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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: STERN, GERALD Matches Found: 533 Stern, Gerald Poet's Biography 533 poems available by this author 1-DEC-94 First Line: I put the pyracantha in a blue vace Last Line: Two registers, a little rusty gasp from the upper 18TH BOOK FAIR First Line: An embarrassment of poverty, we waded into Last Line: Kaplan put together for the 18th book fair 1940 LA SALLE First Line: Did I or didn't I write about lucky burkin? Last Line: His mother was called gittel, I don't know in england 1940 LASALLE Poem Text First Line: Did I or didn't I write about lucky burkin? Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Gambling; Death; Wagering; Betting; Dead, The 2-JUL-83 First Line: This is what it's come to on my primrose path Last Line: And a minute and a half of sleep, and a minute and a half of silence 27-MAR First Line: The hat he bought in 1949, for Last Line: And he would finish his scraping, god or no god Subject(s): Gardens And Gardening; Life; Religion 3/27/2013 First Line: The hat he bought in 1949, for 82/83 First Line: Before the winter is over I'll have some sticks Last Line: For the last sliver again, then darkness again %and the first sliver again, ferocious phases 96 VAMDAM First Line: I am going to carry my bed into new york city tonight Last Line: To the sound of garbage grinding in the street below %and the smell of coffee cooking in the window 96 VANDAM First Line: I am going to carry my bed into new york city tonight Last Line: And the smell of coffee cooking in the window above A GARDEN; FOR GRETCHEN CARACAS AND HOWARD ROGOVIN Poem Text First Line: This was my garden in 1985 Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening ABERDEEN PROVING GROUNDS, 1946 First Line: I have had the honor of being imprisoned, the Last Line: The greasy window, since I was cleaning everything ACACIA Poem Text First Line: In locust trees the roots run along the ground Subject(s): Locust Trees; France ACACIA First Line: In locust trees the roots run along the ground Last Line: Fainting from the beauty, %growing hungry from the climb, %changed forever halfway through our lives ACACIA First Line: In locust trees the roots run along the ground Last Line: Changed forever halfway through our lives ADLER Poem Text First Line: The jewish king lear is getting ready Last Line: That isadora duncan came to worship him Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) ADLER First Line: The jewish king lear is getting ready Last Line: Still sang in bitterness, still wept and warbled in sorrow ADLER First Line: The jewish king lear is getting ready Last Line: Sitting on top of the barrels, as if there were flowers-- %still sang in bitterness, still wept and Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews ALBATROSS I First Line: Please listen, there's a thing back there I killed Last Line: Name be erased for the thing back there ALL I DID FOR HIM First Line: When I fought the dog we almost danced Last Line: Even find my pocket, I couldn't take out a dollar ALL I HAVE ARE THE TRACKS, THERE WERE A DOG'S Last Line: That fought the wind, and the mouth that struggled for air, %and love and hate, and all their shamel ALONE First Line: I was alone and I could do what I wanted Last Line: I wore two pair of socks and hid my money ALREADY APRIL Poem Text First Line: The second day in a row I watched the same Subject(s): April ALREADY APRIL First Line: The second day in a row I watched the same Last Line: I had been so ashamed and outmaneuvered Subject(s): April ANGEL POEM First Line: My broken wing is on the left near the large joint Last Line: And buy my ticket at the frosted window %for easton, pennsylvania, or new york, new york ANOTHER INSANE DEVOTION Poem Text Subject(s): Love - Lost; Cats; Food & Eating; Hunger ANOTHER INSANE DEVOTION First Line: This was gruesome - fighting over a ham sandwich ANOTHER INSANE DEVOTION First Line: This was gruesome -- fighting over a ham sandwich Last Line: The wind blowing through his hair. His jaws working APOCALYPSE Poem Text First Line: Of all sixty of us I am the only one who went Subject(s): Judgment Day; End Of The World; Doomsday; Fall Of Man ARRANGING A THORN First Line: I am wandering through newark, new jersey Last Line: Sitting in a chair, reading the paper, pity, %turning a leaf to the light, arranging a thorn ART Poem Text First Line: When he died, or when he was thinking of dying Subject(s): Art & Artists; Death; Dead, The ART First Line: When he died, or when he was thinking of dying Last Line: Began her drop, it was already in his mind Subject(s): Art And Artists; Death ARTHUR'S LILY First Line: I could never feel sorry for arthur vogelsang Last Line: Knowing he is practicing footprints, %knowing he is planning another ecstatic voyage AT BICKFORD'S Poem Text First Line: You should understand that I use my body now for everything Subject(s): Aging; Restaurants; Cafes; Diners AT BICKFORD'S First Line: You should understand that I use my body now for everything Last Line: I will sit and read in my chair; %I will wave from my window Subject(s): Aging; Restaurants AT BICKFORD'S First Line: You should understand that I use my body now for everything Last Line: I will wave from my window AT JANE'S First Line: I touch the rose to see what happens there Last Line: Thinking my thoughts, my wise and tender thoughts, %the mayor's palace, marietta, ohio AUGUST 20-21 Poem Text First Line: In the age of loosestrife Subject(s): August; Weeds AUGUST 20-21 First Line: In the age of loosestrife Last Line: He loves the wetness, he hates the violent sneezing Subject(s): August; Weeds BAJA First Line: These tiny mexican mosquitoes are like lost souls Last Line: A little kindness for insects, a little pity for the dead BAJA First Line: These tiny mexican mosquitoes are like lost souls Last Line: A dish for the blood, a little love for strangers, %a little kindness for insects, a little pity for BEE BALM Poem Text First Line: Today I'm sticking a shovel in the ground Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening BEE BALM First Line: Today I'm sticking a shovel in the ground Last Line: So I can live by secrecy and sorrow Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening BEHAVING LIKE A JEW Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: When I got there the dead opossum looked like Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations BEHAVING LIKE A JEW First Line: When I got there the dead opossum looked like Last Line: From his round belly and his curved fingers %and his black whiskers and his little dancing feet Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations BEHAVING LIKE A JEW First Line: When I got there the dead opossum looked like Last Line: And his black whiskers and his little dancing feet BELA First Line: This version of the starving artist Last Line: I put the arrow through it, I place the letters %one inside the other. I sleep, I sleep BELA First Line: This version of the starving artist Last Line: One inside the other. I sleep, I sleep BELOW FOURTEENTH STREET First Line: Somewhere above fourteenth he pulled up his shirt sleeves Subject(s): New York City; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple BELOW FOURTEENTH STREET First Line: Somewhere above fourteenth he pulled up his shirt sleeves Last Line: The man in busy cuffs, the cat in the harness Subject(s): New York City BERKELEY First Line: Today I saw the weird leg of apollo Last Line: With all the secrets inside. Keeping my secrets. %thinking of poland again. Getting ready for snow BIG ANNIE ROONEY Poem Text First Line: Counting the beats in a different way he used Subject(s): Music & Musicians BIG ANNIE ROONEY First Line: Counting the beats in a different way he used Last Line: Blinking, the subversion, big bill broonzy, big annie %rooney Subject(s): Music And Musicians BIRTHDAY Poem Text First Line: It is that they spend so much time in the sky Subject(s): Nature BIRTHDAY First Line: It is that they spend so much time in the sky Last Line: A month or two before. It has to be %the oldest craving of all, the first mercy Subject(s): Nature BITE First Line: I didn't start taking myself seriously as a poet Last Line: Everything, suddenly everything is up there in the mind, %all the beauty of the race gone %& my life BITE First Line: I didn't start taking myself seriously as a poet Last Line: And my life merely an allegory BITTER THOUGHTS Poem Text First Line: I didn't listen to one stone this year Last Line: That saved the world and an overcoat that renewed it Subject(s): Nature BITTER THOUGHTS First Line: I didn't listen to one stone this year Last Line: For most of a life, near a water-stained lampshade %that saved the world and an overcoat that renewe Subject(s): Nature BLACKER THAN EVER First Line: You should know this, who live in your own decade Last Line: Drinking my tea, haranguing, that was mine BLESSED First Line: He who destroys, he who reigns, he who meditates Last Line: It is the weariness of work. %it is the gravity of love. %itis the dignity of isolation BLINK OF AN EYE First Line: Twilight is like the blink of an eye BLUE First Line: What I was hunting for was a skeleton key Last Line: Green was my rotten liver. Blue were my bloodshot eyes BLUE SKIES, WHITE BREASTS, GREEN TREES First Line: What I took to be a man in a white beard Last Line: That I dressed in white, and sent across the river, %weepingand weeping and weeping %inside his