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Author: WILLIAMS, WILLIAM CARLOS
Matches Found: 955


Williams, William Carlos    Poet's Biography
955 poems available by this author


(EZRA POUND)       
First Line: In my uncivilized, amputated country thinking (I exist in a matrix of
Last Line: Was a lot more junk back of the house, you could see it by the concrete mixer I was telling you abou


14-OCT       
First Line: Rose in the park %with a white center
Last Line: Fallen leaves still leaves %your loveliness %unshaken


15 YEARS LATER       
First Line: On seeing my own play
Last Line: A light in his eyes %nothing more


3 A.M. THE GIRL WITH THE HONEY COLORED HAIR       
First Line: Everyone looked and, passing, revealed himself
Last Line: Turned frightened to address %me, pitifully alone


3 STANCES    Poem Text    
First Line: Elaine / poised for the leap
Subject(s): Babies; Girls; Infants


3 STANCES (ELAINE)       
First Line: Poised for the leap she %is not yet ready for
Last Line: Wrists %set for the getaway


3 STANCES: 2. ERICA       
First Line: The melody line is %everything
Last Line: On the bridge of it %points the way %inward


3 STANCES: 3. EMILY       
First Line: Your long legs %built %to carry high
Last Line: Permitting %may it %carry you far


4TH OF JULY    Poem Text    
First Line: The ship moves
Subject(s): Shi-ps & Shipping; Heat


4TH OF JULY       
First Line: The ship moves %but its smoke
Last Line: I'd heard %a night hawk calling


9-JUN       
First Line: That profound cleft
Last Line: And motor cars? Our bottoms %ache from the heat


A CELEBRATION    Poem Text    
First Line: A middle-northern march, now as always
Last Line: Time is a green orchid.
Subject(s): Spring


A COLD FRONT    Poem Text    
First Line: This woman with a dead face
Subject(s): Mothers; Abortion


A CONFIDENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: Today, dear friend, this grey day
Last Line: Melting away because of their passion!


A CORONAL    Poem Text    
First Line: New books of poetry will be written
Last Line: Many and many a time.
Subject(s): Books; Reading


A FLOWING RIVER    Poem Text    
First Line: You are lovely as a river
Last Line: And ripples in my thought
Subject(s): Rivers


A FOND FAREWELL    Poem Text    
First Line: You - why you're / just sucking
Subject(s): Farewell; Parting


A FOOT-NOTE    Poem Text    
First Line: Walk on the delicate parts
Subject(s): Communism; Poetry & Poets


A FRIEND OF MINE    Poem Text    
First Line: Well, lizzie anderson! Seventeen men and
Subject(s): Children - Illegitimate; Birth - Out Of Wedlock; Bastards


A GOODNIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: Go to sleep - though of course you will not
Last Line: And the night passes -- and never passes --
Subject(s): Night; Bedtime


A LA LUNE    Poem Text    
First Line: Slowly rising, slowly strengthening moon
Last Line: You, o moon, must have understanding of these things.
Subject(s): Moon


A LOVE SONG    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: What have I to say to you
Last Line: As I do now?
Subject(s): Love


A MAN TO A WOMAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Though you complain of me
Last Line: In your identity.
Subject(s): Fame; Man-woman Relationships; Reputation; Male-female Relations


A MATISSE    Poem Text    
First Line: On the french grass, in that room on fifth ave., lay that woman
Last Line: So she came to america
Subject(s): Nudity; Paintings And Painters; Pornography; Portraits; Nakedness


A PORTRAIT IN GREYS    Poem Text    
First Line: Will it never be possible
Last Line: Where it is level and undisturbed by colors.
Subject(s): Colors


A PRELUDE    Poem Text    
First Line: I know only the bare rocks of today
Last Line: "sisters,"" I say to them."
Subject(s): Time


A, B & C OF IT       
First Line: Love's very fleas are mine. Enter
Last Line: Odor is time without me


ACT       
First Line: There were the roses, in the rain
Last Line: And cut them and gave them to me %in my hand


AD INFINITUM    Poem Text    
First Line: Still I bring flowers
Last Line: To speak a lesser thing.
Subject(s): Flowers


ADAM       
First Line: He grew up by the sea
Last Line: Coldly %and with patience- %without a murmur, silently %a desperate, unvarying silence %to the unhur


ADDRESS       
First Line: Walk softly on my grave
Last Line: Live in this %whom green youth denied


ADDRESS:       
First Line: To a look in my son's eyes
Last Line: To another woman %it was never for sale


ADVENT OF TODAY       
First Line: South wind %striking in -- torn
Last Line: Middle parts of the sky


AFRICA    Poem Text    
First Line: Quit writing / and in morocco
Subject(s): Morocco; Writing & Writers


AFRICA       
First Line: Quit writing %and in morocco
Last Line: Organize %the language. %right


AFTERMATH       
First Line: The winnah! Pure as snow %courageous as the wind
Last Line: There is a girl now to %add to the blue-eyed boy %good! The air of the uplands is stimulating


AGAINST THE SKY       
First Line: Let me not forget at least
Last Line: Southward. Southward! Where %new mating warms the wit and cold %does not strike, for respite


AGONIZED SPIRES       
First Line: Crustaceous %wedge %of sweaty kitchens
Last Line: Left ventricles %with long %sunburnt fingers


AGONY AMONG THE CROWD       
First Line: To die unwrinkled near a breath of fire
Last Line: Like the man drowned in his misfortune


AIGELTINGER       
First Line: In the bare trees old husks make new designs
Last Line: Aigeltinger, you were profound


ALL THAT IS PERFECT IN WOMAN       
First Line: The symbol of war, a war
Last Line: Familiar to the sea, familiar %to the sea, the sea


ALL THE FANCY THINGS       
First Line: Music and painting and all that
Last Line: Or what? A %clean air, high up, unoffended %by gross odors


AN AFTER SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: So art thou broken in upon me, apollo
Last Line: This is strange to me, here in the modern twilight.
Subject(s): Apollo


AN ELEGY FOR D.H. LAWRENCE    Poem Text    
First Line: Green points of the shrub / and poor lawrence dead
Subject(s): Consolation; Lawrence, David Herbert (1885-1930)


AN OLD SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: The black-winged gull
Subject(s): Gulls; Love; Seagulls


AND THUS WITH ALL PRAISE    Poem Text    
First Line: Wonderful creatures
Last Line: Have these for name, none other.
Subject(s): Women; Names


AND WHO DO YOU THINK 'THEY' ARE?       
First Line: The day when the under-cover writings
Last Line: (after we have %put poison in it) for good and all


ANOTHER OLD WOMAN       
First Line: If I could keep her %here, near me
Last Line: (gesture of getting %a strike) it %is a great joy


ANOTHER YEAR       
First Line: In the rose garden in the park
Last Line: The slender quietness of the old bushes %is a virtue all its own


APOLOGY    Poem Text    
First Line: Why do I write today?
Last Line: In the same way.


APPARITION       
First Line: My greetings to you, sir, whose memory
Last Line: Did you make the war? Whichever, there you are


APPEAL    Poem Text    
First Line: You who are so mighty
Last Line: This is my song.
Subject(s): Desire


APPROACH OF WINTER    Poem Text    
First Line: The half-stripped trees
Last Line: Edge the bare garden.
Subject(s): Winter


APPROACH TO A CITY       
First Line: Getting through with the world--
Last Line: Always for there is small holiness %to be found in braver things


APPROACHING HOUR       
First Line: You communists and republicans
Last Line: Get ready for the awakening


APRES LE BAIN       
First Line: I gotta %buy me a new
Last Line: Wig-%gle for this. %(you pig


APRIL    Poem Text    
First Line: If you had come away with me
Last Line: I awoke smiling but tired.
Subject(s): April


APRIL IS THE SADDEST MONTH       
First Line: There they were %stuck
Last Line: She following %through the shrubbery


ARRIVAL    Poem Text    
First Line: And yet one arrives somehow
Last Line: Like a winter wind . . . !
Subject(s): Winter


ART       
First Line: In spring looking at a %piece %of abstract art
Last Line: A new laid breast just %hatched %by modigliani


ARTIST       
First Line: Mr. T. %bareheaded %in a soiled undershirt
Last Line: But the show was over


ASPHODEL, THAT GREENY FLOWER       
First Line: Of asphodel, that greeny flower
Last Line: And begun again to penetrate %into all crevices %of my world


ASPHODEL, THAT GREENY FLOWER, SELECTION    Poem Text    
First Line: Of asphodel, that greeny flower
Subject(s): Flowers; Love


AT DAWN    Poem Text    
First Line: The war of your great beauty is in all the skies
Last Line: I am bewildered with multiplicity.
Subject(s): Beauty


AT KENNETH BURKE'S PLACE       
First Line: And 'the earth under our feet'
Last Line: Been brought to life again


AT NIGHT       
First Line: The stars, that are small lights
Last Line: Curiously in a thin half-circle


AT THE BALL GAME    Poem Text    
First Line: The crowd at the ball game
Subject(s): Baseball; Crowds


AT THE BALL GAME       
First Line: The crowd at the ball game
Last Line: Permanently, seriously %without thought
Subject(s): Baseball; Sports


AT THE BAR       
First Line: Hi, open up a dozen
Last Line: You'll blow a fuse if %ya keep that up


AT THE BRINK OF WINTER       
Last Line: They are going to sleep


AT THE FAUCET OF JUNE       
First Line: The sunlight in a %yellow plaque upon the
Last Line: Manchuria, a %partridge %from dry leaves


ATLANTIC CITY CONVENTION       
First Line: No wit (and none needed) but
Last Line: None of us. Neither by you, certainly, %nor by me


ATTIC WHICH IS DESIRE       
First Line: The unused tent
Last Line: Ringed with %running lights %the darkened %pane %exactly %down the center %is %transfixed


AUTUMN    Poem Text    
First Line: A stand of people
Subject(s): Graves; Leaves; Tombs; Tombstones


AUTUMN       
First Line: A stand of people
Last Line: Reaps a basketful of %matted grasses %for his goats


AUX IMAGISTES    Poem Text    
First Line: I think I have never been so exalted
Last Line: Shall not endure for ever.
Subject(s): Flowers


AVENUE OF POPLARS       
First Line: The leaves embrace %in the trees
Last Line: The cave of %les trois freres


BALLAD       
First Line: To a man and his wife
Last Line: God of married lovers %has blessed them and %their house


BALLAD OF FAITH       
First Line: No dignity without chromium
Last Line: The horn sounds hoarsely


BALLAD OF TIME AND THE PEASANT       
First Line: Old time was sitting in the sun
Last Line: Such merit hath thy rhyme


BALLET    Poem Text    
First Line: Are you not weary
Last Line: Our laughter.
Subject(s): Nature; Solitude


BANNER BEARER       
First Line: In the rain, the lonesome
Last Line: On some obscure %insistence-from bridge- %ward going %into new territory


BARE TREE       
First Line: The bare cherry tree
Last Line: Therefore chop it down %and use the wood %against this biting cold


BASTARD PEACE       
First Line: Where a heavy
Last Line: Beyond the field and shining %water, 12 o'clock blows %but nobody goes %other than the kids from sch


BERKET AND THE STARS    Poem Text    
First Line: A day on the boulevards chosen out of ten years of
Last Line: Three generations -- which is relatively forever!


