyes
Last Line: Bigger than belladonna makes the eyes


IV THE TALKING LEAVES: SEQUOYAH'S ALPHABET       
First Line: Alone for hours on end, he meditated on his mission
Last Line: Yet climbs the mountainside to touch the stars
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


IX CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON WITH THE CHOCTAW CHIEF       
First Line: Pushmataha, the great choctaw chief, arrived in washington
Last Line: Of the modern boundary between arkansas and oklahoma
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


JOURNEY TO THE DEAD SEA       
First Line: On the outskirts of tel aviv a dromedary is chained in a vacant lot
Last Line: On that healing place this side of death that can be reached only %through knowledge and pain


JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR    Poem Text    
First Line: He has gone into the forest
Subject(s): Forests; Woods


JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR       
First Line: He has gone into the forest
Last Line: And every road leads on within %and none leads out
Subject(s): Aids (disease); Cherokee Indians; Sickness; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


LACHRYMAE CHRISTI       
First Line: Let the redbird come to feast
Last Line: And through the trees the redbirds fly, %while the rain falls from the cold sky


LADY IN ORANGE COUNTY       
First Line: Beautiful lady, loops of country road
Last Line: And hear the galloping horsemen come %out of the hollow over the hill


LAND OF HO-HO-HUM       
First Line: When you want to go wherever you please
Last Line: Then sit down and fly home again


LAUGHING TIME    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: It was laughing time, and the tall giraffe
Subject(s): Noises; Sound


LAUGHING TIME       
First Line: It was laughing time, and the tall giraffe
Last Line: Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Subject(s): Noises; Sound


LES FOLIES BERGERES: THE TWENTIES       
First Line: Patty-cake patty-cake %mademoiselle josephine
Last Line: Bunch of bananas was %all that she wore


LETTER    Poem Text    
First Line: Because a stamp will beat the damp
Subject(s): Letters; Suicide


LETTER       
First Line: Because a stamp will bear the damp
Last Line: Words written by the wind on stone


LIGHT       
First Line: By television day and night
Last Line: They set the dial, they work the knobs, %while elephantine shadows fall %and faces leap from the par


LILY IN AUTUMN       
First Line: Lily, the golden
Last Line: Sits lily, the golden %siamese


LIMERICK       
First Line: A matron well known in montclair


LIMERICK       
First Line: A lady whose name was miss hartley


LIMERICK       
First Line: A captain, retired from the naval


LIMERICK       
First Line: There was a young man on a plain


LIMERICK       
First Line: There was an old person who said


LINES WRITTEN IN ANSWER TO A QUESTION       
First Line: O moon, when I saw thee careening past


LION       
First Line: The lion, ruler over all the beasts
Last Line: A royal coat of brushed and beaten gold


LITANY FOR A RAINY NIGHT       
First Line: The distant highway hums: you lie alone
Last Line: The distant highway hums: you lie alone, %bone-cold your narrow bed and black the air


LOCKET FOR EMILY DICKINSON       
First Line: She walked into the church in early spring
Last Line: Read it with love: the lover bears no name; %her lineage lies golden on her throat


LONDON    Poem Text    
First Line: Temptation, oh, temptation, sang the singers
Subject(s): London


LONDON       
First Line: Temptation, oh, temptation, sang the singers
Last Line: And london bridge is falling, falling, falling, %scaled, and crossed
Subject(s): London


LOOK ME STRAIGHT IN THE EYE       
Last Line: And I am no one %no one at all


LOOKING IN THE MIRROR, PAUL VALERY       
Last Line: Mon dieu! C'est moi!