torn BLUE SKIES, WHITE BREASTS, GREEN TREES First Line: What I took to be a man in a white beard Last Line: Inside his torn sheet BOB SUMMERS' BODY Poem Text First Line: I never told this -- I saw bob summers' body Subject(s): Healing; Cures BOB SUMMERS' BODY First Line: I never told this -- I saw bob summers' body Last Line: Nodding and smiling in the plush darkness Subject(s): Healing BOB SUMMERS: THE FINAL POEM First Line: There are two men I know who wander around all winter as I do Last Line: Always ready to guide him through his weakness, %ready to give him back his health and wisdom BOB SUMMERS; THE FINAL POEM First Line: There are two men I know who wander around all winter as I do Last Line: Ready to give him back his health and wisdom BOLERO Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: So one day when the azalea bush was firing Subject(s): Songs; Nostalgia BOOKS Poem Text First Line: How you loved to read in the snow and when your Subject(s): Books; Librarians & Libraries; Reading; Library; Librarians BOTH OF THEM WERE SIXTY-FIVE Poem Text First Line: Ordinarily I wouldn't be introducing aaron copland to ida stern Subject(s): Birthdays; Love BOTH OF THEM WERE SIXTY-FIVE First Line: Ordinarily I wouldn't be introducing aaron copland to ida stern Last Line: A fiddle to match, a fire -- and candles -- burning Subject(s): Birthdays; Love BOX OF CIGARS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Io tried either one or two but they were stale Subject(s): Smoking; Tobacco; Pipes; Cigars; Cigarettes BOX OF CIGARS First Line: I tried either one or two but they were stale Last Line: Into his empty can. We were visionaries BRAIN OF MY HEART Poem Text First Line: Thank god for the walnut in 1986 Subject(s): Mind, The; Walnuts BRAIN OF MY HEART First Line: Thank god for the walnut in 1986 BREAD WITHOUT SUGAR First Line: The first time I saw the stone BULL-ROARER First Line: I only saw my father's face in butchery Last Line: Locked up in that whirling stone, dear father Subject(s): Farm Life BURNING First Line: Where is the mind that asked whether the drug store Last Line: Battles explode and paper flutes burn and birdsong BURYING AN ANIMAL ON THE WAY TO NEW YORK First Line: Don't flinch when you come across a dead animal lying on the road Last Line: Slow down with your radio off and your window open %to hear the twittering as you go by BURYING AN ANIMAL ON THE WAY TO NEW YORK First Line: Don't flinch when you come across a dead animal lying on the road Last Line: To hear the twittering as you go by CEMETERY OF ORANGE TREES IN CRETE First Line: In crete the old orange trees are cut back until they are stumps Last Line: The other hands on the hill, my white heart remembering %theviolence and sorrow that gave us our lif CEMETERY OF ORANGE TREES IN CRETE First Line: In crete the old orange trees are cut back until they are stumps Last Line: The violence and sorrow that gave us our life again CHEESE Poem Text First Line: And those who live on government cheese and carry it Subject(s): Welfare; Social Commentaries CHRISTMAS STICKS First Line: Before I leave I'll put two sticks on the porch Last Line: Two great masters of suffering and sadness %singing sons about love and regeneration CHRISTMAS STICKS First Line: Before I leave I'll put two sticks on the porch Last Line: Singing songs about love and regeneration COLEMAN VALLEY ROAD First Line: This is where I had my sheep vision Last Line: And sighs, it cracks with desire, it sobs with fatigue. %it is the loudest sound of all. A shreiking COUNTING Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: You remind me always it's thirteen years Subject(s): Time COW WORSHIP First Line: I love the cows best when they are a few feet away Last Line: Glittering singers and isolated thinkers %at pasture CROSSHATCHING First Line: All this time I was leading another life Last Line: Close to the sun, the dates in corrupted purple DANCING First Line: In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture Last Line: Oh god of mercy, oh wild god DANCING First Line: In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture Last Line: From the other dancing - in poland and germany - %of god of mercy, oh wild god Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations DAY OF GRIEF Poem Text First Line: I was forcing a wasp to the top of a window Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness DAYS OF 1978 Poem Text First Line: This is the only thing that clarifies my life Subject(s): Memory; Cavafy, Constantine P. (1863-1933) DAYS OF 1978 First Line: This is the only thing that clarifies my life Last Line: A new sweetness and clarity beginning %to monopolize my own memory DAYS OF 1978 First Line: This is the only thing that clarifies my life Last Line: To monopolize my own memory DEAR MOLE First Line: Dear mole, I have forgotten you! Last Line: Always beginning, always starting over, %his head down, his poor sould warbling and wailing DEAR MOLE First Line: Dear mole, I have forgotten you Last Line: His head down, his poor soul warbling and wailing DEATH BY WIND Recitation by Author DIARY First Line: I am at last that thing, a stranger in my own life Last Line: And holding on between the few late pinched tomatoes %and the whistling dove Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Diaries; Dissenters; Exiles; Marginality, Social DID I SAY Poem Text First Line: This time of year I kneel on my jacket. The ice Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Winter DID I SAY First Line: This time of year I kneel on my jacket. The ice Last Line: Too? Did I say I was winged and scattered? Subject(s): Gardens And Gardening; Winter DOG First Line: What was I doing with my white teeth exposed Last Line: As you have taught me, oh distant and brilliant and lonely Subject(s): Animals; Dogs DOMESTIC Poem Text First Line: He picked a leaf, there just had to be Subject(s): Household Employees; Servants; Domestics; Maids DOMESTIC First Line: He picked a leaf, there just had to be Last Line: For its deathbed speech he swept up or he scattered Subject(s): Household Employees DORIS First Line: Never went to birdland, so what, went to the y Last Line: Nor what the sofa was like and what our struggle was DOVE'S NECK First Line: The dove's neck is so thin Last Line: My bitter personal heavens Subject(s): Doves DROWNING ON THE PAMET RIVER Poem Text First Line: Because of the pull I ended up swimming in the grasses Subject(s): Drowning; Love; Rivers DROWNING ON THE PAMET RIVER First Line: Because of the pull I ended up swimming in the grasses Last Line: So much that's why I kissed you so desperately Subject(s): Drowning; Love; Rivers DUCKS ARE FOR OUR HAPPINESS First Line: Ben franklin again, down by the esplanade Last Line: He says to the river. My god, their happiness, fresno Subject(s): Nature E.P. First Line: Nothing matters but the quality of the affection Last Line: One was a shut garden of pear trees, dancing nancy E.P.: 2 First Line: I meant the personal and the social Last Line: Now? How you like dubya vomit? Wyoming hath need of thee EGG First Line: And I have been a mother to geese and what not Last Line: Orange, and huge, I was so hungry then EGGSHELL Poem Text First Line: The color of life is an almost pale white robin's green Subject(s): Eggs EGGSHELL First Line: The color of life is an almost pale white robin's green Last Line: To prop up a rosebush, the way we do, sweet larry Subject(s): Eggs ELAINE COMPARONE First Line: I love to sit down Last Line: In the drawing rooms of petrograd and stockholm, %dreaming of sunlight and rain and endless dancing ELAINE COMPARONE First Line: I love to sit down Last Line: Dreaming of sunlight and rain and endless dancing ESSAY ON RIME First Line: God knows those apes my father's relatives Last Line: From the same fire I sang with my broken fingers EXORDIUM AND TERMINUS First Line: In your rendition of the year 25-25 Last Line: Love, and how the pigs have taken over doomsday EXPULSION First Line: I'm working like a dog here, testing my memory Last Line: Down which we sometimes shuffle, and sometimes run EXPULSION First Line: I'm working like a dog here, testing my memory Last Line: The secret rooms, the long and brutal corridor %down which we sometimes shuffle, and sometimes run Subject(s): Memory EYES ARE ALWAYS BROWN First Line: I spend an hour watching the yellow parrots Last Line: Drifting through the water towers? Why %did I stop to liste n to that music, poor love? FACES I LOVE First Line: Once and for all I will lie down here like a dead man Last Line: To put them back together-- %the names I can't forget, the faces I love FACES I LOVE First Line: Once and for all I will lie down here like a dead man Last Line: The names I can't forget, the faces I love FINDING THE BUSH First Line: There is no shame in this, I left one bush Last Line: Gardenias for a blossom, not that jujube FIRST DAY OF SPRING First Line: I have been such a flower FIRST LIGHT First Line: Sooner or later everyone's eyes are opened Last Line: And what was destroyed, and how the streaks mattered FLEUR First Line: No sense lying -- my own two rows of pompoms Last Line: Before the leaves, and how she knew it, my fleur FLEXIBLE FLYER First Line: The tale I have to tell. I lit a match Last Line: The snow was blue I washed my face in lavender FOR NIGHT TO COME First Line: I am giving instructions to my monkey Last Line: Hugging each other in the white grass FOR NIGHT TO COME First Line: I am giving instructions to my monkey Last