BETWEEN WALLS    Poem Text    
First Line: The back wings
Last Line: "pieces of a green
Subject(s): Hospitals


BETWEEN WALLS       
First Line: The back wings
Last Line: Pieces of a green bottle
Subject(s): Hospitals


BEWILDERMENT OF AGE       
First Line: How can I else than ponder on these things
Last Line: Then be content it rests with more than men


BEWILDERMENT OF YOUTH       
First Line: Man perplexed by detail in his youth
Last Line: These final few go mingling into one


BIRD       
First Line: Bird with outstretched %wings poised %inviolate unreaching
Last Line: To a stop %miraculously fixed in my %arresting eyes


BIRD SONG       
First Line: It is may on every hand
Last Line: To another-- %announcing spring is %here spring is here


BIRD'S COMPANION       
First Line: As love %that is
Last Line: Lusty for the sun %the bird's companion


BIRDS AND FLOWERS       
First Line: It is summer, winter, any %time -- no time at all -- but delight
Last Line: More! The particular flower is %blossoming


BIRDSONG       
First Line: Disturb the balance, broken bird
Last Line: Break also your happiness for me


BIRTH       
First Line: A 40 odd year old para 10 %navarra %or navatta she didn't know
Last Line: Not a man among us at least %can have unequaled %that


BIRTH OF VENUS       
First Line: Today small waves are rippling, crystal clear, upon the pebbles
Last Line: Shall die soon enough, to dream of april, not knowing why we have been %struck down, heedless of wha


BITTER WORLD OF SPRING       
First Line: On a wet pavement the white sky recedes
Last Line: Red-finned in the dark %water headed unrelenting, upstream


BLACK WINDS       
First Line: Black winds from the north
Last Line: Into the old mode, how hard to %cling firmly to the advance


BLIZZARD    Poem Text    
First Line: Snow: / years of anger following
Last Line: Upon the world.
Subject(s): Snow


BLUEFLAGS    Poem Text    
First Line: I stopped the car
Last Line: From wet, gummy stalks.
Subject(s): Flowers


BOTTICELLIAN TREES       
First Line: The alphabet of %the trees
Last Line: In summer the song %sings itself %above the muffled words


BREAKFAST       
First Line: Twenty sparrows %on
Last Line: Share and share %alike


BRIEF LIFE       
First Line: Pray %pay %no attention to my greatness
Last Line: Ready, at the last (if ever) %sweet %meat


BRILLIANCE       
First Line: Oh sock, sock, sock
Last Line: Finis! Finish %and get out of this


BRILLIANT SAD SUN       
First Line: Lee's lunch
Last Line: What beauty %beside your sadness -- and %what sorrow


BULL       
First Line: It is in captivity
Last Line: And eyes matted %with hyacinthine curls
Subject(s): Bulls


BURNING THE CHRISTMAS GREENS    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Their time past, pulled down
Subject(s): Christmas; Nativity, The


BURNING THE CHRISTMAS GREENS       
First Line: Their time past, pulled down
Last Line: Ourselves refreshed among %the shining fauna of that fire
Subject(s): Christmas


BUTTERANDEGGS    Poem Text    
First Line: It is a posture for two multiplied
Last Line: Something else.
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life


CALYPSO       
First Line: We watched %a red rooster


CALYPSOS       
First Line: Well god is %love %so love me
Last Line: Wings %zippy zappy %and crow


CANTHARA    Poem Text    
First Line: The old black-man showed me
Last Line: His old emotion.
Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Lust


CATASTROPHIC BIRTH       
First Line: Fury and counter fury! The volcano
Last Line: The broken cone breathes softly on %the edge of the sky, violence revives and regathers


CATHOLIC BELLS       
First Line: Tho' I'm no catholic
Last Line: The beginning and the end %of the ringing! Ring ring %ring ring ring ring ring! %catholic bells --!
Subject(s): Bells; Catholics


CENTENARIAN       
First Line: I don't think we shall
Last Line: There's whiskey in the jar


CEZANNE    Poem Text    
First Line: No pretense no more than the / french painters of / the early years
Last Line: It was reflected from
Subject(s): Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906); Paintings And Painters


CEZANNE       
First Line: No pretense no more than the %french painters of %the early years
Last Line: No choice but between %a certain variation %hard to perceiv e in a shade of blue
Subject(s): Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906); Paintings And Painters


CHANSON       
First Line: This woman! How shall I describe her
Last Line: So that I am willing to stay there


CHERRY BLOSSOMS AT EVENING       
First Line: In the prebirth of the evening
Last Line: The clustered faces of the flowers %straining to look in


CHICORY AND DAISIES    Poem Text    
First Line: Lift your flowers / on bitter stems
Last Line: With her teeth!
Subject(s): Daisies; Flowers


CHILD AND VEGETABLES       
First Line: The fire of the seed is in her pose
Last Line: Resting contours of eagerness %and unrest


CHILDE HAROLD TO THE ROUND TOWER CAME       
First Line: Obviously, in a plutocracy
Last Line: Poverty of mans lies encased %there to insure %against his bounty


CHILDREN       
First Line: Once in a while
Last Line: And place one %on each headstone


CHINESE NIGHTINGALE    Poem Text    
First Line: Long before dawn your light
Last Line: You were at your trade.
Subject(s): Nightingales; Dawn


CHINESE TOY       
First Line: Six whittled chickens
Last Line: When shuttled by the %playful hand


CHORAL: THE PINK CHURCH       
First Line: Pink as a dawn in galilee
Last Line: Milton, the unrhymer, %singing among %the rest


CHRISTMAS 1950       
First Line: The stores %guarded %by the lynx-eyed %dragon
Last Line: And they'll %thrive %there also


CHRYSANTHEMUM       
First Line: How shall we tell
Last Line: In its modesty %to that splendor


CLASSIC PICTURE       
First Line: It is a class picture
Last Line: And puzzle as we will about them %they may mean %anything


CLASSIC SCENE       
First Line: A power-houe %in the shape of
Last Line: The other remains %passive today


CLASSIC SCENE       
First Line: A power-house
Last Line: From one of which %buff smoke %streams while under %a grey sky %the other remains %passive today


CLOCK OF THE YEARS       
First Line: Every man %is his own clock
Last Line: Ti toc %tic toc %tic toc!


CLOUDS       
First Line: Filling the mind %upon the rim of the overarching sky, the horses of
Last Line: The poet foretells his own death); convolutged, lunging upon a pismire, a conflagration, a


CLOUDS (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: Filling the mind %upon the rim of the overarching sky, the horses of
Last Line: Into the no-knowledge of their nameless destiny


CLOUDS 3 (SCHERZO)       
First Line: I came upon a priest once at st. Andrew's
Last Line: In his ecstasy -- though without losing a beat -- %turned and grinned at me from his cloud


COD HEAD       
First Line: Miscellaneous weed %strands, stems, debris
Last Line: Head between two %green stones -- lifting %falling


CODA       
First Line: Inseparable from the fire %its light
Last Line: Into all crevices %of my world


CODA:       
First Line: Who shall reap the harvest
Last Line: And the sun and the moon add their wonder


COLD FRONT       
First Line: This woman with a dead face
Last Line: In a case like this I know %quick action is the main thing


COME ON!       
First Line: A different kind of thought
Last Line: In listening %to the nightingale %or fools


COMFORT       
First Line: My head hurts like hell
Last Line: Here take two aspirins


COMPLAINT    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: They call me and I go
Last Line: With compassion.
Subject(s): Physicians; Doctors


COMPLETE COLLECTED POEMS 1906-1938 (1938): THE SUN       
First Line: Lifts heavily
Last Line: Logged %in the penetrable %nothingness %whose heavy body %opens %to their leaps %without a wound


COMPLETE DESTRUCTION    Poem Text    
First Line: It was an icy day
Last Line: Died by the cold.