LOVE BIRDS    Poem Text    
First Line: Above finespun, unruffled sheets
Subject(s): Birds


LOVEBIRDS       
First Line: Above finespun, unruffled sheets
Last Line: And the pure sunlight is all from heaven


LOVERS       
First Line: Above, through lunar woods a goddess flees
Last Line: They stare, a sheet loose-folded round their knees, %off into space, as from etruscan tombs


LUNCH AT THE CRIPPLE CRAB SEAFOOD & STEAKHOUSE       
First Line: Hardeeville, south carolina--that's where you are, honey
Last Line: Through the heart of the low country


MADISON AVENUE OVERTURE    Poem Text    
First Line: Come join us, huck, upon the raft
Subject(s): Advertising; Madison Avenue, New York


MARCEL PROUST       
First Line: His childhood he gave to a public which had none
Subject(s): Proust, Marcel (1871-1922)


MARCEL PROUST       
First Line: His childhood he gave to a public which had none
Last Line: Of some well-weathered ruin where the sun %picks out the childlike letters on a tomb
Subject(s): Proust, Marcel (1871-1922)


MARINE    Poem Text    
First Line: A boat is cutting into the sea
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


MARINE       
First Line: A boat is cutting into the sea
Last Line: The children dream of the sea, the sea, %a blue cut-flower


MARTHA'S VINEYARD       
First Line: The valleys of this earth patrol the sky
Last Line: Love creates itself, or, dying small, %accepts life's wound


MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS       
First Line: Because I believe in the community of little children
Last Line: That I may tell them, pointing down the sky, %how beautiful it might have been to live


MEMORIAL DAY MORNING SONG       
First Line: The bands are playing; flags are out
Last Line: And warren harding, from the grave, %will speak for the glorious dead!


MISERERE       
First Line: The lights have gone out in the school for the blind
Last Line: A sister of mercy, sweeps over the sun


MOON    Poem Text    
First Line: I have a white cat whose name is moon
Subject(s): Animals; Authors And Authorship; Cats; Poetry & Poets


MOON       
First Line: I have a white cat whose name is moon
Last Line: And in moon's eyes I see the moon
Subject(s): Animals; Authors And Authorship; Cats; Poetry And Poets


MORELS    Poem Text    
First Line: A wet gray day - rain falling slowly, mist over the
Subject(s): Mushrooms; Morels


MORELS       
First Line: A wet gray day - rain falling slowly, mist over the
Last Line: Tasting of the sweet damp woods and of the rain one inch %avove the meadow: %it was like feasting up
Subject(s): Mushrooms


MORNING AT ARNHEIM       
First Line: From the cassowary's beak come streaks of light
Last Line: Of the great black lion of heaven, %the terrible, beautiful south


MOVIES FOR THE TROOPS    Poem Text    
First Line: In hollywood the pale white stars
Subject(s): Motion Pictures; Soldiers; War; Movies; Cinema


MOVIES FOR THE TROOPS       
First Line: In hollywood the pale white stars
Last Line: Accept these images that fuse, %and clap their hands, and thank their stars


MR. SMITH    Poem Text    
First Line: How rewarding to know mr. Smith,
Subject(s): Writing & Writers


MR. SMITH       
First Line: How rewarding to know mr. Smith
Last Line: Until mourned by the tall prairie grasses, %how rewarding to know mr. Smith!


MRS. CARIBOU       
First Line: Old mrs. Caribou lives by a lake
Last Line: Shoo, mrs. Caribou! %shoo! %shoo! %shoo!


MY BODY    Poem Text    
First Line: Wherever I go, it also goes,
Subject(s): Body, Human; Self


MY SUMMER GOLD BY AUTUMN THINNED       
Last Line: I disappear into the wind


NATURAL HISTORY    Poem Text    
First Line: I wish I knew the reason for
Subject(s): Dinosaurs


NEW YEAR'S DAY       
First Line: The sun is up, the sky is clear
Last Line: A bright new day, a bright new year


NEW YEAR'S EVE       
First Line: The stars are out, the sky is clear
Last Line: Happy new year! %happy new year!