Line: Like the good souls we are, %a hairy man and a beast %hugging each other in the white grass FOR ONCE First Line: It was in southern florida I reached Last Line: Wandering through a forest of cypress roots, %finding someone that old and wise. I loved it FOR ONCE First Line: In was in southern florida I reached Last Line: Finding someone that old and wise. I loved it FOR SONG First Line: I am sitting thirty feet above the water Last Line: I am raising my eyes, I am listening to the worms %for song FOUNDER First Line: There was a kind of drooping bronze head Last Line: The sun shining down, the melodies never ending FRITZ First Line: This is too good for words. I lie here naked Last Line: It was the fire that moved me FRITZ First Line: This it too good for words. I lie here naked Last Line: Tears, and coleridge's soft flight, and dostoevski's %rack -it was the fire that moved me Subject(s): Music And Musicians GARDEN; FOR GRETCHEN CARACAS AND HOWARD ROGOVIN First Line: This was my garden in 1985 Last Line: Or cleaned a leaf or found another bottle Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening GERT'S GIFTS First Line: There were two jokes played on me on my first long walk in florida Last Line: And the sweet honeys walk by on silk platforms %promising luxury and renewal in the green darkness GERT'S GIFTS First Line: There were two jokes played on me on my first long walk in florida this winter Last Line: Promising luxury and renewal in the green darkness GLUT Poem Text First Line: The whole point was getting rid of glut Subject(s): Conduct Of Life GOD OF RAIN, GOD OF WATER First Line: Each spring the long-nosed god of rain Last Line: To pay him for his tears, to pay the old god for his tear, %apart from everything else, to pay him f GOD OF RAIN, GOD OF WATER First Line: Each spring the long-nosed god of rain Last Line: Apart from everything else, to pay him for his tears GOLD FLOWER First Line: This is the season for chrysanthemums Last Line: Dear hidden rules. Dear hidden men and women %carrying the sunlight down into the soft dirt with you GRAPEFRUIT Poem Text First Line: M eating breakfast even if it means standing Subject(s): Food & Eating GRAPEFRUIT First Line: I'm eating breakfast even if it means standing Last Line: Thou milkweed queen of the sky, burster of seeds, %who bringeth forth juice from the earth GRAPEFRUIT First Line: I'm eating breakfast even if it means standing Last Line: Who bringeth forth juice from the earth GRASS AND WATER Poem Text First Line: The geese have their heaven and I have mine, Subject(s): Geese; Social Commentaries GREEK NEIGHBOR HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL First Line: Where he hung the bird feeder a month ago Subject(s): Greece; Home; Neighbors; Greeks GREEK NEIGHBOR HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL First Line: Where he hung the bird feeder a month ago Last Line: Too much away to the poisonous squirrels, poor greek Subject(s): Greece; Home; Neighbors GRINNELL, IOWA First Line: Guy daniels would haved loved mary Last Line: He almost is ready for his molt, he almost %is ready for his week of rage and sorrow GRINNELL, IOWA First Line: Guy daniels would have loved may Last Line: Is ready for his week of rage and sorrow GULLS First Line: The other side of the reservoir uphill Last Line: Were distant and vicious then, everything was hungry HANGING SCROLL Poem Text First Line: I have come back to princeton three days in a row Last Line: Waiting for love Subject(s): Art & Artists HANGING SCROLL First Line: I have come back to princeton three days in a row Last Line: Which I think about and watch and agonize over %day and night, %like a worried spirit %waiting for l Subject(s): Art And Artists HANGING SCROLL First Line: I have come back to princeton three days in a row Last Line: Like a worried spirit %waiting for love HATS Poem Text First Line: For the sake of the fleabane growing rose a little Subject(s): Roses; Hats HE SAID First Line: Thank god for summer, he said, and thank god the window Last Line: And roared in the grapes, he said, and melted mountains HER RIGHT EYE CATCHES THE LAVENDER First Line: What is the easter gull called? Is it the same one Last Line: Only? Could I not stand in the mud %beside my black willow, thinking of her and %loving her? HER RIGHT EYE CATCHES THE LAVENDER First Line: What is the eastern gull called? Is it the same one Last Line: Beside my black willow, thinking of her and loving her HERE I AM WALKING First Line: Here I am walking between ocean and neptune Last Line: Just where I was then, %getting rid of baggage, %living in dreams, %finding a way to change, or swee HERE I AM WALKING First Line: Here I am walking between ocean and neptune Last Line: Finding a way to change, or sweeten, my clumsy life HIDDEN JUSTICE First Line: This is my forest now, this christmas cactus HINGLISH First Line: Sacre dieu, I said for the very first time Last Line: Beside the hemlock, %reading max jacob, %speakin' a hinglish HINGLISH First Line: Sacre dieu, I said for the very first time Last Line: Reading max jacob %speakin' a hinglish HIS ANIMAL IS FINALLY A KIND OF APE First Line: His animal is finally a kind of ape - after all - and not an elephant Last Line: Because of these animals I was able to break away, %I am in their debt HIS ANIMAL IS FINALLY A KIND OF APE First Line: His animal is finally a kind of ape -- after all -- and not an elephant Last Line: I am in their debt HIS SONG OF THE GREEN WILLOW First Line: I guide my darling under the willow tree Last Line: Her thoughts again - for him her thoughts - his song %of the green willow, her song of pain and seve HIS SONG OF THE GREEN WILLOW First Line: I guide my darling under the willow tree Last Line: Of the green willow, her song of pain and severance HOBBES First Line: I am here again HONEY LOCUST First Line: Here are about seventy snakes waiting to come to life Last Line: And sing about their lives like old musicians %singing about theirs HOT DOG First Line: One white mushroom lying in the street across Last Line: Getting ready again for the next eternity HOW A WORD CAN BREATHE First Line: I don't know who said first the hardened beetle Last Line: From tightening the lugs and how you waited HOW WOULD IT BE First Line: How would it be at my age to burn some land Last Line: Smear her face with dirt? Couldn't she explode HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW First Line: A hundred years from now nobody will know who zane grey was Last Line: O babylonian, I am swimming in the deep off the island %of my own death and birth. Stay with me! HUNGARIAN First Line: If I waited till september Last Line: To keep them from greed and hatred, %to save them for the serious souls to come HYDRANGEA First Line: I was pleased by blue hydrangea because at Last Line: May god forgive me, lord of the lost and destitute I AM IN A WINDOW First Line: I move from chair to chair, thinking of liszt Last Line: I'll lie there for hours thinking of my mountains, %reading keats I AM IN LOVE First Line: Everyone who dances understands what I am doing Last Line: Sometimes I do the birch tree searching for the sun, %sometimes I do route 30. I am in love I DO A PIECE FROM GREECE Last Line: Once I heard it I could never stop I DO A PIECE FROM GREECE First Line: I do a piece from greece. I haven't done that Last Line: My way was with the soaring and the singing. %once I heard it I could never stop I HATE MY MOANING First Line: I hate my staring. I hate my moaning. Sometimes Last Line: Comes through the threads, it is a greyish light, %perfect for either love or bitterness, %no exagge I PITY THE WIND First Line: I am taking off my glasses Last Line: I pity this hero, %so in love with fire, %so warlike, %so bent on teaching I PITY THE WIND First Line: I am taking off my glasses Last Line: So bent on teaching I REMEMBER GALILEO Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I remember galileo describing the mind Subject(s): Galileo (1564-1642); Squirrels; Paper; Galileo Galilei I REMEMBER GALILEO First Line: I remember galileo describing the mind Last Line: Finishing his wild dash across the highway, %rushing up his green ungoverned hillside I REMEMBER GALILEO First Line: I remember galileo describing the mind Last Line: Rushing up his green ungoverned hillside I SLEPT LIKE THAT First Line: It was always a soothing position I SOMETIMES THINK OF THE LAMB I SOMETIMES THINK OF THE LAMB First Line: I sometimes think of the lamb when I crawl down Last Line: As long as there are hooves - and clattering-- %as long as there is screaming and butchering I SOMETIMES THINK OF THE LAMB First Line: I sometimes think of the lamb when I crawl down Last Line: As long is there is screaming and butchering I WOULD CALL IT DERANGEMENT First Line: I cut a stick for my love. It is too early Last Line: The clouds into overturned trees or smiling in greek IDA First Line: Well, I am like a palm tree Last Line: My secret and sorrowful mother IDA First Line: Well, I am like palm tree Last Line: My secret and sorrowful mother IF THE ARK HAD THORNS First Line: A ghost I know too well stands bitterly by Last Line: And reads the yellow page, sometimes he chews %on one flamboyant leaf, sometimes on another IF YOU FORGET THE GERMANS First Line: If you forget the germans climbing up and down the acropolis Last Line: As it was when we lay down and loved in the old darkness IF YOU SAW ME WALKING First Line: If you saw me walking one more time on the island Last Line: You