COMPLEXITY       
First Line: Strange that their dog %should look like the woman
Last Line: A kindly %fellow who sells italian %goat cheese


COMPOSITION       
First Line: The red paper box
Last Line: And a ring %to fasten them %to a trunk %for the vacation


CON BRIO    Poem Text    
First Line: Miserly, is the best description of that poor fool
Last Line: Mounted, if god was willing, on a good steed.
Subject(s): Lancelot Du Lac; Greed


CONQUEST (DEDICATED TO F. W.)    Poem Text    
First Line: Hard, chilly colors
Last Line: Into the overpowering white!
Subject(s): Sun; Sky


CONSERVATION OF THE HUMAN SUB-SPECIES       
First Line: Ladies and gentlemen -- %etcetera, etcetera
Last Line: A physiological level must seem itself perverse. %I thank you


CONSTRUCTION    Poem Text    
First Line: On the sidewalk
Subject(s): City & Town Life


CONSTRUCTION       
First Line: On the sidewalk %in front of the funeral %home
Last Line: There was a used %condom squashed %flat


CONTEMPORANIA    Poem Text    
First Line: The corner of a great rain
Last Line: That makes the little leaves follow me.
Subject(s): Rain


CONTROVERSY       
First Line: What do you know about it? The architect said
Last Line: I said, to you, gentlemen


CONVENTIONAL BALLAD       
First Line: Ladies, ladies! What you offer %is not always what we please
Last Line: Save only by a process of %condemnation? Ladies, %ladies, l adies, ladies


CONVIVIO       
First Line: We forget sometimes that no matter what
Last Line: Have it clean, full of sharp movement


COUNTER       
First Line: My days are burning
Last Line: Indifferent, idle-- %my days are burning


CRIMSON CYCLAMEN       
First Line: White suffused with red
Last Line: Till flower touches flower %all round %at the petal tips %merging into one flower


CRUDE LAMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: Mother of flames
Last Line: Would god they had taken me with them!
Subject(s): Mothers; Fire


CRYSTAL MAZE       
First Line: Hard, hard to learn
Last Line: A quietness and %quieted, standing asserted


CUCHULAIN       
First Line: I had been his fool
Last Line: Madman, clown-- %success


CURE       
First Line: Sometimes I envy others, fear them
Last Line: And opened flower-like to my hand


DAISY    Poem Text    
First Line: The dayseye hugging the earth
Last Line: Blades of limpid seashell.
Subject(s): Daisies; Flowers


DANCE (1)       
First Line: In brueghel's great picture, the kermess
Last Line: Rollicking measures, prance as they dance %in brueghel's great picture, the kermess
Variant Title(s): The Danc
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Dancing And Dancers


DANCE (2)       
First Line: When the snow falls the flakes
Last Line: Dancing, dancing as may be credible
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Dancing And Dancers; Festivals; Paintings And Painters


DANSE RUSSE    Poem Text    
First Line: If when my wife is sleeping
Last Line: The happy genius of my household?
Subject(s): Family Life; Men; Solitude; Relatives; Loneliness


DAWN    Poem Text    
First Line: Ecstatic bird songs pound
Last Line: Songs cease.
Subject(s): Dawn


DAYBREAK    Poem Text    
First Line: Half a moon is flaming in the south
Last Line: Vitreous dawn before dawn!
Subject(s): Dawn; Sunrise


DEAD BABY       
First Line: Sweep the house %under the feet of the curious
Last Line: A curiosity -- %surrounded by fresh flowers


DEATH    Poem Text    
First Line: He's dead / the dog won't have to


DEATH       
First Line: So this is death that I
Last Line: The comfortable dark womb


DEATH       
First Line: He's dead %the dog won't have to
Last Line: Just bury it %and hide its face -- %for shame
Subject(s): Death; Physicians


DEATH BY RADIO (FOR F.D.R.)       
First Line: Suddenly his virtues became universal
Last Line: Through which we saw %all mankind weeping


DEATH OF SEE       
First Line: One morning %the wind scouring
Last Line: Upon the mind %from a clean %world


DEATH THE BARBER       
First Line: Of death %the barber
Last Line: For which %death shaves %him twice %a week


DECEMBER       
First Line: White rose your sea shell
Last Line: The glass fallen %shattered to the ground


DECEPTRICES       
First Line: Because they are not
Last Line: The unalterable conclusion
Subject(s): Youth


DEDICATION FOR A PLOT OF GROUND    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: This plot of ground
Last Line: But your carcass, keep out.
Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886)


DEEP RELIGIOUS FAITH       
First Line: Past death %past rainy days
Last Line: Imagination has fallen asleep %in a poppy-cup


DEFECTIVE RECORD       
First Line: Cut the bank for the fill
Last Line: On to build a %house on to build a house on %to build a house %on to build a house onto


DEFENSE       
First Line: I'll tell you what to do
Last Line: To mock you from the shrubbery


DEFIANCE TO CUPID    Poem Text    
First Line: Not in this grave
Subject(s): Graves; Death; Life; Tombs; Tombstones; Dead, The


DEFIANCE TO CUPID       
First Line: Not in this grave
Last Line: Will break that sleep %and run away


DELLA PRIMAVERA TRANSPORTATA AL MORALE: 1. 'APRIL'       
First Line: The beginning -- or %what you will: %the dress
Last Line: The long-limbed trees whose %branches %wildly toss
Subject(s): April


DESCENT       
First Line: From disorder (a chaos) %order grows
Last Line: The chaos feeds it. Chaos %feeds the tree


DESCENT       
First Line: The descent beckons %as the ascent beckoned
Last Line: A descent follows, %endless and indestructible
Subject(s): Aging


DESCENT OF WINTER: 10/21       
First Line: In the dead weeds a rubbish heap
Last Line: They should not have to suffer %as younger people must and do %there should be a truce for them


DESCENT OF WINTER: 10/22       
First Line: That brilliant field
Last Line: And a young dog %jumped out %of the old barrel


DESCENT OF WINTER: 10/28       
First Line: In this strong light
Last Line: A few yellow leaves %still shaking %far apart %just one here one there %trembling vividly


DESCENT OF WINTER: 12/15       
First Line: What an image in the face of almighty god is she
Last Line: Loose feet kicking the pebbles as she goes


DESCENT OF WINTER: 1928       
First Line: What are these elations I have
Last Line: Foi! You made me think right away of him


DESCENT OF WINTER: 9/30       
First Line: There are no perfect waves
Last Line: There is no hope-if not a coral %island slowly forming %to wait for birds to drop %the seeds will ma


DESERT MUSIC, SELS.       
First Line: The dance begins: to end about a form
Last Line: Hears that music and of our %skill sometimes to record it


DESIGN FOR NOVEMBER       
First Line: Let confusion be the design
Last Line: Its petty imageries, flying %birds, its fogs and windy %phalanxes


DETAIL (1)       
First Line: Doc, I bin lookin' for you
Last Line: I'll bring it up to you


DETAIL (2)       
First Line: I had a misfortune in september, %just at the end of my vacation
Last Line: I'm too %old to have a child. Why I'm fifty


DETAIL (3)       
First Line: Hey! %can I have some more %milk
Last Line: Always the gentle %mother


DETAIL (4)       
First Line: Her milk don't seem to
Last Line: She seems to gain all right, %I don't know


DETAILS FOR PATERSON    Poem Text    
First Line: I just saw two boys.
Subject(s): Boy Scouts


DETAILS FOR PATERSON       
First Line: I just saw two boys
Last Line: Miraculously upon %the dead stick of night


DISH OF FRUIT       
First Line: The table describes
Last Line: A table -- how will it describe %the content of the poem?


DIVERTIMIENTO    Poem Text    
First Line: Miserable little woman / in a brown coat-- / quit whining
Last Line: Three wives and twenty-two children.
Subject(s): Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750)


DRINK    Poem Text    
First Line: My whiskey is / a tough way of life
Last Line: Of skyscrapers.
Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking


DRUGSTORE LIBRARY       
First Line: That's the kind of books %they read
Last Line: When they pull 'em out


DRUNK AND THE SAILOR       
First Line: The petty fury %that disrupts my life -- %at the striking of a wrong key
Last Line: The fury of love %is no less


DRUNKARD       
First Line: You drunken %tottering %bum
Last Line: Abandoned %in that powerless %committal %to despair
Subject(s): Alcoholics And Alcoholism


EARLY MARTYR       
First Line: Rather than permit him
Last Line: To such bought %courts as he thought %to trust to but they %double-crossed him


EAST COOCOO       
First Line: The innocent locomotive %laboring against the grade
Last Line: Locomotive stand falling apart %untended for a thousand years


EDUCATION A FAILURE    Poem Text    
First Line: The minor stupidities
Last Line: In the cover of the / low branches


EDUCATION A FAILURE       
First Line: The mirror stupidities %of my world
Last Line: In the cover of the %low branches


EL HOMBRE    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: It's a strange courage
Last Line: Toward which you lend no part!
Subject(s): Stars


ELECTION DAY       
First Line: Warm sun, quiet air
Last Line: From between the stones %and strokes the head %of a spotted dog


ELEGY FOR D.H. LAWRENCE       
First Line: Green points of the shrub %and poor lawrence dead
Last Line: And in the woods %now the crinkled spice-bush %in flower
Subject(s): Consolation; Lawrence, David Herbert (1885-1930)


END OF THE PARADE       
First Line: The sentence undulates %raising no song
Last Line: Cadenced melody %full of sweet breath


END OF THE ROPE       
First Line: Paper by maillol, no kiddin'
Last Line: See you again -- some day


ENTITY       
First Line: Antipoetic is the thing
Last Line: First the hen and then the egg


EPIGRAMME    Poem Text    
First Line: Hast ever seen man
Last Line: I turn up this nugget.
Subject(s): California – Gold Discoveries


EPITAPH    Poem Text    
First Line: An old willow with hollow branches
Last Line: Shimmering at the bare wood's edge.