NIGHT MUSIC    Poem Text    
First Line: Alone for hours on end, he meditated on his mission
Last Line: Will break with even fury from our breasts
Subject(s): Night


NIGHT MUSIC       
First Line: The dark air rushes by us like a cry
Last Line: Will break with equal fury from our breasts


NIGHTWOOD    Poem Text    
First Line: Speaking in squalor mean, elusive youth
Subject(s): Women; Bad Behavior


NIGHTWOOD       
First Line: Seeking in squalor lean, elusive youth
Last Line: While clothed in soft, white light, the dark wolf digs


NORTHERN LIGHTS    Poem Text    
First Line: I stepped out here on the mountainside, and saw the northern
Subject(s): Aurora Borealis; Northern Lights


NORTHERN LIGHTS       
First Line: I stepped out here on the mountainside, and saw the
Last Line: And I brushed the blowing skeins of light from my face, stepped %back and shut the door and went ins


NOTE ON THE VANITY DRESSER       
First Line: The yes-man in the mirror now says no
Last Line: These are your eyes, the cinders of your city


NUKUHIVA       
First Line: It was in time of war, and yet no war
Last Line: And all the wailing places of the dead


O LOVE, O LOVE, THESE OCEANS VAST    Poem Text    
First Line: He who has felt on his dark bed
Subject(s): Life


O LOVE, O LOVE, THESE OCEANS VAST       
First Line: He who has felt on his dark bed
Last Line: And he who wakes finds light, his land; %darkness, fleeing, fled


OBSERVATION       
First Line: Now every day here at the height of summer
Last Line: Gray seasons, asking, in its permanence and rare %felicity, what are years?


OF ISLANDS    Poem Text    
First Line: Of all the islands sailing down the west
Subject(s): Islands


OF ISLANDS       
First Line: Of all the islands sailing down the west
Last Line: This is the island which our lives defend %where life must end, and death put forth its green


OLD CHEROKEE WOMAN'S SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: They have taken my land
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39); Native Americans - Removal


OLD CHEROKEE WOMAN'S SONG       
First Line: They have taken my land
Last Line: Beyond the red water
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


OLD MEN ON THE BENCH       
First Line: How faultless fall their shadows on the faulted rocks
Last Line: Old men should be deprived of calendars and clocks, %of keys and locks; of rulers, and of rules


ON PARTING    Poem Text    
First Line: Time that is recorded is not now
Subject(s): Farewell; Time; Parting


ON PARTING       
First Line: Time thatis recorded is not now
Last Line: Love also dies; the dead have loved you best: %look for them there in the dark where the rails run


ON THE DEATH OF A POET'S INFANT SON MICHAEL JASPER GIOIA       
First Line: Malherbe's daughter lived as roses do
Last Line: But michael was a bud brought fresh to light %which death broke off and took into the night


ON THE EDGE       
First Line: On autumn days when the sky behind
Last Line: And a few stars rose in a clear line %to guide a young man lost


ON THE ISLANDS WHICH ARE SOLOMON'S       
First Line: On the islands which are solomon's I sometimes see
Last Line: Hop to my hand, dark beauty, stripped of song


ON THE REEF    Poem Text    
First Line: Today I have touched the earth and the earth's three quarters
Subject(s): War


ON THE REEF       
First Line: Today I have touched the earth and the earth's three quarters
Last Line: I was this day digested by his love. %the world was his word, the realm of his radiant mouth
Subject(s): War


ORPHEUS    Poem Text    
First Line: Orpheus with music charms the birds
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Orpheus


ORPHEUS       
First Line: Orpheus with music charms the birds
Last Line: Earth awaking from her tragic sleep, %the cool, ecstatic earth. O hear, o hear
Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Orpheus


OSTRICH    Poem Text    
First Line: Grandmother ostrich goes to bed
Last Line: Then pokes her head in an ostrich hole
Subject(s): Ostriches


OWL    Poem Text    
First Line: The owl that lives in the old oak tree
Last Line: And flies and flies
Subject(s): Owls