would know there was one more day of happiness %before the water rose again for another year IF YOU SAW ME WALKING First Line: If you saw me walking one more time on the island Last Line: Before the water rose again for another year IMMANUEL KANT AND THE HOP! First Line: There was a time Last Line: One of the dravidians - so that nothing will %be lost, nothing I tramp upon, nothing I %chew, nothin IMMANUEL KANT AND THE HOPI First Line: There was a time Last Line: Chew, nothing I remember IMMENSITY First Line: Nothing is too small for my sarcasm. I know Last Line: Through their vile blue, sneezing madly in the midst of that%life of theirs, weighed down by madness IMMENSITY First Line: Nothing is too small for my sarcasm Last Line: Life of theirs, weighed down by madness and sorrow IN BEAUTY BRIGHT Poem Text Subject(s): Lilies; Blake, William (1757-1827) IN CARPENTER'S WOODS First Line: This is a corner of heaven here Last Line: That is has a serious history; %that it was always there, from the beginning IN KOVALCHIK'S GARDEN First Line: It is dusk, the drive-ins are opening, the balloon is coming to rest Last Line: Her cry is part wistful, part mordant. %she is getting rid of corpses IN KOVALCHIK'S GARDEN First Line: It is dusk, the drive-ins are opening the balloon is coming to rest Last Line: She is getting rid of corpses IN MEMORY OF W.H. AUDEN Poem Text First Line: I am going over my early rages again Subject(s): Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907-1973); Poetry & Poets IN MEMORY OF W.H. AUDEN First Line: I am going over my early rages again Last Line: Whose neck I'd hang on, that magician %who could realease me now, whom I release and remember Subject(s): Auden, Wystan Hugh (1907-1973); Poetry And Poets IN TIME Poem Text Subject(s): Clocks IN TIME First Line: As far as clocks-and it is time to think of them Last Line: The day looks like and is the rooster loyal INKSPOTS First Line: The thing about the dove was how he cried in Last Line: Playing the inkspots, the engineer roaring IT WAS A RISING First Line: It was a rising that brought the worms. They came Last Line: Ready for my own visionary window, %ready for a whole morning of sunlight and silence IT WAS A RISING First Line: It was a rising that brought the worms Last Line: Ready for a whole morning of sunlight and silence IT WAS IN HOUSTON Poem Text First Line: It was in houston I saw this disgusting sideboard Subject(s): Furniture; Writing & Writers IT WAS IN HOUSTON First Line: It was in houston I saw this disgusting sideboard IT WAS IN HOUSTON First Line: It was in houston I saw this disgusting sideboard Last Line: Little white one in the ravaged world IT'S NICE TO THINK OF TEARS First Line: It's nice to think of tears as polliwogs Last Line: Where the hands were hanging down, %where the dark old hands were helpless and hanging down IT'S NICE TO THINK OF TEARS First Line: It's nice to think of tears as polliwogs Last Line: Where the dark old hands were helpless and hanging down JEW AND THE ROOSTER ARE ONE First Line: After fighting with his dead brothers and his dead sisters Last Line: Tethered to a table, he was slaughtered JOHN'S MYSTERIES First Line: I've been seeing these tombstone beef sticks Last Line: And the little sticks of meat inside, his own %wild voyage behind him, his own sad life ahead JOHN'S MYSTERIES First Line: I've been seeing these tombstone beef sticks Last Line: Wild voyage behind him, his own sad life ahead JOSEPH POCKETS First Line: Have you ever lived through seven fat years and grown soft Last Line: Of life disappearing like drops of snow %as we pick up speed going east on the empty turnpike JOURNEY Poem Text First Line: How dumb he was to wipe the blood from his eye JUNE FIRST Poem Text First Line: Some blossoms are so white and luscious, when they Subject(s): Love JUNE FIRST First Line: Some blossoms are so white and luscious, when they Last Line: Your curved arms and your jeweled fingers %waving slowly again in the hot sun Subject(s): Love JUNE FIRST First Line: Some blossoms are so white and luscious, when they Last Line: Waving slowly again in the hot sun JUNE FOURTH Poem Text First Line: Today as I ride down twenty-fifth street I smell honeysuckle Subject(s): Medmory JUNE FOURTH First Line: Today as I ride down twenty-fifth I smell honeysuckle Last Line: The mixture of pain and pleasure - terror and hope - %what he calls 'honeysuckle.' JUSTICE First Line: Only, to hear him scream, you had to know Last Line: My clothes were red, my neck and face were scarlet KINGDOM Poem Text First Line: As far as the color red Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Property; Possessions KINGDOM First Line: As far as the color red Last Line: And sang in an amorous voice, as far as that Subject(s): Courts And Courtiers; Property KISSING STIEGLITZ GOOD-BYE Poem Text First Line: Every city in america is approached Subject(s): Farewell; Stieglitz, Alfred (1864-1946); Parting KISSING STIEGLITZ GOOD-BYE First Line: Every city in america is approached Last Line: On a sagging porch. I would have believed in everything KISSING STIEGLITZ GOODBYE First Line: Every city in america is approached %through a work of art Last Line: There is a man %on a sagging porch. I would have believed I n everything KNOWLEDGE First Line: Take water and fire, any disturbance between them Last Line: Swimming in milk, thinking of living again KNOWLEDGE FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS First Line: This was city living in the 1930's Last Line: When nothing is lost, when I can go forth and forth, %when the chain does not break off, that is par KNOWLEDGE FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS First Line: This was city living in the 1930s Last Line: When the chain does not break off, that is paradise LA PERGOLA First Line: Finally daisies and tomatoes, I have settled for Last Line: The bald daisies, stinking blue vase, stinking dixie cup LARGE POTS First Line: It's like coming through a chrysanthemum forest Last Line: A coral rose, I hold for nine or ten seconds LAST BLUE Poem Text First Line: You want to get the color blue right Last Line: It always sounded like that--everything living Subject(s): Blue (color); Colors LAST BLUE First Line: You want to get the color blue right Last Line: It always sounded like that - everything living Subject(s): Blue (color); Colors LAST HOME First Line: The alley is called pine street where the rottweiler Last Line: The roar, and if you still could hear the ringing LAST SELF-PORTRAIT First Line: Now I know why I have kept this orange flower wrapped up in tissue Last Line: Holding my chin up for the last self-portrait LAVENDER Poem Text First Line: Just for experiment I am burning the lavender Subject(s): Fire; Lavender; Smells; Odors; Aromas; Fragrances LAVENDER First Line: Just for experiment I am burning the lavender Last Line: And the box full of silk, I was such an enemy Subject(s): Fire; Lavender; Smells LEAVES Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: He was cleaning leaves for one at a time Subject(s): Trees LEAVING ANOTHER KINGDOM First Line: I think this year I'll wait for the white lilacs Last Line: Losing the buick, walking into the water, %leaving another island, leaving another %retreat, leaving LEAVING ANOTHER KINGDOM First Line: I think this year I'll wait for the white lilacs Last Line: Retreat, leaving another kingdom LET ME PLEASE LOOK INTO MY WINDOW Poem Text Subject(s): Farewell; Parting LET ME PLEASE LOOK INTO MY WINDOW First Line: Let me please look into my windo on 103rd street one more time Last Line: As we turn left, as we cross the water, as we leave the light LET ME PLEASE LOOK INTO MY WINDOW First Line: Let me please look into my window on 103rd street one more time Last Line: As we turn left, as we cross the water, as we leave the light LIGHT Poem Text First Line: The second day of eastern standard Subject(s): Birds LIGHT First Line: The second day of eastern standard Last Line: One of us shameless and adored LILACS FOR GINSBERG Poem Text First Line: I was most interested in what they looked like dead Subject(s): Flowers; Lilacs LILACS FOR GINSBERG First Line: I was most interested in what they looked like dead Last Line: Good and thoughtful became, for a moment, sorrowful Subject(s): Flowers; Lilacs LILIES First Line: Those lilies of the field, one sunday night Last Line: Were blue, his tires were bald, what christ owes me! LILLIAN HARVEY First Line: This is lovesick for you - charles koechlin Last Line: His mouth against her knee or lifter her thighs. %for she was the muse. You never fuck the muse LITTLE DID THE JUNCO KNOW Poem Text First Line: Little did the junco know who he was keeping cmpany with this christmas Subject(s): Birds LITTLE DID THE JUNCO KNOW First Line: Little did the junco know who he was keeping company with this Last Line: That soft gray one with the long tail %and the monotonous voice, %gorging himself at the battered al LITTLE DID THE JUNCO KNOW First Line: Little did the junco know who he was keeping company with this christmas Last Line: Gorging himself at the battered aluminum pan LITTLE WHITE SISTER First Line: It was in philadelphia that I first lived a life of deferment Last Line: Making kissing sounds with her red lips, %moaning with pleasure for the last indignity LITTLE WHITE SISTER First Line: It was in philadelphia that I first lived a life of deferment Last Line: Moaning with pleasure for the last indignity LORD, FORGIVE A SPIRIT First Line: So what shall we do about