ETERNITY       
First Line: Come back, mother, come back from
Last Line: Mother, live in me %always


ETERNITY       
First Line: She had come, like the river
Last Line: Olympia, her face drawn but relieved %said nothing. Breakfast %at seven


EVE       
First Line: Pardon my injuries %now that you are old
Last Line: Crack under the unwanted pressure


EVERY DAY       
First Line: Every day that I go out to my car
Last Line: Pink. One can feel it turning slowly %upon its thorny stem


EXERCISE       
First Line: Sick as I am
Last Line: Age %and learn %to breathe again


EXERCISE       
First Line: Maybe it's his wife
Last Line: Was far from official %for that time %of day


EXERCISE NO. 2       
First Line: The metal smokestack %of my neighbor's chimney
Last Line: We have never visited each other


EXULTATION       
First Line: England, confess your sins! Toward the poor
Last Line: Have worked this cleansing mystery upon you


EXULTATION       
First Line: The rain surpasses itself. It has gone beyond itself to the contours of a
Last Line: To exult at the brilliant fulfillment of a summer day
Subject(s): Rain; Seasons; Summer; Weather


EYEGLASSES       
First Line: The universality of things
Last Line: To discover. But %they lie there with the gold %earpieces folded down %tranquilly titicaca


FARMER       
First Line: The farmer in deep thought
Last Line: Bristling by %the rainsluiced wagonroad %looms the artist figure of %the farmer-composing %-antagoni


FERTILE    Poem Text    
First Line: You are a typical american woman
Subject(s): Fertility; Americans; Women; Human Bheavior


FERTILE       
First Line: You are a typical american woman
Last Line: Find the symmetrical brown seeds


FIGHT       
First Line: It was outside a place %across the track
Last Line: That's %all I care about it. %overheard by: %william carlos williams


FIGUERAS CASTLE       
First Line: Nine truckloads of jewels %while the people starved
Last Line: For it as these were %in their dire need


FINE WORK WITH PITCH AND COPPER    Poem Text    
First Line: Now they are resting
Last Line: And runs his eye along it
Subject(s): Roofing And Roofers


FINE WORK WITH PITCH AND COPPER       
First Line: Now they are resting
Last Line: One still chewing %picks up a copper strip %and runs his eye along it
Subject(s): Roofing And Roofers


FIRE SPIRIT    Poem Text    
First Line: I am old. / you warm yourselves at these fires
Last Line: Where shall I turn for comfort?
Subject(s): Old Age


FIRST PRAISE    Poem Text    
First Line: Lady of dusk-wood fastnesses
Last Line: Praising my lady.
Subject(s): Courtship


FISH       
First Line: It is the whales that drive
Last Line: They know some boat will be lost


FLATTERY       
First Line: You tell me that I love myself
Last Line: Up your own varied seasons


FLIGHT TO THE CITY       
First Line: The easter stars are shining
Last Line: From the great end of a cornucopia of glass


FLOWER       
First Line: This too I love
Last Line: Canary %in his cage %beside her caroling


FLOWER       
First Line: A petal, colorless and without form
Last Line: When I am fresh, in the morning, when %my mind is clear and burning--to write


FLOWERS ALONE       
First Line: I should have to be
Last Line: And all %the living hybrids


FLOWERS BY THE SEA       
First Line: When over the flowery, sharp pasture's
Last Line: The sea is circled and sways %peacefully upon its plantlike stem


FLOWERS BY THE SEA (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: Over the flowery, sharp pasture's edge
Last Line: Sways peacefully upon its plantlike stem


FLOWING RIVER       
First Line: You are lovely as a river
Last Line: To what sea that shines %and ripples in my thought
Subject(s): Rivers


FOLLY OF PREOCCUPATION       
First Line: There enters no thing scatheless from the womb
Last Line: Which man to try out solely here hold place


FOND FAREWELL       
First Line: You? Why you-re %just sucking %my life blood out
Last Line: I'm %going elsewhere


FOOT-NOTE       
First Line: Walk on the delicate parts
Last Line: Comrades. Read good poetry


FOR A LOW VOICE       
First Line: If you ignore the possibilities of art
Last Line: Rather a triumph of %a sort! Whoop la! Whee hee!--don't you think


FOR BILL BIRD, SELS.       
First Line: It was getting kinda late. We'd been talking cars. I wanted them to come
Last Line: Oh don't worry, mother, she says, we're careful
Subject(s): Conversation


FOR ELEANOR AND BILL MONAHAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Mother of god! Our lady
Last Line: And love them for it
Subject(s): Religion; Theology


FOR ELEANOR AND BILL MONAHAN, SELS.       
First Line: Mother of god! Our lady
Subject(s): Religion


FOR G.B.S., OLD       
First Line: As the mind burns %the external is swallowed
Last Line: His tempest frozen %into a pattern %of ice


FOR VIOLA: DE GUSTIBUS    Poem Text    
First Line: Beloved you are
Last Line: O quince of my despondency.
Subject(s): Caviar


FOREIGN    Poem Text    
First Line: Artsybashev is a russian
Last Line: Hardly of great moment.
Subject(s): Russia


FORGOTTEN CITY       
First Line: When with my mother I was coming down
Last Line: When so near the metropolis, so closely %surrounded by the familiar and the famous?
Subject(s): Americans; United States


FORMAL DESIGN       
First Line: This fleur-de-lis %at a fence rail
Last Line: Arching neck the beast %is lightly %tethered


FRAGMENT       
First Line: My god, bill, what have you done
Last Line: --the gutter, whre everything comes %from the manure heap


FRAGMENT       
First Line: As for him who %finds fault
Last Line: The power of %your words


FRANKLIN SQUARE       
First Line: Instead of %the flower of the hawthorn
Last Line: The bench %pursing her old mouth %for what coin


FRANKLIN SQUARE       
First Line: Instead of
Last Line: A city, a decadece %of bounty- %a tall negress approaching %the bench %pursing her old mouth %for wh


FROM A BOOK       
First Line: I would rather look down
Last Line: Tra-la %tr-la %tra-la la la la


FROM A PLAY       
First Line: I am a writer %and I take %great satisfaction
Last Line: Than the merely %literal %burden of the thing %could ever tell


FROM A WINDOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Here's a question for us. Help me
Subject(s): Hospitals


FROM A WINDOW       
First Line: Here's a question for us. Help me %to find the answer
Last Line: What is the answer to this rivalry


FRUIT       
First Line: Waking %I was eating pears
Last Line: She said %when separate jointly %we embraced


FULL MOON       
First Line: Blessed moon %noon %of night
Last Line: The warm %the radiant %all fulfilling %day


FULL MOON (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: Blessed moon %noon %of night
Last Line: The warm %the radiant %all fulfilling %day


GARDEN, SELS.       
First Line: It is far to assisi
Subject(s): Religion


GAYEST OF BRIGHT FLOWERS       
First Line: The gayest of bright flowers (last year)
Last Line: The voluptuous conception of %a potful of tomatoes


GENESIS       
First Line: Take some one in england with brains enough
Last Line: Enough for the sprout to thrive and grow up


GENIUS       
First Line: We have written %but not enough %not intensely enough
Last Line: Green for our thoughts %but it is %too late


GENTLE NEGRESS       
First Line: Wandering among the chimneys
Last Line: As I sat to comfort her %lying in bed


GENTLE NEGRESS       
First Line: No other such luxuriance: the %elephant among bending trees
Last Line: Unresistant to go %down quietly, in a violence of %half spoken words! Lillian ! %lillian


GENTLE REJOINDER       
First Line: These are the days I want to %give up my job and join
Last Line: But you probably %don't want to, do you


GIFT       
First Line: As the wise men of old brought gifts
Last Line: And bowed down %to worship %this perfection
Subject(s): Bible; Religion


GIRL       
First Line: With big breasts
Last Line: She had seen a dime %on the pavement


GIRL       
First Line: The wall, as I watched, came neck-high
Last Line: Unencumbered to skip dancing away


GOAT       
First Line: Having in the mind thought
Last Line: Unblinking, meditant -- %listless %in its assured sanctity


GOOD NIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: In brilliant gas light
Last Line: I am ready for bed.
Subject(s): Fantasy; Night


GOSSIPS       
First Line: Blocking the sidewalk so
Last Line: Russia on a view of %the reverse of %the moon


GOTHIC CANDOR       
First Line: You have such a way of talking of him
Last Line: That's the way he was when he was %here with us, just a little jewish baby


GRACEFUL BASTION       
First Line: A white butterfly %in an august garden
Last Line: The cotton clouds %should merely fall


GRAPH       
First Line: There was another, too %a half-breed cherokee
Last Line: Pressed close %just below the belly


GRAPH FOR ACTION       
First Line: Don't say 'humbly.' %respectfully, yes
Last Line: And that settled it


GREAT MULLEN    Poem Text    
First Line: One leaves his leaves at home
Last Line: And you are high, grey and straight. Ha!
Subject(s): Adultery; Deception


GREETING FOR OLD AGE       
First Line: Advance and take your place
Last Line: Or you should admit %the sophistry of it


GROTESQUE    Poem Text    
First Line: The city has tits in rows
Last Line: Against her stomach.
Subject(s): Cities


GULLS    Poem Text    
First Line: My townspeople, beyond in the great world
Last Line: The gulls moved seaward very quietly.
Subject(s): Birds; Gulls; Seagulls


HALFWORLD       
First Line: Desperate young man
Last Line: The incestuous %and leaning stars


HARD CORE OF BEAUTY       
First Line: The most marvellous is not
Last Line: Pleasure; pleasure by boat, %a by-way of a sunday %to the smooth river


HARD LISTENER       
First Line: The powerless emperor %makes himself dull
Last Line: By insects and waiting %only for the cold


HARD TIMES       
First Line: Stone steps, a solid
Last Line: Parking space! Three %steps up from his %less lucky fellows


HE HAS BEATEN ABOUT THE BUSH LONG ENOUGH       
First Line: What a team %flossie, mary, a chemistry prof
Last Line: New ice on %a country %pool


HEALALL    Poem Text    
First Line: It is the daily love, grass high
Last Line: It will cure her.
Subject(s): Healing; Plants; Cures; Planting; Planters


HEEL & TOE TO THE END       
First Line: Gagarin says, in ecstasy
Last Line: As if he had %been dancing


HEMMED-IN MALES       
First Line: The saloon is gone up the creek
Last Line: Any more for me to go now %except home


HERMAPHRODITIC TELEPHONES       
First Line: Warm rains %wash away winter's
Last Line: The radiant nothing %of crystalline %spring


HERO    Poem Text    
First Line: Fool, / put your adventures
Last Line: Roses for your button-hole.
Subject(s): Heroism; Fools


HEY RED!       
First Line: There are men and %plenty of them
Last Line: Brains I suppose %at that. Thick


HIC JACET    Poem Text    
First Line: The coroner's merry little children
Last Line: Who laugh so easily.
Subject(s): Happiness; Children


HIGH BRIDGE ABOVE THE TAGUS RIVER AT TOLEDO       
First Line: A young man, alone, on the high bridge over the tagus which
Last Line: In old age they walk in the old man's dreams and still walk


HIS DAUGHTER       
First Line: Her jaw wagging
Last Line: The fat man, %caught in his stride, %collarless, %turned sweating %toward her


HISTORY    Poem Text    
First Line: A wind might blow a lotus petal
Last Line: A lover! Will that do?