PANTHER       
First Line: The panther from its dark and hidden lair
Last Line: The panther slinks back to the steaming brain


PARABLE       
First Line: Though well acquainted, mind and heart
Last Line: And mind is mind, and heart is heart


PARK IN MILAN       
First Line: The animals we have seen, all marvelous creatures
Last Line: Music fades; the streets are black with flies


PAVANE FOR THE NURSERY       
First Line: Now touch the air softly
Last Line: And I'll love you as long %as the furrow the plow, %as however is ever, %and ever is now
Subject(s): Love - Marital


PEACOCK OF JAVA       
First Line: I thought of the mariners of solomon
Last Line: For home, the peacock's tail %committed to the legends of the sea
Subject(s): Birds; Peacocks


PENATES IN PERIL    Poem Text    
First Line: Caught within this cavernous disaster
Subject(s): Horses


PENGUIN    Poem Text    
First Line: I think it must ve v ery nice
Subject(s): Penguins


PERSIAN MINIATURE       
First Line: Ah, all the sands of the earth lead unto heaven
Last Line: And green as a grasshopper's leg is the evening sky


PETITS CHEVAUX: THE TWENTIES, I       
First Line: Harry crosby one day launched the bedroom stakes
Last Line: And death left the players' goblets brimming with blood-red wine


PETITS CHEVAUX: THE TWENTIES, II       
First Line: Scott fitzgerald organized the crack-up stakes--
Last Line: And zelda danced on madly till the asylum burned


PIAZZA       
First Line: When all the world was out-of-doors
Last Line: Moments, flowers, fountains fade %with all of light in darkness lost


PICTURE OF HER BONES       
First Line: I saw her pelvic bones one april day
Last Line: As once they did that other april day %before her fall


PIDGIN PINCH       
First Line: Joe, you big shot! You big man!
Last Line: I give you trouble? Gimme a dime!


PLAIN TALK    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Truth; Ignorance; Dullness; Stupdity


PLAIN TALK       
First Line: There are people so dumb,' my father said
Last Line: That's how he felt - that's how I feel


POEM NEAR PEARL HARBOR    Poem Text    
First Line: Angelica, the princess pomponelli
Subject(s): Hawaii


POEM NEAR PEARL HARBOR       
First Line: The ladies who gather beneath the hau tree
Last Line: Over the beakers of diamond head %with the shrouded beaks of mynah birds %salutes the dying and the


POLAR BEAR    Poem Text    
First Line: The polar bear never makes his bed
Subject(s): Bears


POLYNESIAN IN KHAKI    Poem Text    
First Line: Polynesian in khaki leaning on the jukebox
Subject(s): Polynesia


POLYNESIAN IN KHAKI       
First Line: Polynesian in khaki leaning on the jukebox
Last Line: Lands that pay for paradise acquire %as well as appropriately pictured hell


PORTRAIT FOR A LAPIDARY    Poem Text    
First Line: Perfection is the sense of being whole
Subject(s): Art & Artists


PRAIRIE CHICKEN    Poem Text    
First Line: Look at him there in that prairie dirt
Last Line: He looks for another prairie chicken
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39); Native Americans - Removal


PROCESSIONAL       
First Line: The professor strolls at dusk in the college garden
Last Line: When beauty will be destroyed by more than weather, %by more than the idiot wind that rakes the pits


PROPER BOSTONIANS       


QUAIL IN AUTUMN    Poem Text    
First Line: Autumn has turned the dark trees toward the hill
Subject(s): Autumn; Poetry & Poets; Quails; Seasons; Fall


QUAIL IN AUTUMN       
First Line: Autumn has turned the dark trees toward the hill
Last Line: A voice, a step, a swift sun-thrust of feather %and earth and air come properly together
Subject(s): Autumn; Poetry And Poets; Quails; Seasons