this angel Last Line: Lost somewhere in the broken glass and the cinders, %a foot below the soft nails and the hinges LOST WITH LIEUTENANT PIKE First Line: How was I to know - in 1938 - that anyone but Last Line: 9,000 miles from jerusalem, with the ice forming %inside your nostrils, and to feel your own wisdom LOVE FOR THE DOG Poem Text First Line: Before he opened his eyes, as he lay there under the window Subject(s): Dogs LOVE FOR THE DOG First Line: Before he opened his eyes, as he lay there under the window Last Line: Like wild water through all his troubled veins LOVE FOR THE DOG First Line: Before he opened his eyes, as he lay there under the window Last Line: As if there was not life still pouring out voluptously %likewild water through all his troubled vein Subject(s): Animals; Dogs LOVE ME First Line: It was in a good city Last Line: The fruit first, then the blossoms LOVESICK First Line: The dead straw in those trees, the Last Line: Their bellies are moaning and howling, %their souls are cooing and cawing LUCKY LIFE Poem Text First Line: Lucky life isn't one long string of horrors Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970 LUCKY LIFE First Line: Lucky life isn't one long string of horrors Last Line: Lucky life is that. Lucky life. Oh lucky life. %oh lucky lucky life. Lucky life Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970 LYRIC First Line: I wonder who has pissed here Last Line: To see what the tast is %or lifted a rose mum to his face %to see if he'll live forever? LYRIC First Line: I wonder who has pissed here Last Line: To see if he'll live forever MAGNOLIA Poem Text First Line: The mayor, in order to marry us, borrowed Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives MAGRITTE DANCING Poem Text First Line: Every night I have to go to bed twice Subject(s): Insomnia; Neighbors; Dancing & Dancers; Sleeplessness MAGRITTE DANCING First Line: Every night I have to go to bed twice Last Line: Of the bluejay, then the white door slamming, %then the voices rising and falling in sudden harmony MAKING THE LIGHT COME First Line: My pen was always brown or blue, with stripes Last Line: Scattering handfuls of gypsum and moss, still worshiping? MALAGUENA First Line: With a dead turtle floating down my canal Last Line: I am letting the sound of the islands %go through my veins again, like water MALAGUENA First Line: With a dead turtle floating down my canal Last Line: Go through my veins again, like water MATINS Poem Text First Line: Look in whose clouded eye behind the red vein Subject(s): Social Classes; Caste MATINS First Line: Look in whose clouded eye behind the red vein Last Line: Why doesn't he clean the window, early moon? MEMOIR First Line: I already said we put each other's eyes out Last Line: What the world was doing, how I exploded MENTIONING OF THE SOULS First Line: If I get up one more time in the dark Last Line: And remember, with your own lips, %as I go over the victories and the failures MEXICAN Poem Text First Line: By holding the mirror above my head your face Subject(s): Love MEXICAN First Line: By holding the mirror above my head your face Last Line: Were starting to hunt for grasses while we made love Subject(s): Love MIMI Poem Text First Line: For all the grackles are despised Subject(s): Grackles; Nature; Animals MIMI First Line: For all that grackles are despised Last Line: Tristan der melancholish, alfredo %der ethical, der loyal, dear mimi MODERN LOVE First Line: In a month all these frozen waterfalls Last Line: Looking for their wild eyes, burning with fear and shyness %in the stunted remains of last summer's MODERN LOVE First Line: In a month all these frozen waterfalls Last Line: In the stunted remains of last summer's silk forest MORNING HARVEST Poem Text First Line: Pennsylvania spiders / not only stretch their silk between the limbs Subject(s): Civilization; Insects; Pennsylvania; Spiders; Bugs MORNING HARVEST First Line: Pennsylvania spiders %not only stretch their silk between the limbs Last Line: Bringing language and mathematics and religion into darkness Subject(s): Civilization; Insects; Pennsylvania; Spiders MORNING HARVEST First Line: Pennsylvania spiders Last Line: Bringing language and mathematics and religion into the darkness MOSCOW First Line: I love to bend down over my love Last Line: The carved houses forever on our wild faces MOSCOW First Line: I love to bend down over my love Last Line: The horns of sciabin rising through the dreary street, %the carved housed forever on our wild faces Subject(s): Love MOST OF MY LIFE First Line: A squirrel eating her way in and a mother cardinal Last Line: Dried her tears. I did it for most of my life by MUSIC First Line: He is not the only one getting ready only Last Line: Not to change for you, rigid lover Subject(s): Music And Musicians MY FAVORITE DEMON First Line: My favorite demon holds me by the hair MY FAVORITE FAREWELL First Line: There is a kind of mop hanging down from the tree Last Line: My love of childish trees and light blue skies %and flowing robes. %I have to be forgiven Subject(s): Farewell MY FAVORITE FAREWELL First Line: There is a kind of mop hanging down from the tree Last Line: And flowing robes. I have to be forgiven MY FIRST KINGLET First Line: I saw my first kinglet in iowa city Last Line: Puerto rican and bronx hasidic inside, %a thicket fit for a king or a wandering kinglet MY FIRST KINGLET First Line: I saw my first kinglet in iowa city Last Line: A thicket fit for a king or a wandering kinglet MY SISTER'S FUNERAL Poem Text First Line: Since there was no mother for the peach tree we did it Subject(s): Sisters; Death - Children; Funerals; Grief; Death - Babies; Burials; Sorrow; Sadness MY SWALLOWS Poem Text First Line: For hours I sit here facing the white wall Subject(s): Swallows MY SWALLOWS First Line: For hours I sit here facing the white wall Last Line: Sitting against my wall, closing my eyes, %singing my dirges Subject(s): Swallows MY SWALLOWS First Line: For hours I sit here facing the white wall Last Line: Singing my dirges NAMING OF BEASTS First Line: You were wrong about the blood Last Line: Is it not divorce - it is custody; %it not blood - it is supineness NAMING OF BEASTS First Line: You were wrong about the blood Last Line: It is not blood -- it is supineness NEAR EASTON First Line: January 2 there was a body moving north Last Line: On the loud music, and I was keeping time Subject(s): Pennsylvania NEITHER ENGLISH NOR SPANISH First Line: It was when I went out to get an angry soul Last Line: And I opened the door to that embattled kitchen %and shook hands all around, I and the sister NEITHER ENGLISH NOR SPANISH First Line: It was when I went out to get an angry soul Last Line: And shook hands all around, I and the sister NETTLE TREE First Line: Mine was the nettle tree, the nettle tree Last Line: Half hanging in the wind - half leaning, half standing. %it was my only link. It was my luxury NETTLE TREE First Line: Mine was the nettle tree, the nettle tree Last Line: It was my only link. It was my luxury NEVER WENT TO BIRDLAND Poem Text First Line: Never went to birdland, so what, went to the y, Subject(s): Ancestors & Ancestry; Jews; Love - Beginnings; Heritage; Heredity; Judaism NICE MOUNTAIN First Line: Great little berries in the dogwood Last Line: Nice crimson berries, nice desert, nice mountain NIGHT Poem Text First Line: If only the bell keeps him alive though that is Subject(s): Night; Bedtime NIGHT First Line: If only the bell keeps him alive though that is Last Line: Shocking stroke and sometimes he changes pillows Subject(s): Night NO LONGER TERROR First Line: In the sunset glow and early twilight and first star-sprinkling NO WIND First Line: Today I am sitting outside the dutch castle NOBODY ELSE ALIVE First Line: Nobody else alive knows the four heart sounds NOBODY ELSE LIVING First Line: Nobody else living knows that song as well as I do Last Line: Now rich and reminiscent and warm, %now cloudy and haunted ODD MERCY First Line: I kick a piece of leather; except for the claw Last Line: Of odd mercy another one for me OF BLESSED NAME Poem Text First Line: Here in this huge dining room Subject(s): Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677) OLD SCARF First Line: Where he was the silk Last Line: Cover his whole head, he could curtsy and sway ON MY POOR ROAD First Line: On my poor road there is nothing but opossum and groundhop Last Line: And the heart breaks in tow to the words of old songs %and the memory of other small radios in other ON THE FAR EDGE OF KILMER First Line: I am sitting again on the steps of the burned out barrack Last Line: I am standing between the wall and the white sky. %I am holding open the burnt door ON THE ISLAND First Line: After cheating each other for eighteen years Last Line: Still remembering the first conversion to blood %and the forcing of the sea into those cramped vesse ON THE ISLAND First Line: After cheating each other for eighteen years Last Line: And the forcing of the sea into those cramped vessels ONE ANIMAL'S LIFE First Line: This is how I saved one animal's life Last Line: Sitting there humming, feeling pure and indignant %beside the chewed-up bags and the black droppings ONE ANIMAL'S LIFE First Line: This is how I saved one animal's life Last Line: Beside the chewed-up bags and the black droppings ONE BIRD TO LOVE FOREVER Poem Text First Line: If I were to pick one bird to love forever Subject(s): Sparrows ONE BIRD TO LOVE FOREVER First Line: If I were to pick one