HISTORY OF LOVE       
First Line: And would you gather turds
Last Line: Of that stuff whence we both are got


HOMAGE    Poem Text    
First Line: Elvira, by love's grace
Last Line: Is without passers.
Subject(s): Beauty


HORNED PURPLE       
First Line: This is the time of year
Last Line: Out of their sweet heads %dark kisses -- rough faces


HORSE       
First Line: The horse moves %independently
Last Line: Like fumes from %the twin %exhausts of a car
Subject(s): Animals


HORSE SHOW       
First Line: Constantly near you, I never in my entire
Last Line: There, I was so interested to hear about it
Subject(s): Relationships


HOST       
First Line: According to their need, %this tall negro evangelist
Last Line: Had only my eyes %with which to speak


HOUNDED LOVERS       
First Line: Where shall we go
Last Line: The movement of benediction %does not turn back %the cold wind
Subject(s): Desire; Love


HOUSE       
First Line: The house is yours %to wander in as you please
Last Line: To walk in it at your pleasure-- %it is yours


HOW BAD IT IS TO SAY:       
First Line: I cannot sing %I cannot sing of cash the king
Last Line: Innocence defiled irrational %unreconciled


HOW HAS THE WAY BEEN FOUND?       
Last Line: Oily, stained waters--? %on the highest airs


HULA-HULA       
First Line: I should like to come upon
Last Line: Shake his broad shoulders


HURRICANE       
First Line: The tree lay down
Last Line: Have your heaven, %it said, go to it


HYMN TO LOVE ENDED       
First Line: Through what extremes of passion %had you come, sappho, ot t
Last Line: Who will besides -- when love is ended %to the waking of sweetest song


HYMN TO PERFECTION       
First Line: For thee, o perfection, great ruler
Last Line: I sing, and thou calm'st my affliction!


HYMN TO THE SPIRIT OF FRATERNAL LOVE       
First Line: Thou heaven-sprung flame which for man's good most needs must %flare
Last Line: And grant thee gain


I WILL SING A JOYOUS SONG    Poem Text    
Last Line: The wind is blowing, blowing all between.
Subject(s): Songs; Absence


I WOULD NOT CHANGE FOR THINE       
First Line: Shall I stroke your thighs, %having eaten
Last Line: I hope that there %I might remembered be


IDYL    Poem Text    
First Line: Wine of the grey sky
Last Line: And the sea!
Subject(s): Clouds; Rain


ILLEGITIMATE THINGS    Poem Text    
First Line: Water still flows
Subject(s): War


ILLEGITIMATE THINGS       
First Line: Water still flows -- %the thrush still sings
Last Line: The language %of old ecstasies


IMITATIONS       
First Line: O flee from me, find me not, call me not love!
Last Line: And feel the woodland breeze


IMMORTAL    Poem Text    
First Line: Yes, there is one thing braver than all flowers
Last Line: And thy name, lovely one, is ignorance.
Subject(s): Ignorance


IMPROMPTU: THE SUCKERS       
First Line: Take it out in vile whiskey, take it out
Last Line: What it is. They are mystified by certain %insistences


IN CHAINS    Poem Text    
First Line: When blackguards and murderers
Subject(s): Evil; Life Choices


IN CHAINS       
First Line: When blackguards and murderers %under cover of their offices
Last Line: Liquor and love %rescue the cloudy sense %banish its despair%give it a home


IN HARBOR    Poem Text    
First Line: Surely there, among the great docks, is peace, my mind
Last Line: Yes, it is certainly of the high sea they are talking.
Subject(s): Ships & Shipping; Sea


IN SAN MARCO, VENEZIA    Poem Text    
First Line: I for whom the world is a clear stream
Last Line: All waste the very mesh I hold supreme.
Subject(s): Venice, Italy


IN SISTERLY FASHION       
First Line: The ugly woman clutched %her lover round the neck
Last Line: Sisterly fashion your fitted %limbs your honied breath \


IN THE 'SCONSET BUS       
First Line: Upon the fallen %cheek %a gauzy down
Last Line: Bright %mouth agape %pants restlessly %backward


IN THE AMERICAN GRAIN, SELS.       


INCOGNITO       
First Line: I want to be where fordie is
Last Line: Fordie sings to the harp, sighing


INFORMATIVE OBJECT       
First Line: The monolith of a double flight %of six concrete steps
Last Line: Rain the threshold to other entrances


INJURY       
First Line: From this hospital bed %I can hear an engine
Last Line: The only way left now %for you


INNOCENCE       
First Line: Innocence can never perish
Last Line: Who'll raise the latch and let her in?


INTELLIGENT SHEEPMAN AND THE NEW CARS       
First Line: I'd like to %pull %the back out
Last Line: My 'girls' %to %the fairs in


INTERESTS OF 1926       
First Line: It is spring
Last Line: Her injury...And %such is the %celebrated may


INVITATION    Poem Text    
First Line: You who had the sense
Last Line: Let us be conscious and talk of these things.
Subject(s): Fathers


INVOCATION AND CONCLUSION       
First Line: January! %the beginning of all things
Last Line: My changes yet. Now look at me


IO BACCHO!       
First Line: God created alcohol
Last Line: At a grecian urn. God created alcohol to allay us


IRIS       
First Line: A burst of iris so that
Last Line: Those trumpeting %petals


IT IS A LIVING CORAL    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: A trouble / archaically fettered
Subject(s): United States - History


IT IS A LIVING CORAL       
First Line: A trouble %archaically fettered %to produce
Last Line: Among the wreckage %sickly green


IT IS A SMALL PLANT    Poem Text    
Last Line: Forty times over, forty times / over—namelessly
Subject(s): Plants; Desire


ITALIAN GARDEN       
First Line: When she married years ago
Last Line: Our cars which cannot %penetrate %hers


ITEM    Poem Text    
First Line: This, with a face
Subject(s): War


ITEM       
First Line: This, with a face
Last Line: At the young men %who with their gun-butts %shove her %sprawling- %a note %at the foot of the page


IVY CROWN       
First Line: The whole process is a lie
Last Line: And so it is %past all accident
Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening


JANUARY    Poem Text    
First Line: Again I reply to the triple winds
Last Line: Its derisive music.
Subject(s): January


JANUARY MORNING    Poem Text    
First Line: I have discovered that most of / the beauties of travel are due to
Last Line: That's the way it is with me somehow.
Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips


JERSEY LYRIC       
First Line: View of winter trees
Last Line: Where %by fresh-fallen %snow %lie 6 woodchunks ready %for the fire


JINGLE       
First Line: There ought to be a wedding
Last Line: When we would. We would, we would


JOHN LANDLESS AT THE FINAL PORT (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: John landless in a keelless boat
Last Line: Who this traveler missing punishment


JULY       
First Line: Hot cheeked july, with lusty sinews primed
Last Line: Where action's brazen helmet solely shines


JUNE       
First Line: Youthful june tricked out in loose, attire
Last Line: I cannot brook denial! Live aye with me!


JUNGLE       
First Line: It is not the still weight
Last Line: To guide you %upstairs, sir


K. MCB    Poem Text    
First Line: You exquisite chunk of mud
Last Line: Even become dust on occasion.
Subject(s): Mud


KELLER GEGEN DOM    Poem Text    
First Line: Witness, would you
Last Line: It strikes midnight.
Subject(s): Confessions


KING!       
First Line: Nell gwyn, %it says in the dictionary
Last Line: Preserved forever-- %since it is beautiful %and true


KORA IN HELL, SELS.       
First Line: There is neither beginning nor end to the imagination
Last Line: Save only when set into vibration by the forces of darkness opposed to it


LA BELLE DAME DE TOUS LES JOURS       
First Line: It speaks, it moves
Last Line: The tropic window-sill


LA FLOR    Poem Text    
First Line: I had been reading what you have written of your idleness
Last Line: I have imagined of any living thing -- which is now manifest.
Subject(s): Flowers; Writing & Writers


LABRADOR       
First Line: How clean these shallows
Last Line: Encloses this %straining mind, these %limbs in a single gesture


LADY SPEAKS       
First Line: A storm raged among the live oaks
Last Line: Above my head %like flames in the final %fury


LAMENT       
First Line: What face, in the water
Last Line: But now another face, %with long nose and clear blue eyes, %secure


LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUS    Poem Text    
First Line: According to brueghel
Subject(s): Landscape


LAST TURN (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: Then see it! In distressing %detail -- from behind a red light
Last Line: The pigment the genius of a world %artless but supreme


LAST TURN (SECOND VERSION)       
First Line: Then see it! In distressing
Last Line: Our concepts, artless but supreme


LAST WORDS OF MY ENGLISH GRANDMOTHER       
First Line: There were some dirty plates
Last Line: What are all those %fuzzy-looking things out there? %trees? Well I'm tired %of them and rolled her h
Subject(s): Death; Grandparents; Men; Mothers


LAST WORDS OF MY GRANDMOTHER (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: She stayed over after %the summer people had gone
Last Line: Trees? Well, I'm tired of them


LATE FOR SUMMER WEATHER    Poem Text    
First Line: He has on / an old light grey fedora
Subject(s): Summer; Clothing & Dress


LATE FOR SUMMER WEATHER       
First Line: He has on %an old light grey fedora
Last Line: Nothing to do. Hot cha


LE MEDECIN MALGRE LUI    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh I suppose I should wash the walls of my office
Last Line: But a white thought!
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers


LEAR    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: When the world takes over for us
Subject(s): Storms


LEAR       
First Line: When the world takes over for us
Last Line: Signify the strength of the waves' lash


LESSON       
First Line: The hydrangea %pink cheeked nods its head
Last Line: From the anchored stem %and sets it rolling


LIBERTAD! IGUALDAD! FRATERNIDAD    Poem Text    
First Line: You sullen pig of a man
Last Line: Dreams are not a bad thing.
Subject(s): Dreams; Capitalism


LIGHT BECOMES DARKNESS       
First Line: The decay of cathedrals
Last Line: Saw injected into %the russian nobility


LIGHT HEARTED AUTHOR    Poem Text    
First Line: The birches are mad with green points
Subject(s): Brothers; Conduct Of Life; Relationships; Birch Trees; Half-brothers


LIGHT HEARTED WILLIAM    Poem Text    
First Line: Light hearted william twirled / his november moustaches
Last Line: Twirling his green moustaches.