RANDOM GENERATION OF ENGLISH SENTENCES OR, THE REVENGE OF THE POETS    Poem Text    
First Line: What does she put four whistles beside heated rugs for?
Subject(s): Computers; Poetry & Poets


RANDOM GENERATION OF ENGLISH SENTENCES OR, THE REVENGE OF THE POETS       
First Line: What does she put four whistles beside heated rugs for?
Last Line: Where are all your hot-rugged brothers and sisters headed. %madam, good-bye!
Subject(s): Computers; Poetry And Poets


REAR VISION    Poem Text    
First Line: The cars in the mirror come swiftly forward
Subject(s): Automobiles; Time; Cars


REAR VISION       
First Line: The cars in the mirror come swiftly forward
Last Line: The furies gather in a pack, &while all the sky above burns black, %unwinding still the darkening th
Subject(s): Automobiles; Time


REFLECTION       
First Line: As from a rainbow, the canoe
Last Line: Rides my eye, as evermore %the canoe its element
Variant Title(s): Reflection


RHINOCEROS    Poem Text    
First Line: You may hang your hat on the nose of a rhino
Subject(s): Rhinoceroses


RIDDLE    Poem Text    
First Line: It leads you a chase through a tangle of words
Subject(s): Riddles


RIDDLES: 1       
First Line: Within a frame in narrow tinkling strands
Last Line: Approach it now, and part it with your breath


RIDDLES: 2       
First Line: In glass contained, and gnawed as if by doubt
Last Line: It broods upon a page of baudelaire!


RIDDLES: 3       
First Line: It dogs your footsteps through the sunny day
Last Line: Becomes your body and assumes your soul


RIDDLES: 4       
First Line: Earth it rounds with heaven's bloom
Last Line: A round of earth in a sunlit room


RIDDLES: 5       
First Line: It leads you a chase through a tangle of words
Last Line: Ang gives but the bones whey you look for the birds


ROBERT FROST: THE ROAD TAKEN       
First Line: The poet stopped on the edge of night
Last Line: The blind walls move: his words awaken %here on the page; and the road taken %winds on


ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE, GOUNOD       
Last Line: Up my opera faust?


ROOM IN THE VILLA       
First Line: What is the mirror saying with its o?
Last Line: While, patient in the eaves, the shadows wait


SAGE GROUSE    Poem Text    
First Line: When he starts to rant
Last Line: Out of the house
Subject(s): Grouse


SANDPAPERED HORNBILL       
First Line: The sandpapered hornbill knows several hymns
Last Line: But just goes on flying around and around


SCULPTOR, WELDING       
First Line: Life meanders, jumps backwards and forwards...
Last Line: In lucid air, in blue and lasting peace %out of life's formlessness, now form


SEAL    Poem Text    
First Line: See how he dives
Subject(s): Animals


SEAL       
First Line: See how he dives
Last Line: With a mouthful of fish
Subject(s): Animals


SEPTEMBER       
First Line: A time of magic to remember
Last Line: And purple, like the setting sun


SHIPWRECK       
First Line: Old age is a shipwreck: these thin days
Last Line: Caught, out of time, and then recalled forever


SITTING BULL IN SERBIA    Poem Text    
First Line: A hundred years ago, they say, buffalo bill
Last Line: Headlong into the night
Subject(s): "cody, William ""buffalo Bill"" (1846-1917); Sitting Bull (hunkpapa Sioux Chief);


SLAVE BRACELETS       
First Line: You wore six bracelets - all of silver - and they moved on your
Last Line: Each serpent clasped as if forever, its bright fangs reaching %resolutely upward, uniting heaven and


SNOW       
First Line: Late in the day the soft snow comes
Last Line: The flames, reflected on the wall, %loom wild and dark. And the soft snow falls


SONG FOR A COUNTRY WEDDING    Poem Text    
First Line: We have come in the winter