bird to love forever Last Line: Something to give me the desert again when I want it, %the blazing sunlight for grief, a little shad ONE OF THE SMALLEST Poem Text First Line: Made of the first grey light Subject(s): Imagination; Night; Fancy; Bedtime ONE OF THE SMALLEST First Line: Made of the first grey light Last Line: A stone at first, I turned %garish for awhile and burned Subject(s): Imagination; Night ONE THING IN LIFE First Line: Wherever I go now I lie down on my own bed of straw Last Line: It is what I keep to myself; what I return to; %the one thing that no one else wanted ONLY ELEGY First Line: I couldn't change the image I had of her Last Line: On the east coast of america. Now you can love her ORACLE First Line: I have a blue chair; there is a blue rock Last Line: Droning, voices shrieking, I am grateful ORANGE ROSES First Line: I am letting two old roses stand for everything I believe in Last Line: His pencil uprooted, his own orange roses dark and hidden ORANGE ROSES First Line: I am letting two old roses stand for everything I believe in Last Line: His body spread out in all directions, %his pencil uprooted,his own orange roses dark and hidden OSKAR First Line: You know, the squirrel was made for me and not me for Last Line: And ask his forgiveness for selling him for a dollar Variant Title(s): Osca PAG Poem Text First Line: I don't know his name yet nor that his eyes Subject(s): Mjusic & Musicians PAG First Line: I didn't know his name yet nor that his eyes Last Line: Reduced to a wet ball, from pity and anger PAIR OF HANDS First Line: That is a pair of white hands I see Last Line: Were an agony. I lived by touching and holding. %it was my ruin PAMET HARBOR Recitation by Author PAMET HARBOR First Line: Going west to east on the pamet river I sang Last Line: With wings alone (though christ could!) makin' whooppee PARIS Poem Text First Line: As I recall the meal I ate was liver Subject(s): Food & Eating; Paris, France; Travel; Journeys; Trips PARIS First Line: As I recall the meal I ate was liver Last Line: My only belief, what I went there for Subject(s): Food And Eating; Paris, France; Travel PEACHES First Line: What was I thinking of when I threw one of my Last Line: I ate my fallen apple, loving sister PEDDLER'S VILLAGE First Line: The small gray bird that fit inside the hand Last Line: Before the bitter wire snapped him in two, %before a thousand tragedies took away his warmth and hap PEDDLER'S VILLAGE First Line: The small gray bird that fit inside the hand Last Line: Before a thousand tragedies took away his warmth and happiness PERSONAL First Line: I am a moth of sorts the way I strip down Last Line: Gave whom the vinegar and what did I sing PICASSO POEM First Line: It was when the bridal wreaths were all out Last Line: Beside the hostas and the mugho pine, %the dirty bottles and the stones %fixing the boundary for ano Subject(s): Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) PICK AND POKE First Line: I began this fall by watching a thin red squirrel Last Line: From wire to wire, from empty hole to empty hole, %singing, singing, always singing, of that amorous PICK AND POKE First Line: I began this fall by watching a thin red squirrel Last Line: Singing, singing, always singing, of that amorous summer PICKING ASTERS First Line: Now he knew the sycamore was imitating Last Line: Trying to catch his breath you'd say he was dancing PICKING THE ROSES First Line: I am picking the roses for next time Last Line: Like heavy birds in last year's muddy grass PICKING THE ROSES First Line: I am picking the roses for next time Last Line: Like birds in the muddy grass, %like heavy birds in last year's muddy grass PILE OF FEATHERS First Line: This time there was no beak Last Line: Their long legs twisted in embarrassment, %their knees scraping the stones, %they begin crawling aft PILE OF FEATHERS First Line: This time there was no beak Last Line: They begin crawling after the spirit PLUMA Poem Text First Line: Once, when there were no riches, somewhere in southern Last Line: A dog had started to bark arid lights were burning Subject(s): Mexico; Pens & Pencils; Writing & Writers PLUMA First Line: Once, when there were no riches, somewhere in southern Last Line: A dog had started to bark and lights were burning Subject(s): Mexico; Pens And Pencils; Writing And Writers POEM OF LIBERATION First Line: The smell of piss is what we have in the city Last Line: Like a korean rope master, %my small steel shovel %humming and singing in the blue dust POEM OF LIFE First Line: For three days now I have been watching the blue jay take over Last Line: Two delectable jews, %spending our happy and cunning lives %in the honeysuckles POEM OF LIFE First Line: For three days now I have been watching the blue jay take over Last Line: Spending our happy and cunning lives %in the honeysuckles POTPOURRI Poem Text First Line: I see my wife struggling in the dirt Subject(s): Flowers POWER OF MAPLES First Line: If you want to live in the country you have to understand the power Last Line: You have to stick it in the gournd like a piece of willow; %you have to plant your table under its l POWER OF MAPLES First Line: If you want to live in the country you have to understand the power of maples Last Line: You have to plant your table under its leaves and begin eating PROGRESS AND POVERTY First Line: In the days of henry george Last Line: Watching myself explode, it was exploding PUSSY WILLOW First Line: For fifty years I have rubbed these soft hands R FOR ROSEMARY First Line: I heard a fluttering-just inside the door RED BIRD First Line: Now I feel safe Last Line: Something between a metallic chirp and a whistle-- %to the one from pennsylvania, the one who loves RED COAL First Line: Sometimes I sit in my blue chair trying to remember Last Line: In the cars and the kitchens and the bookstores; %in the crowded restaurants, in the empty woods and RED COAL First Line: Sometimes I sit in my blue chair trying to remember Last Line: In the crowded restaurants, in the empty woods and libraries RED WITH PINK First Line: It is a great weariness, isn't it Last Line: Very dark red. I live %by myself now. I am scattered REJOICINGS First Line: I put the sun behind the marlborough blenheim Last Line: I am burying our nietzsche; %I am touching his small body for the last time ROAR First Line: That was the last time I would walk up those five flights Last Line: In my other dream, on the cold and empty river ROAR First Line: That was the last time I would walk up those five Last Line: As sweet as my own roar %in my other dream, on the cold and empty river ROMANCE First Line: After thirty years Last Line: Humming to myself and turning on my right side %for words ROMANIA, ROMANIA Poem Text First Line: I stand like some country crow across the street Subject(s): Music & Musicians ROMANIA, ROMANIA First Line: I stand like some country crow across the street Last Line: Bending ddown over the tables, %the great stern himself %dragging his heart from one ruined soul to Subject(s): Music And Musicians ROMANIA, ROMANIA First Line: I stand like some country crow across the street Last Line: Dragging his heart from one ruined soul to another ROSE WAREHOUSE First Line: Ah tunnel cows Last Line: Throwing in dirt, throwing in flowers, kissing the shovel good-by, kissing the small shovel ROSE WAREHOUSE First Line: Ah tunnel cows Last Line: Kissing the shovel good-bye, kissing the small shovel ROSES Poem Text First Line: There was a rose called guy de maupassant, Subject(s): Roses; Brotherhood ROSES First Line: There was a rose called guy de maupassant Last Line: And we were brothers for life, we swore it in french ROTTEN ANGEL First Line: My friends, still of this world, follow me to the bottom of the river Last Line: Swarming after him in the dirty sunlight %a million miles from his new york and his baltimore and hi ROTTEN ANGEL First Line: My friends, still of this world, follow me to the bottom of the river Last Line: A million miles from his new york and his baltimore and his boston ROYAL MANOR ROAD First Line: It would be worth it to go ninety miles out of your way Last Line: To reach my hand inside %and touch the bony forehead and the stiff hair %would be worth it SACRED SPINE First Line: It will always be invisible, it will Last Line: On the bleached wood and the pillows and the warm air %and the weeds and the water Subject(s): Healing SALT First Line: I was sitting at a picnic table at Last Line: The animals happier, it would have blessed our supper SAMARITANS First Line: I can't remember what the class trip was Last Line: Of course and my own eyes were closed-I was sleeping SAME MOON ABOVE US First Line: When I see a man sleeping over the grilles Last Line: And his other exile, far from rome's domain, %and far from new york's domain, now silent and peacefu SAME MOON ABOVE US First Line: When I see a man sleeping over the grilles Last Line: And far from new york's domain, now silent and peaceful SAVEL KLIATCHKO First Line: He is either dead or alive and his father Last Line: Light a candle for him, do one for savel SAVING MY SKIN FROM BURNING Poem Text First Line: There was a hole in the ground once; there was a manhole Last Line: Into a pillow; I lay on my back recovering Subject(s): Escapes; Fugitives SAVING MY SKIN FROM BURNING First Line: There was a hole in the ground once; there was a manhole Subject(s): Escapes SCRATCH First Line: He woke up every morning with apricot juice on his hands Last Line: The first warm day, always