LIGHT SHALL NOT ENTER       
First Line: It is in the minds %of the righteous
Last Line: Are not to burn -- shall %escape the heat. Pah


LILY       
First Line: The branching head of
Last Line: Caught and held %and there's a fly -- %are blossoming


LINES    Poem Text    
First Line: Leaves are greygreen
Last Line: The glass broken, bright green.


LINES ON RECEIVING THE DIAL'S AWARD: 1927       
First Line: In the common mind a corked bottle
Last Line: I go through the motions of drinking, %drinking to the dial and its courtesy


LION       
First Line: Traffic, the lion, the sophisticate
Last Line: To bed together for the last time


LOCUST TREE IN FLOWER (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: Among %the leaves %bright
Last Line: Down %and quickly %fall
Subject(s): Locust Trees


LOCUST TREE IN FLOWER (SECOND VERSION)       
First Line: Among %of %green
Last Line: May %again
Subject(s): Locust Trees


LONELINESS OF LIFE       
First Line: Could I but breast this overwhelming tide
Last Line: And this strange folk they know not e'en my name


LOVE    Poem Text    
First Line: Love is twain, it is not single
Last Line: Glist'ring then for aye undone.
Subject(s): Love


LOVE CHARM       
First Line: Take this, the nexus %of reality
Last Line: To your heart %and wait, only wait %the while %its fissions curdle


LOVE POEM       
First Line: Basic hatred %sometimes has a flower
Last Line: It assumes %the shape of love %is love %to all appearances


LOVE SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Sweep the house clean
Last Line: From black branches.
Subject(s): Love - Complaints


LOVELY AD       
First Line: All her charms %are bubbles
Last Line: Whereas for us %his sleek %black hair %is hint enough


LOVING DEXTERITY       
First Line: The flower %fallen %she saw it
Last Line: On %the stem %again


LOVING DEXTERITY (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: The flower %fallen %a pink petal
Last Line: And placed it %on its stem again


LUSTSPIEL       
First Line: Vienna the volk iss very lustig
Last Line: She likes to dance and sing


LYRIC PULSE       
First Line: Let the serpent bide under


M.B.    Poem Text    
First Line: Winter has spent this snow
Last Line: Against the sky's limits!
Subject(s): Smoking


MAMA       
First Line: Kitten! Kitten! Grown woman
Last Line: Counter-slap will make him (you %shall see) bear down hard


MAN AND NATURE       
First Line: The roar and clatter
Last Line: The frozen street light


MAN IN A ROOM    Poem Text    
First Line: Here, no woman, nor man besides
Last Line: Torn petals, dew-wet, yellowed my bare ankles.
Subject(s): Solitude; Loneliness


MANEUVER       
First Line: I saw the two starlings
Last Line: That's what got me--to %face into the wind's teeth
Subject(s): Starlings


MARCH    Poem Text    
First Line: Winter is long in this climate
Last Line: At fiesole.
Subject(s): March (month)


MARCH IS A LIGHT       
First Line: Upon the dead grass %and houses, the wind %retains its edge, let it
Last Line: Their angles forward into %the wind to let it pass


MARIANNE MOORE    Poem Text    
First Line: Will not some dozen sacks of rags
Last Line: Before he must return to the dark street.
Subject(s): Moore, Marianne (1887-1972)


MARRIAGE    Poem Text    
First Line: So different, this man
Last Line: In a field.
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


MARRIAGE OF SOULS       
First Line: That heat! %that terrible heat
Last Line: Unfused %and unfusing
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Marriage


MARRIAGE RITUAL       
First Line: Above %the darkness of a river upon %winter's icy sky
Last Line: Just at the water's edge and -- %my face %constant to you


MARTIN AND KATHERINE    Poem Text    
First Line: Alone today I mounted that steep hill
Last Line: Work sleeps; love wakes; sing and the glad air thrill!
Subject(s): Nature; Happiness


MATISSE       
First Line: On the french grass, in that room on fifth ave., lay that womaon who
Last Line: French girl lies and smiles at the sun without seeing us
Subject(s): Nudity; Paintings And Painters; Pornography; Portraits


MAY 1ST TOMORROW       
First Line: The mind's a queer sponge
Last Line: Burdensome as twin stones %that the mind alone can milk %and give again %chee woo! Etcetera


MEMORY OF APRIL    Poem Text    
First Line: You say love is this, love is that
Last Line: Love has not even visited this country.
Subject(s): April


MEN       
First Line: Wherein is moscow's dignity %more than passaic's dignity
Last Line: The men are different who see it %draw it down in their minds %or might be different


MENTAL HOSPITAL GARDEN       
First Line: It is far to assisi, %but not too far: %over this garden
Last Line: The full meaning %of it %all


METRIC FIGURE    Poem Text    
First Line: There is a bird in the poplars
Subject(s): Spring


METRIC FIGURE (1)       
First Line: Gotta hold your nose
Last Line: To the confession %or psychiatric couch or booth


METRIC FIGURE (2)    Poem Text    
First Line: There is a bird in the poplars
Last Line: Of leaves clashing in the wind.
Subject(s): Sun


METRIC FIGURE (3)    Poem Text    
First Line: Veils of clarity
Last Line: Beneath the advancing ripples.
Subject(s): Seashore


MEZZO FORTE    Poem Text    
First Line: Take that, damn you; and that
Last Line: It's not my fault if you will be a cat.
Subject(s): Women – Abused


MIDDLE       
First Line: Of this profusion %a robin flies carrying
Last Line: Peonies and %changeless laurels


MIDWINTER       
First Line: Laughing with ice
Last Line: A jeweled chorus' %thundeous if silent %applause


MIN SCHLEPPNER    Poem Text    
First Line: Gaunt, my hope, horse-wise
Last Line: Sees!
Subject(s): Hope


MIND HESITANT       
First Line: Sometimes the river %becomes a river in the mind
Last Line: The tide will %change %and rise again, maybe


MIND'S GAMES       
First Line: If a man can say of his life or
Last Line: And ourselves decay--unless %the ecstasy be general


MIRRORS       
First Line: Is germany's bestiality, in detail
Last Line: Imaged there as on the eyes of a fly


MISERICORDIA    Poem Text    
First Line: I am frightened master, quivering with fear
Last Line: Writ in her features! Come to me master!
Subject(s): Persephone; Fear


MISTRUST OF THE BELOVED       
First Line: At the height of love
Last Line: And see-saws, your hatred %will reawaken


MISTS OVER THE RIVER    Poem Text    
First Line: The river-mirror mirrors the cold sky
Last Line: Of reading have not made you wise
Subject(s): Rivers


MISTS OVER THE RIVER       
First Line: The river-mirror mirrors the cold sky
Last Line: Many years, I see, many years %of reading have not made you wise
Subject(s): Rivers


MODEST ACHIEVEMENT       
First Line: Flossie put the velvet pansies
Last Line: Charged to lift and waken %the somber show


MONSTROUS MARRIAGE       
First Line: She who with innocent and tender hands
Last Line: After that she had a leather belt made %upon which he perched to enjoy her


MOON --       
First Line: Diving %through bedrooms
Last Line: Waking to %smells of lechery


MOON AND STARS       
First Line: January! The beginning
Last Line: Singing %wake the stormy %stars


MOON, THE DRIED WEEDS       
Last Line: Gigantic highschool boys %ten feet tall


MORAL       
First Line: Just junk %is what it amounts to %now-a-days
Last Line: So that %nothing holds %firm any more


MORNING       
First Line: On the hill is cool! Even the dead
Last Line: Covered, swaddled, pinched and saved %shrivelled, broken-to be rewetted and %used again


MOTOR-BARGE       
First Line: The motor-barge is %at the bridge the %air lead
Last Line: To push past %the construction %with its heavy load


MOUNTED AS AN AMAZON       
First Line: She rides her hips as %it were a horse
Last Line: And emotional dignity of the whole


MUJER    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh, black persian cat
Last Line: Oh, black persian cat.
Subject(s): Animals; Cats


MY LUV       
First Line: My luv %is like
Last Line: Insulator %on %a blue sky


NAKED    Poem Text    
First Line: What fool would feel
Last Line: You up there -- waiting.


NANTUCKET       
First Line: Flowers through the window
Last Line: A glass pitcher, the tumbler %turned down, by which %a key is lying-and the %immaculate white bed


NARCISSUS IN THE DESERT       
First Line: Three faces in a single one
Last Line: Plunge thine hair under %and narcissus will have lived


NAVAJO       
First Line: Red woman, %(keep christ out of this -- and
Last Line: Through %the pale green %of the starveling %sage


NEGRO WOMAN       
First Line: Carrying a bunch if marigolds %wrapped %in old newspaper
Last Line: Holding the flowers %upright %as a torch %so early in the morning


NEW CATHEDRAL OVERLOOKING THE PARK       
Last Line: The naked spring that shivers for me %among the long black trees


NEW CLOUDS       
First Line: The morning that I first loved you
Last Line: Separate edges were the edges of the sky


NEW ENGLAND    Poem Text    
First Line: Is a condition
Last Line: To end “walking on air”
Subject(s): New England


NEW ENGLAND       
First Line: Is a condition
Last Line: Smile-a thought of indians %on chestnut branches %to end 'walking on the air'
Subject(s): New England


NEW MEXICO       
First Line: Anger can be transformed
Last Line: The confessed brilliance %of this desert noon


NIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: Houses -- / the dark side silhouetted
Last Line: "what do I care!"
Subject(s): Night


NIGHT RIDER       
First Line: Scoured like a conch
Last Line: The pulse a remembered pulse %of full-tide gone


NO GOOD TOO       
First Line: She's the girl %had her picture
Last Line: Brought home %from a gin mill


NON-ENTITY       
First Line: The rusty-gold green trees
Last Line: Pours autumn, shaking nerves %of color over it