SONG OF THE DISPOSSESSED       
First Line: You came across the water, %like gods you walked ashore
Last Line: That robbed us of our country %and carried off our dreams
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39)


STILL LIFE       
First Line: Where no one else at all was sitting
Last Line: Where no one else at all is going, %mabel's gone


STRUCTURE OF SONG       
First Line: Its syllables should come
Last Line: That none could ever know %what torment gave it birth


SUMMERTIME       
First Line: Spotted leopards stroll the avenue
Last Line: Spotted leopards stroll the avenue


SWEEPS IN AT EVERY WINDOW       
Last Line: And yet is there no more


SWEET SINGER OF HARTFORD       
First Line: Higgledy-piggledy %breastplated lydia
Last Line: Said once at bunker hill: %'monument, rise!'


TALL POETS       
First Line: While the sky above manhattan flaps with a thousand jasper johns
Last Line: Into the locked and heavily guarded harbors of the anthologies %on this bright bicentennial morning


TEMPEST       
First Line: Imagine that july morning: cape henry and virginia
Last Line: They might chart out that voyage to a shore %on which the nation they had planted would in time aris
Subject(s): Pioneers


TEN       
First Line: Mme bonnet is one of the best-dressed ten
Last Line: Throws back her head and laughs as from a cage: % mme bonnet is one, you say?...And then?


THE BONE-PICKER    Poem Text    
First Line: In the old days, when a choctaw died
Subject(s): Native Americans


THE BURNING OF MALMAISON    Poem Text    
First Line: On a brisk cool evening when the wind
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Politics & Government; Trail Of Tears (1838-39); Native Americans - Removal


THE CHEROKEE LOTTERY    Poem Text    
First Line: When the cherokees refused to leave
Subject(s): Native Americans


THE CLOSING OF THE RODEO       
First Line: The lariat snaps, the cowboy rolls
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Rodeos; Sports; Work; Workers


THE CROSSING    Poem Text    
First Line: That winter the southern land had all the contours
Subject(s): Cherokee Indians; Trail Of Tears (1838-39); Native Americans - Removal


THE DESCENT OF ORPHEUS    Poem Text    
First Line: A cockatoo with nervous, quick cockade
Last Line: What shall I do without lher? / che faro?
Subject(s): Orpheus; Love – Loss Of


THE DRESSMAKER'S WORKROOM    Poem Text    
First Line: The dressmakers' dummy
Subject(s): Clothing & Dress


THE EAGLE WARRIOR: AN INVOCATION    Poem Text    
First Line: This life-size ceramic man costumed as an eagle
Subject(s): Native Americans


THE FARM    Poem Text    
First Line: Old macdonald had a farm
Subject(s): Farm Life; Agriculture; Farmers


THE FLOOR AND THE CEILING    Poem Text    
First Line: Winter and summer, whatever the weather,
Subject(s): Houses; Loss


THE GIRL IN THE GLASS    Poem Text    
First Line: You've stood there long enough.' I said
Subject(s): Time; Hair


THE INHABITANTS OF ATLANTIS    Poem Text    
First Line: In an aquarium under the bar, the fish
Subject(s): Aquariums; Fish & Fishing; Anglers


THE KING OF SPAIN    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Books; Reading


THE LADY IN ORANGE COUNTY    Poem Text    
First Line: Beautiful lady, loops of country road
Subject(s): Seashore; Beauty; Beach; Coast; Shore


THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS    Poem Text    
First Line: Because I believe in the community of little children
Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies


THE PEACOCK OF JAVA    Poem Text    
First Line: I thought of the mariners of solomon
Subject(s): Birds; Peacocks


THE PIAZZA    Poem Text    
First Line: When all the world was out-of-doors
Subject(s): Crowds; Landscape


THE PLAYERS    Poem Text    
First Line: A curtain of green divides--and there they are
Subject(s): Seminole Indians; Acting & Actors