laboring from scratch SELF-PORTRAIT First Line: When I turn the ceiling light on Last Line: Slowly mastering the sky. In honor of albert einstein. %in honor of eugene debs. In honor of emma go SELF-PORTRAIT IN HIS SIXTIES First Line: Going wild in the batik shop Last Line: The white leaves, especially the blue wayside SENSITIVE KNIFE First Line: Every day the dark blue sky of brother van gogh Last Line: And the roasted egg on a white napkin %I climb over the rhodedendrons and the dead trees to meet him SHAD First Line: Sometimes he reached for a blood orange Last Line: Long, you can believe it, and how I labored SHAKING MYSELF AND SIGHING First Line: What a sweet urinal it was in narbonne SHIRT POEM First Line: It is ten years since I have seen these shirts Last Line: Above the abandoned shoes, weeping in silence, %moaning in exhaustion, %getting ready again to live SHIRT POEM First Line: It is ten years since I have seen these shirts Last Line: Getting ready again to live in darkness SHORT WORDS Poem Text First Line: Some dried-up phlox so old the blue was white Subject(s): Death; Language; Dead, The; Words; Vocabulary SHORT WORDS First Line: Some dried-up phlox so old the blue was white Last Line: Dried-out marsh grass, dead lilies, august roses Subject(s): Death; Language SILVER HAND First Line: There is that little silver hand. I wrap Last Line: Green or shiny on the outside, black on the inside. %give to the hand! SILVER HAND First Line: There is that little silver hand. Last Line: Give to the hand SINGING First Line: I have been waiting for a month Last Line: With hatred, how long it took to convert %death and sadness into beautiful singing SINGING First Line: I have been waiting for a month Last Line: Death and sadness into beautiful singing SIXTEEN MINUTES First Line: There in the sky above lewisburg Last Line: Through all the killing and hounding, we all but worshipped Subject(s): Ireland; Jews; Lewisburg Penitentiary (pennsylvania) SLOW AND PAINFUL RECOVERY First Line: Richard strauss, my hero, here you are Last Line: The red bud is split in two, the poppies are opening. %it was a slow and painful recovery SMALL SUNFLOWERS First Line: I never saw three disks like that Last Line: She won't be vexed as long as I was SMELL OF DEATH First Line: Green fishes swimming in the street Last Line: With yours - I always had to - a foot away %from the sullen lupines and the ruthless lilies, my darl SOAP Poem Text First Line: Here is a green jew Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Shoah; Judaism SOAP First Line: Here is a green jew Last Line: The odor of irish spring, the stench of ivory Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME Poem Text First Line: It is not knowing what a mulberry sidewalk looks like Subject(s): Mulberry Trees SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME First Line: It is not knowing what a mulberry sidewalk looks like Last Line: For belief and one for just pleasure I wouldn't be singing Subject(s): Mulberry Trees SOMETHING FOR ME First Line: The tree that leaned against the side of the house Last Line: With a poem rolled up inside. Donkey, pass by SOMETHING NEW First Line: This year I sat with women, gathering up Last Line: As she does under the buried notes and the combs, %singing and humming and sleeping by the sea she l SONG First Line: There's nothing in this gardenous world more delightful Last Line: One of the many pink and white blossoms, %one of the many on the brutal lawn SONG First Line: There's nothing in this gardenous world more delightful Last Line: One of the many on the brutal lawn SONG FOR THE ROMEOS First Line: I'm singing a song for the romeos Last Line: And the cement sidewalk SONG FOR THE ROMEOS First Line: I'm singing a song for the romeos Last Line: Tapping and knocking and clapping on the wooden steps %and the cement sidewalk SOULS FROM EMERSON First Line: This is a kind of sunflower Last Line: The cars rushing west to cleveland and ypsilanti %and the cars rushing east to whitehouse and coney SOUNDS OF WAGNER First Line: You could call him a lachrymose animal Last Line: He felt, and bitter, and how he weathered it ST. MARK'S First Line: Still like a child, isn't it? Last Line: Red-and-yellow swollen rainwashed tulip ST. MARK'S First Line: Still like a child, isn't it Last Line: Red and yellow swollen rainwashed tulip STEPPING OUT OF POETRY First Line: What would you give for one of the old yellow streetcars Last Line: In the dark afternoons, at the old scarred tables STEPS First Line: There are two hundred steps between my house Last Line: To the left to see the oven, I count the bricks, %I look at the clock again, I chew my flower STEPS First Line: There are two hundred steps between my house Last Line: I look at the clock again, I chew my flower STERN COUNTRY First Line: For sleeplessness, your head face down, your shoulder blades Last Line: By a mack truck, then she'll be ready to mourn STILL BURNING Poem Text First Line: Me trying to understand say whence Subject(s): Books; Thought; Reading; Thinking STOLEN FACE First Line: There is a face stolen from the twelfth century STOPPING SCHUBERT Poem Text First Line: Stopping schubert, ejecting him, changing the power Subject(s): Composers; Schubert, Franz (1797-1828) STOPPING SCHUBERT First Line: Stopping schubert, ejecting him, changing the power Last Line: I have kept it a secret for forty years, %the tortured composer from pennsylvania, franz schubert Subject(s): Composers; Schubert, Franz (1797-1828) STOPPING SCHUBERT First Line: Stopping schubert, ejecting him, changing the power Last Line: The tortured composer from central pennsylvania %franz schubert STRAUS PARK Poem Text First Line: If you know about the babylonian jews Subject(s): Nostalgia STRAUS PARK First Line: If you know about the babylonian jews Last Line: Do not burn again for nothing. %do not cry out again in clumsiness and shame Subject(s): Nostalgia STRAUS PARK First Line: If you know about the babylonian jews Last Line: Do not cry out again in clumsiness and shame STRING-BEAN First Line: A string-bean is born every second, par example Last Line: And who can sing beethoven best, and swim underwater SUPREME SUBJECT First Line: At an unexpected turn in the kiskiminetas Last Line: --kiss, kiss mamma for me. Say hellow to your mary. %goombye, hunkies. Goombye, goombye, hunkies SWAN LEGS First Line: Just for a second, when mao stood up and walked Last Line: To soften the wild flesh and kill the suffering SWAN SONG Poem Text First Line: A bunch of old snakeheads down by the pond Last Line: Bolts of wisdom from their foreheads Subject(s): Animals SWAN SONG First Line: A bunch of old snakeheads down by the pond Subject(s): Animals SWEETNESS OF LIFE First Line: After the heavy rain we were able to tell about the mushrooms Last Line: Finally accepting the sweetness of life, %on my own mushy log, %in the white and spotted moonlight SWEETNESS OF LIFE First Line: After the heavy rain we were able to tell about the mushrooms Last Line: In the white and spotted moonlight SWIFTS Poem Text First Line: Bing crosby died in spain Subject(s): Crosby, Bing (harry Lillis) (1904-1977); Franco, Francisco (1892-1975); Singing & Singers; Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) SYCAMORE Poem Text First Line: It was march third I came outside and saw Subject(s): Plane Trees; Sycamores SYCAMORE First Line: It was march third I came outside and saw Last Line: Across the desert, and here I am now in new york %and here I am now in pittsburgh, the perfect wilde Subject(s): Plane Trees SYCAMORE First Line: It was march third I came outside and saw Last Line: And here I am now in pittsburgh, the perfect wilderness SYLVIA Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Across a space peopled with stars I am Subject(s): Sisters; Death - Children; Grief; Death - Babies; Sorrow; Sadness SYLVIA First Line: Was is eros doing Last Line: Would have touched her cheek and stroked her hair %as she did her darling libbie. As I did too SYLVIA First Line: Across a space peopled with stars I am Last Line: Living only as dust and dirt, little sister TASHLIKH First Line: This one shows me standing by the delaware THE BULL-ROARER Poem Text First Line: I only saw my father's face in butchery Subject(s): Farm Life; Agriculture; Farmers THE DANCING Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture THE DOG Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: What was I doing with my white teeth exposed Subject(s): Animals; Dogs THE DOVE'S NECK Poem Text First Line: The dove's neck is so thin Subject(s): Doves THE EXPULSION Poem Text First Line: I'm working like a dog here, testing my memory THE EYES ARE ALWAYS BROWN Poem Text First Line: I spent an hour watchjing the yellow parrots Last Line: Did I stop to listen to that music, poor love? Subject(s): Travel; Conduct Of Life; Irish; Judaism THE HAMMER Poem Text First Line: What did a foot of snow matter when Subject(s): Cold THE JEW AND THE ROOSTER ARE ONE Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: After fighting with his dead brothers and his dead sisters Subject(s): Soutine, Chaim (1893-1943); Paintings & Painters; Jews; Butchery; Judaism THE MUSIC Poem Text First Line: He is not the only one getting ready only Subject(s): Music & Musicians THE NAME Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Having outlived allen I am the one who Subject(s): Ginsberg, Allen (1926-1997); Social Commentaries THE NEW MOSES Poem Text First Line: Look at those poor