NOTE       
First Line: When the cataract dries up, my dear
Last Line: Then bury it, old women that they are, %secretly where all male flesh is buried


NOTE TO MUSIC: BRAHMS 1ST PIANO CONCERTO       
First Line: Of music, in a cavernous house
Last Line: Upon our nails before the savage %snow


NOVEMBER       
First Line: Hail, thou month of final fruits and snow!
Last Line: Thou too shalt wither and grow sudden cold


NUN'S SONG       
First Line: For the wrongs that women do
Last Line: That each may be, at your side %a very bride


OBSERVER       
First Line: What a scurvy mind %whose constant breath
Last Line: All its quickening %pleasures prove


OF ASPHODEL: CODA    Poem Text    
First Line: Inseparable from the fire
Subject(s): Time; Love; Imagination; Fancy


OFFERING    Poem Text    
First Line: As the hedges, clipt and even
Last Line: Yet awhile before they are trodden.
Subject(s): Language; Leaves


OL' BUNK'S BAND        Recitation by Author
First Line: These are men! The gaunt, unforesold, the vocal
Last Line: These are men, men, men
Subject(s): Bands; Jazz; Johnson, Bunk (1889-1949); Music & Musicians; Orchestras


OL' BUNK'S BAND       
First Line: These are men! The gaunt, unforesold, the vocal
Last Line: Need no more! These are men! %men
Subject(s): Bands; Jazz; Johnson, Bunk (1889-1949); Music And Musicians


OLD HOUSE       
First Line: Rescued! New-white (from time's %dragon: neglect -- tastelessness --
Last Line: A house almost gone, shining again


OLD-FASHIONED GERMAN CHRISTMAS CARD       
First Line: Armed with %a bass-violin %horn
Last Line: Between %villages in %the cold


ON A PROPOSED TRIP SOUTH    Poem Text    
First Line: They tell me on the morrow I must leave
Last Line: Gay birds and hear the bees make heavy droon.
Subject(s): Southern States; South (u.s.)


ON FIRST OPENING THE LYRIC YEAR    Poem Text    
First Line: It is a certain satisfaction to overlook a cemetery
Last Line: But for myself somehow this does not satisfy.
Subject(s): Individuality; Cemeteries


ON GAY WALLPAPER       
First Line: The green-blue ground %is ruled with silver lines
Last Line: Blows in %the scalloped curtains to %the sound of rain


ON ST. VALENTINE'S DAY    Poem Text    
First Line: On st. Valentine's day / I went to seek my love
Last Line: Knowing that I am not mistaken
Subject(s): Holidays; Valentine's Day


ON ST. VALENTINE'S DAY       
First Line: On st. Valentine's day %I went to seek my love
Last Line: Knowing that I am not mistaken
Subject(s): Holidays; Valentine's Day


ON THINKING OF A DISTANT FRIEND       
First Line: Up stairs and stairs I climb, the final task
Last Line: To at a breath breathe round such ecstasy!


ORCHARD       
First Line: This is the time %for which we have been %waiting
Last Line: Time not forgetting to %spit out %the pit


ORCHESTRA       
First Line: The precise counterpart
Last Line: It is a design of a man %that makes them twitter. %it is a design


OUR (AMERICAN) RAGCADEMICIANS       
First Line: Oh what fools! What shattered fools we are
Last Line: And back him up, to give -- what we deserve


OVERTURE TO A DANCE OF LOCOMOTIVES    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Men with picked voices chant the names
Last Line: The dance is sure.
Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains


PAINTING       
First Line: Starting from black or %finishing %with it
Last Line: Then she married and %moved to %another country


PASSAIC, N. J.       
First Line: I'd like to live on tulip street
Last Line: And fig trees grow freely there %for practically anyone


PASSER DOMESTICUS       
First Line: Shabby little bird %I suppose it's
Last Line: To the eye you have %crept in unmolested


PASTORAL    Poem Text    
First Line: When I was younger
Last Line: Of vast import to the nation.


PASTORAL 1 (FIRST VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: The old man who goes about
Last Line: Astonish me beyond words!
Subject(s): Old Age


PASTORAL 2    Poem Text    
First Line: If I talk to things
Last Line: Before given.


PATERSON       
First Line: Before the grass is out the people are out
Last Line: And desire, they are -- no ideas beside the facts


PATERSON, SELS.       


PATERSON: BOOK 1. PREFACE    Poem Text    
First Line: To make a start
Subject(s): Paterson, New Jersey


PATERSON: BOOK 1. PREFACE       
First Line: To make a start
Last Line: To paterson
Subject(s): Paterson, New Jersey


PATERSON: BOOK 1. THE DELINEAMENTS OF GIANTS    Poem Text    
First Line: Patterson lies in the valley under the passaic falls
Last Line: "earth, the chatterer, father of all
Subject(s): Paterson, New Jersey


PATERSON: BOOK 1. THE DELINEAMENTS OF GIANTS       
First Line: Patterson lies in the valley under the passaic falls
Last Line: Earth, the chatterer, father of all speech
Subject(s): Paterson, New Jersey


PATERSON: BOOK 2. SUNDAY IN THE PARK    Poem Text    
First Line: Outside / outside myself
Last Line: Typewriter; at least the easiest to do something about
Subject(s): Parks


PATERSON: BOOK 2. SUNDAY IN THE PARK       
First Line: Outside
Last Line: White cloud at evening - before the shuddering night
Subject(s): Parks


PATERSON: BOOK 3. THE LIBRARY       
First Line: I love the locust tree
Last Line: This rhetoric is real


PATERSON: BOOK 4. THE RUN TO THE SEA       
First Line: Two silly women
Last Line: The final somersault %the end


PATERSON: BOOK 5       
First Line: In old age
Last Line: Satyrically, the tragic foot


PATERSON: EPISODE 17       
First Line: Beat hell out of it
Last Line: To the attentive %and obedient mind


PATERSON: THE FALLS       
First Line: What common language to unravel?
Last Line: Its clamor broken apart-and from %all learning, the empty %ear struck from within, roaring


PAUL       
First Line: When you shall arrive
Last Line: That blackfish heft %and shine %is your own


PAUSE       
First Line: Values are split, summer, the fierce
Last Line: Belly such a stem as will crack quartz


PEACE    Poem Text    
First Line: I grant you: peace is desirable. War being, in a figure
Last Line: Subsidized -- it also has its courage.
Subject(s): Peace


PEACE ON EARTH    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: The archer is awake!
Last Line: Sleep safe till to-morrow.
Subject(s): Astrology & Astrologers


PERFECTION       
First Line: O lovely apple! %beautifully and completely rotten
Last Line: Since I placed you on the porch %rail a month ago %to ripen %no one. No one


PERIOD PIECE: 1834       
First Line: It was on the old paterson and hudson r.R.
Last Line: Whistler was set up to be born


PERPETUUM MOBILE: THE CITY       
First Line: A dream %we dreamed %each %separately
Last Line: In a wall of %rain -- %farewell


PETUNIA       
First Line: Purple! %for months unknown %but for %the barren sky
Last Line: From the very %sand %saluting us


PHILOMENA ANDRONICO       
First Line: With the boys busy
Last Line: Her hips and %in the warm still %air lets %her arms %fall %fall %loosely %(waiting) %at her sides


PHOENIX AND THE TORTOISE       
First Line: The link between barnum and calas
Last Line: The mind survive and I be an american


PICTURE OF A NUDE IN A MACHINE SHOP       
First Line: And foundry, %(that's art) %a red ostrich plume
Last Line: A blow-torch flame, %undisguised


PICTURE SHOWING       
First Line: Picture showing %return of bodies
Last Line: --christ, I'd rather %come home %steerage


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 1. SELF-PORTRAIT    Poem Text    
First Line: In a red winter hat blue
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Paintings & Painters; Icarus; Mythology - Classical; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 1. SELF-PORTRAIT       
First Line: In a red winter hat blue
Last Line: No time for any- %thing but his painting


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 10: CHILDREN'S GAMES: 1       
First Line: This is a schoolyard %crowded %with children
Last Line: Humor faithfully %recorded %it


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 10: CHILDREN'S GAMES: 2       
First Line: Little girls
Last Line: Through which a boy must pass %roll the hoop or a %construction %made of bricks %some mason has aban


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 10: CHILDREN'S GAMES: 3       
First Line: The desperate toys
Last Line: Brueghel saw it all %and with his grim %humor faithfully %recorded %it


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 2. LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUS    Poem Text    
First Line: According to brueghel / when icarus fell
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Icarus; Mythology - Classical; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 2. LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUS       
First Line: According to brueghel %when icarus fell
Last Line: A splash quite unnoticed %this was %icarus drowning
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Icarus; Mythology - Classical


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 3. THE HUNTERS IN THE SNOW    Poem Text    
First Line: The over-all picture is winter
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Paintings & Painters; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 3. THE HUNTERS IN THE SNOW       
First Line: The over-all picture is winter
Last Line: A winter-struck bush for his %foreground to %complete the picture
Subject(s): Art And Artists; Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Paintings And Painters


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 4. THE ADORATION OF THE KINGS    Poem Text    
First Line: From the nativity / which I have already celebrated
Last Line: For profound worship
Subject(s): Christmas; Nativity, The


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 4. THE ADORATION OF THE KINGS       
First Line: From the nativity %which I have already celebrated
Last Line: As a work of art %for profound worship
Subject(s): Christmas


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 5. PEASANT WEDDING       
First Line: Pour the wine bridegroom
Last Line: Helpers one in a red %coat in his hatband


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 6. HAYMAKING       
First Line: The living quality of %the man's mind
Last Line: The patient horses no one %could take that %from him


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 7. THE CORN HARVEST       
First Line: Summer! %the painting is organized
Last Line: Resting %center of %their workaday world


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 7: THE CORN HARVEST       
First Line: Summer!
Last Line: Whose shade %carelessly %he does not share the %resting %center of %their workaday world


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 8. THE WEDDING DANCE IN THE OPEN AIR       
First Line: Disciplined by the artist
Last Line: Oya! %kicking up their heels


PICTURES FROM BRUEGHEL: 9. THE PARABLE OF THE BLIND       
First Line: This horrible but superb painting
Last Line: Follows the others stick in %hand triumphant to disaster


PIGHEADED POET       
First Line: Everything I do %everything I write
Last Line: I walk barefoot %in quicksand


PINK LOCUST       
First Line: I'm persistent as the pink locust
Last Line: But who, among the rest, %will deny me %my place


PLACE (ANY PLACE) TO TRANSCEND ALL PLACES       
First Line: In new york, it is said
Last Line: About the roots for nourishment


PLAY    Poem Text    
First Line: Subtle, clever brain, wiser than I am
Last Line: To remain idle? Teach me, o master.