THE STRUCTURE OF SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Its syllables should come
Last Line: What torment gave it birth
Subject(s): Songs


THE TEMPEST    Poem Text    
First Line: Imagine that july morning: cape henry and virginia
Subject(s): Pioneers


THE TIN CAN    Poem Text    
First Line: I have gone into the tin can; not in late spring, fleeing a stewing
Subject(s): Writing & Writers


THE TOASTER    Poem Text    
First Line: A silver-scaled dragon with jaws flaming red
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Cookery


THE TOUNG LOVERS    Poem Text    
First Line: These two went with cautious smile
Last Line: And find their bird at the end of the day
Subject(s): Birds


THE VISION    Poem Text    
First Line: He stood above you, and the mountain flamed
Subject(s): Native Americans - Pre-columbian


THE WAVES WHICH CAME DOWN FROM THE EDGE OF SKY    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Waves


THE WORLD BELOW THE WINDOW    Poem Text    
First Line: The geraniums I left last night on the windowsill
Subject(s): Sight


THER PANTHER FROM ITS DARK AND HIDDEN LAIR    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Panthers


THERE EXISTS A YOUNG GIRL WHOSE NAME TESS IS       
Last Line: In stiff white organdy dresses


THERE WAS AN OLD MAN FROM BENGHAZI       
Last Line: He was home in his bed in benghazi


THIS LIFE, THIS DEATH       
First Line: I take the narrow roadway to the bend
Last Line: To praise what all too quickly rots away


THREE       
First Line: We've gone as far as I think we three can go,'
Last Line: Turns and turns ... Or was there only one %who bent his head and touched his hat and laughed?


THREE SONGS: 1. WORDS BY THE WATER       
First Line: Beneath the dimming gardens of the sky
Last Line: Sleep in my arms, my love. O sleep, my love


THREE SONGS: 2. SONG FOR A COUNTRY WEDDING       
First Line: We have come in the winter
Last Line: To protect their small clearing, %and their love be enduring
Subject(s): Wedding Song


THREE SONGS: 3. MOURNING SONG       
First Line: Comb the haunted, howling seas
Last Line: The dead have haddocks' eyes


TIN CAN       
First Line: I have gone into the tin can; not in late spring, fleeing a stewing
Last Line: And the words clean-spun and spiraling orbit that swift-seeing, %unseen immensity that will never be


TOASTER       
First Line: A silver-scaled dragon with jaws flaming red
Last Line: He hands them back when he sees they are done


TODAY I HAVE TOUCHED THE EARTH    Poem Text    
Subject(s): God


TORTOISE    Poem Text    
First Line: The tortoise, when it makes its rounds
Last Line: Sets out again. And on it creeps
Subject(s): Turtles


TRAGEDY AND COMEDY       
First Line: Two life-sized marble busts of bearded men
Last Line: Below the balcony, the cold parterre, %across the dark they both salute the dead


TRAVELER'S TREE       
First Line: On a day like this so clear that your eye
Last Line: You will be welcome. I will be waiting. I will be there


TRIP ACROSS AMERICA       
First Line: Riding the powerful polished rails
Last Line: So every evening comes to dark, %and all our journeys end in love


TULIP    Poem Text    
First Line: A slender goblet wreathed in flame
Subject(s): Tulips


TULIP       
First Line: A slender goblet wreathed in flame
Last Line: In cup of ceremonial fire, %magnificence within a frame


TUNE FOR THE TELETYPE       
First Line: O teletype, tell us of time clocks and trouble
Last Line: End of the poem...Space...Space...Space...Space...


TWO AND ONE       
First Line: Your country is your own, but I inhabit it
Last Line: The absolute negation of the dead, %and brings to nothingness our common dreams


TYPEWRITER BIRD       
First Line: The typewriter bird with the pitchfork beak
Last Line: But thrown out the window, it sings no more, %the typewriter bird!