cattails Last Line: Of ancient new york Subject(s): Future THE PICASSO POEM Poem Text First Line: It was when the bridal wreaths were all out Subject(s): Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) THE POWER OF MAPLES Poem Text First Line: F you want to live in the country you have to understand the power of maples. Subject(s): Maple Trees THE PREACHER Poem Text First Line: As if the one tree you love so well and hardly Subject(s): Old Age; Nature; Social Commentgaries; Country Life; Death; Dead, The THE SACRED SPINE Poem Text First Line: It will always be invisible, it will Subject(s): Healing; Cures THE SPARROW Poem Text Subject(s): Sparrows; Food & Eating; Mothers; Miami Beach THERE I WAS ONE DAY Last Line: A stork from broadway, a heron from mexico, %a pink flamingo from greece THERE I WAS ONE DAY Last Line: A pink flamingo from greece THERE I WAS ONE DAY THERE IS WIND, THERE ARE MATCHES Poem Text First Line: A thousand times I have sat in restaurant windows Subject(s): Civilization; Restaurants; Cafes; Diners THERE IS WIND, THERE ARE MATCHES First Line: A thousand times I have sat in restaurant windows Last Line: Whistling bach and muczynski through the closed blinds Subject(s): Civilization; Restaurants THINKING ABOUT SHELLEY Poem Text First Line: Arm over arm I swam out into the rain Subject(s): Swimming & Swimmers; Poetry & Poets; Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822) THINKING ABOUT SHELLEY First Line: Arm over arm I swam out into the rain Last Line: I dragged my body up and alive, %to the small landing under the flowering highway, %full of silence THINKING ABOUT SHELLEY First Line: Arm over arm I swam out into the rain Last Line: Full of silence now and clarity THIS IS IT First Line: It is my emotions that carry me through lambertville, new jersey Last Line: For the truck out back to start, for the collie to die, %forthe flies to come, for the summer to bri THIS IS IT First Line: It is my emotions that carry me through lamberville, new jersey Last Line: For the flies to come, for the summer to bring its reckoning THIS IS LORD HERBERT MOANING First Line: This is lord herbert moaning and sighing over his lost manuscripts Last Line: It is beautiful letting the brain move in and out of its own%cloudbank THIS IS LORD HERBERT MOANING First Line: This is lord herbert moaning and sighing over his lost manuscripts Last Line: It is beautiful letting the brain move in and out of its own cloudbank THIS LIFE Poem Text First Line: Mostly I opened my napkin with a flair Subject(s): Clouds; Gifts & Giving; Life THIS LIFE First Line: Mostly I opened my napkin with a flair Last Line: And if it was sweet and vernal, the cloud I gave you Subject(s): Clouds; Gifts And Giving; Life THIS TIME Poem Text First Line: That was his picnic table and those were his two Subject(s): Change; Time THIS TIME First Line: That was his picnic table and those were his two Last Line: And three or four poor staccatos, hard time this time Subject(s): Change; Time THIS WAS A WONDERFUL NIGHT Last Line: In the new country, my heart forever pounding THIS WAS A WONDERFUL NIGHT THIS WAS A WONDERFUL NIGHT First Line: This was a wonderful night. %I heard the brahms Last Line: A little less for me, going east and west %in the new country, my heart forever pounding THOSE ARE SAUCERS THAT WERE HIS EYES First Line: Me and my critic, me and my wife, a dog that Last Line: Who cares about your life, bastard hero? THOSE THINGS First Line: With one foot on the standpipe Last Line: Will turn the petals to the light, %that he will have yearning again, and greed, and sorrow THOUGHT OF HEAVEN First Line: There is one blossom on my redwood table Last Line: Not too disgraceful for the chicory, %solemn and blue as it is, such is my thinking THOUGHT OF HEAVEN First Line: There is one blossom on my redwood table Last Line: Solemn and blue as it is, such is my thinking THREE HEARTS First Line: A chicken with three hearts, that is a vanished breed Last Line: To disappear in those grasses, to pick those trillium THREE SKIES First Line: I always remember the crone. I always think of her Last Line: All of them illuminated, all of them ecstatic, %every one changed, for a minute, by his own memory THREE TEARS First Line: If you have seen single yellow iris Last Line: Choosing its own movement and its own light THREE TEARS: 1 First Line: If you have seen a single yellow iris Last Line: Have seen the saddest sight of all, %a nest inside a ruined building, %a father hugging his child, % THREE TEARS: 2 First Line: You would have to sit at my bedroom window Last Line: Hw is so clean-smelling and so peaceful %that we forget the strength in his huge body %and the malic THREE TEARS: 3 First Line: I have to lie on my back for two hours Last Line: If I could have let my eye go freely down the line %choosingits own movement and its own light? TIE First Line: The other time I wore a tie my friend mark Last Line: About his life in the polish and ukrainian marshes TODAY A LEAF First Line: Today it was just a dry leaf that told me Last Line: Of franz joseph haydn and domenico scarlatti and gustave mahler %forever TODAY A LEAF First Line: Today it was just a dry leaf that told me Last Line: Of franz joseph haydn and domenico scarlatti and gustav mahler forever TURNING INTO A POND First Line: All I need is one foot in the mud Last Line: The weeds and grasses are beginning to struggle for attention; %the water is turning warm; we are go TWO DAWS First Line: The false dawn in wheeling, west virginia Last Line: Is fighting for his life and the lily of the valley %is bowing her head in shame, shouldn't I love o TWO MOONS First Line: I'm looking at the moon, I'm half resting Last Line: Believing in water, bowing to sparrows, bowing %to white deer, refusing to shame the spirit TWO THINGS First Line: I have balanced two things, the black-faced Last Line: I was their windfall, I was their sorrow TWO VASES First Line: She was a darling with her roses and I Last Line: My eyes with the rough cloth, for I love her Subject(s): Candles; Light UKRAINIAN First Line: Before I go outside I daub my face Last Line: Shames the tulips, he whose carnal cry %is alway loud and florid, he is my witness UKRAINIAN First Line: Before I go outside I daub my face Last Line: Is always loud and florid, he is my witness UNDERGROUND DANCING Poem Text Recitation by Author Subject(s): Birds UNDERGROUND DANCING First Line: There's a bird pecking at the fat Last Line: Let everyone go blind! %let everyone be buried in his own litter UNDERGROUND DANCING First Line: There's a bird pecking at the fat Last Line: Let everyone be buried in his own litter UNITY First Line: How strange it is to walk alone Last Line: Women and men of all sizes and all ages %living together, without satire UNITY First Line: How strange it is to walk alone Last Line: Living together, without satire VISION AND WHAT IT WAS First Line: I looked at the sun as huxley did according Last Line: Under a naked light bulb, to name just three VISITING FLORIDA AGAIN First Line: At eleventh and euclid I stood in front of an air Last Line: Sitting in the old reference room, %reading thomas paine & william blake & peter kropotkin, %creatin VISITING MY OWN HOUSE IN IOWA CITY Poem Text First Line: The three large dogs in my house Subject(s): Houses; Iowa VISITING MY OWN HOUSE IN IOWA CITY First Line: The three large dogs in my house Last Line: I came to transform and to love Subject(s): Houses; Iowa VIVALDI YEARS First Line: I lay forever, didn't I, behind those old windows Last Line: Life, wasn't it. The true world without end VIVALDI YEARS First Line: I lay forever, didn't I, behind those old windows Last Line: Sandess after another. That was the everlasting %life, wasn't it. The true world without end WAR AGAINST THE JEWS First Line: Look how peaceful these wooden figures are WASHINGTON SQUARE First Line: Now after all these years I am just that one pigeon Last Line: His skinny neck; remember the one pigeon %fighting his way through the filthy marijuana, %sighing WASHINGTON SQUARE First Line: Now after all these years I am just that one pigeon Last Line: Fighting his way through the filthy marijuana %sighing WAVING GOOD-BYE Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I wanted to know what it was like before we Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters WAVING GOOD-BYE First Line: I wanted to know what it was like before we Last Line: As they made their turn into the empty highway Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters WHAT IT IS LIKE First Line: I will have to tell you what it is like Last Line: If you were facing south. I think I never %slept that night.I only dozed. And ranted WHAT IT IS LIKE First Line: I will have to tell you what it is like Last Line: Slept that night. I only dozed. And ranted WHEN I HAVE REACHED THE POINT OF SUFFOCATION Last Line: To learn how to leave the place %of oppression; %and how to make your own regeneration %out of nothi WHEN I HAVE REACHED THE POINT OF SUFFOCATION Last Line: And how to make your own regeneration %out of nothing WINTER THIRST First Line: I grew up with bituminous in my mouth Last Line: Was like and how a candle instructed me YOUR ANIMAL First Line: The final end of all but purified souls Last Line: --it is my poem against the starving heart. %it is my victory over meanness YOUR ANIMAL First Line: The final end of all but purified souls Last Line: It is my victory over meanness |
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