UNICORN       
First Line: The unicorn with the long white horn
Last Line: As gently as a child


VENICE IN THE FOG       
First Line: Fog in mid-december has descended on venice; and the city wraps
Last Line: And all that could not be seen is seen, all that was imagined, is, all %that was lost, found


VILLANELLE       
First Line: You rise to walk yet when you fly you sit
Last Line: People with hair are always combing it


VINCENT VAN GOGH    Poem Text    
First Line: Walking at night in a hat fitted with twelve candles
Subject(s): Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890)


VINCENT VAN GOGH       
First Line: Walking at night in a hat fitted with twelve candles
Last Line: And in the foreground, nervously applied, %an intricate maze of thin-sown poppyheads
Subject(s): Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890)


VISION       
First Line: He stood above you, and the mountain flamed
Last Line: O mourn for the world as I must this morning %in a cloak which is made of job's-tears
Subject(s): Native Americans - Pre-columbian


VISION AT TWILIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: The lamps are lit: I gaze into the dark
Subject(s): Night; Dreams; Bedtime; Nightmares


W IS FOR WELL    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Alphabets; Wit & Humor


WAVES       
First Line: The waves that come down from the edge of the sky
Last Line: Our lord the peacock walks on high, %the heavens in his wake


WEDDING SONG       
First Line: I would have instruments that could express
Last Line: To wish you well upon your wedding day


WHAT A PITY THAT JACQUES BARZUN       
Last Line: On louis quatorze


WHAT TRAIN WILL COME?       
First Line: Snowdrifts melt in the streets, pockmarked at the curb
Last Line: What train will come %to bear me back %across so wide a town?


WHEN ALL THE WILD VALLEY RECOVERS THE LEAF    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Beauty


WHEN CANDY WAS CHOCOLAATE       
First Line: When candy was chocolate and bread was white
Last Line: And the yellow pencil began to write


WHERE THE RIVERS MEET       
First Line: Here where the winding rivers meet
Last Line: Here where the rivers meet


WHY    Poem Text    
First Line: Why do apricots look like eggs?


WILD COUNTRY       
First Line: In cobwebbed caves lie poisoned arrowheads
Last Line: The great white clouds move on as if forever, %and draw a shade against the morning sky


WINTER MORNING    Poem Text    
First Line: All night the wind swept over the house
Subject(s): Winter; Nature; Landscape


WINTER MORNING       
First Line: All night the wind swept over the house
Last Line: As if through time, %light that shone %on a landscape of ivory, %a harbor of bone


WOMAN ON THE PORCH       
First Line: A woman in my dream sits on a cool front porch
Last Line: And the sky, for a brief moment, is the color of currant and quince


WOOING LADY       
First Line: Once upon the earth at the midnight hour
Last Line: And over all the world the birds awaken %as he awakens, beautifully deceived


WORLD BELOW THE WINDOW       
First Line: The geraniums I left last night on the window sill
Last Line: In life life-giving, and in death undying


WORLD CHAMPIONS       
First Line: A cardinal is perched upon a bad
Subject(s): Sports


X IS FOR X    Poem Text    
First Line: And x marks the spot
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; Poetry & Poets


X IS FOR X       
First Line: And x marks the spot
Last Line: X is for x
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; Poetry And Poets


Y IS FOR YARN    Poem Text    
First Line: The wool that's unwound
Subject(s): Alphabets; Wit & Humor


YAK    Poem Text    
First Line: The long-haired yak has long black hair
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; Poetry & Poets


YAK       
First Line: The long-haired yak has long black hair
Last Line: Would look when perched in a barber chair!
Subject(s): Authors And Authorship; Poetry And Poets


YOUNG LOVERS       
First Line: These two went with cautious smile
Last Line: Pursue a darting sky-blue bird %and find their bird at the end of day


YOUR EYES, MY HARLEQUINS    Poem Text    
First Line: Your eyes, my harlequins of dark and light
Subject(s): Love