PLEA FOR MERCY       
First Line: Who hasn't been frustrated %with the eternal virgin
Last Line: Shining before him and he %cold as a stone


POEM    Poem Text    
First Line: On getting a card
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Relationships


POEM       
First Line: The rose fades %and is renewed again
Last Line: To suffer no diminution %of its splendor
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


POEM       
First Line: Daniel boone, the father of kentucky. Col.W. Crawford, the
Last Line: Hunter. Captain jack, the poet scout. Gen. Crook, the conqueror of the apaches


POEM       
First Line: On getting a card
Last Line: Has other outstanding %virtues %which delight me


POEM       
First Line: Looking up, of a sudden
Last Line: No moon was in the sky


POEM       
First Line: As the cat %climbed over
Last Line: The empty %flowerpot
Subject(s): Animals; Cats


POEM       
First Line: It's all in %the sound. A song
Last Line: Eyes -- waking %centrifugal, centripetal


POEM (THE PLASTIC SURGEON)       
First Line: The plastic surgeon who has %concerned himself
Last Line: Events have taken since those days


POEM FOR NORMAN MACLEOD       
First Line: The revolution %is accomplished
Last Line: What's around you %no bull


POET AND HIS POEMS       
First Line: The poem is this: %a nuance of sound
Last Line: It's %a constant mystery %no less in the %writing of the imaginative %lines than in love


POLAR BEAR       
First Line: His coat resembles the snow
Last Line: To lie down with us %its arms %about our necks %murderously a little while


POOR       
First Line: It's the anarchy of poverty
Last Line: In a wind that fitfully %turning his corner has %overwhelmedthe entire city
Subject(s): Poverty


POROUS       
First Line: Cattail fluff %blows in
Last Line: Through the heavy walls %and vanishes


PORTENT    Poem Text    
First Line: Red cradle of the night
Last Line: The dusky child! !
Subject(s): Prophecy & Prophets; Children


PORTRAIT OF A LADY    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Your thighs are appletrees
Last Line: I said petals from an appletree.
Subject(s): Portraits; Women


PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN AT HER BATH    Poem Text    
First Line: It is a satisfaction
Last Line: The birds and the flowers / look in
Subject(s): Native Americans - Pre-columbian


PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN AT HER BATH       
First Line: It is a satisfaction
Last Line: Glad of a fellow to %marvel at %the birds and flowers %look in
Subject(s): Native Americans - Pre-columbian


PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN IN BED    Poem Text    
First Line: There's my things
Last Line: I'm tired.
Subject(s): Idleness; Women


PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG MAN WITH A BAD HEART    Poem Text    
First Line: Have I seen her
Last Line: It'd be the best thing.
Subject(s): Hearts; Courtship


PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR    Poem Text    
First Line: The birches are mad with green points
Last Line: And it ends.
Subject(s): Birch Trees; Despair; Brothers


PORTRAIT OF THE TIMES       
First Line: Two w. P. A. Men %stood in the new %sluiceway
Last Line: Turned her back %on them %at the corner


PORTRAIT OF THE TIMES       
First Line: Two w.P.A. Men
Last Line: A bunch of %late chrysanthemums %to her %fatted bosoms %turned her back %on them %at the corner


POSTLUDE    Poem Text    
First Line: Now that I have cooled to you
Last Line: Calm in atlantis.


POT OF FLOWERS       
First Line: Pink confused with white
Last Line: Reaching up their modest green %from the pot's rim %and there, wholly dark, the pot %gay with rough


PREDICTER OF FAMINE       
First Line: White day, black river
Last Line: A gull flies low %upstream, his beak tilted %sharply, his eye %alert to the providing water


PRELUDE IN BORICUA       
First Line: Mixup of kinkhead and high yaller
Last Line: And much of pretension and hearsay


PRELUDE TO WINTER    Poem Text    
First Line: A big young bareheaded woman
Subject(s): Moths; Autumn; Fall


PRELUDE TO WINTER       
First Line: The moth under the eaves %with wings like
Last Line: Unmoving under the eaves %when the leaves fall


PRIMROSE    Poem Text    
First Line: Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow
Last Line: Green meadow and clouds the sky.
Subject(s): Summer; Yellow (color)


PROBLEM       
First Line: How to fit %an old brownstone church %among a group
Last Line: Should it be tumbled down, %nothing %could replace it


PROLETARIAN PORTRAIT    Poem Text    
First Line: A big young bareheaded woman
Subject(s): City & Town Life


PROLETARIAN PORTRAIT       
First Line: A big young bareheaded woman
Last Line: She pulls out the paper insole %to find the nail %that has been hurting her


PROMENADE    Poem Text    
First Line: Well, mind, here we have / our little son beside us
Last Line: And have breakfast!
Subject(s): Food & Eating; Nature


PROOF OF IMMORTALITY    Poem Text    
First Line: For there is one thing braver than all flowers
Subject(s): Ignorance; Dullness; Stupdity


PROVINCE       
First Line: The figure %of tall %white grass
Last Line: The kernel %of all seeking, %the eternal


PUERTO RICO SONG       
First Line: Well, god is %love
Last Line: It goes


QUALITY OF HEAVEN       
First Line: Without other cost than breath
Last Line: From which the birds were %frightened. %--the fleece-light air


QUEEN-ANNE'S-LACE    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Her body is not so white as
Subject(s): Queen Anne's Lace


QUEEN-ANNE'S-LACE       
First Line: Her body is not so white as
Last Line: A pious wish to whiteness gone over - %or nothing
Subject(s): Queen Anne's Lace


QUEST OF HAPPINESS       
First Line: This much, I find, must then be also true
Last Line: About my heart, and -life's new song, begin!


QUESTION AND ANSWER       
First Line: What's wrong with american literature
Last Line: You ask me? How much do I get


QUIETNESS       
First Line: One day in paradise
Last Line: So lascivious %and still


R R BUMS       
First Line: Their most prized possession-- %their liberty
Last Line: Hungry as an oriole


RAIN       
First Line: As the rain falls %so does %your love
Last Line: And falling endlessly %from %her thoughts


RAINDROPS ON A BRIAR       
First Line: I, a writer, at one time hipped on
Last Line: Storm, its waterdrops %ranged upon the arching stems %irregularly as an accompaniment


RALEIGH WAS RIGHT       
First Line: We cannot go to the country
Last Line: For the country will bring us no peace
Subject(s): Country Life; Raleigh, Sir Walter (1552-1618)


RALEIGH WAS RIGHT (1944 VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: We cannot go to the country
Last Line: "for the country will bring us


RALEIGH WAS RIGHT (FIRST VERSION)    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: We cannot go to the country
Subject(s): Country Life; Decay; Dramatists; Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593); Nostalgia; Plays & Playwrights ; Raleigh, Sir Walter (1552-1618); Rot; Decadence; Dramatists


RALEIGH WAS RIGHT (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: We cannot go to the country
Last Line: For the country will bring us no peace
Subject(s): Country Life; Decay; Dramatists; Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593); Nostalgia; Plays And Playwrights; Raleigh, Sir Walter (1552-1618)


RAPER FROM PASSENACK       
First Line: Was very kind. When she regained
Last Line: But it's the foulness of it can't %be cured. And hatred, hatred of all men %-and disgust
Subject(s): Hate


RAPID TRANSIT       
First Line: Somebody dies every four minutes
Last Line: Line and you are there in a few minutes %interborough rapid transit co


RARE GIST       
First Line: The young german poked his head
Last Line: It was almost, I confess, %as though I envied him


RAT       
First Line: The rat sits up and works his %moustaches, the ontologic
Last Line: Have it clean, full of sharp movement


READIE POME       
First Line: Grace - face: hot - pot: lank - spank: meat - eat
Last Line: Sleep: come - numb: dum - rum: some - bum


RED LILY       
First Line: To the bob-white's call %and drone of reaper
Last Line: In your common cup %all beauty lies


RED WHEELBARROW       
First Line: So much depends
Last Line: Beside the white %chickens
Subject(s): Language; Wheelbarrows


RED-WING BLACKBIRD       
First Line: The wild red-wing black bird croaks frog
Last Line: Swamp and the odors of the swamp vodka %to his nostrils


RENDEZVOUS    Poem Text    
First Line: My song! It is time
Last Line: Impatiently to receive us!
Subject(s): Songs


RESEMBLANCE       
First Line: The jewess was happy
Last Line: Like a painting %by rouault


RETURN TO WORK       
First Line: Promenading their %skirted galleons of sex
Last Line: Gently %slapping her thighs


REVERIE AND INVOCATION    Poem Text    
First Line: Whether the rain comes down
Subject(s): Aging; Memory


REVERIE AND INVOCATION       
First Line: Whether the rain comes down
Last Line: And win so! And win so! %a life everlasting


REWAKING       
First Line: Sooner or later %we must come to the end
Last Line: Your love the very sun %itself is revived
Subject(s): Love - Marital


RHYMED ADDRESS: THE LOBSTER       
First Line: Rhymed address to carl rakosi %acknowledging (with thanks)
Last Line: Without that final %brilliance %for me


RIGAMAROLE       
First Line: The veritable night %of wires and stars
Last Line: Is the perfect %human touch


RIGHT OF WAY       
First Line: In passing with my mind
Last Line: I saw a girl with one leg %over the rail of a balcony


RIPOSTE    Poem Text    
First Line: Love is like water or the air
Last Line: Like poetry!
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


RITUALISTS       
First Line: In may, approaching the city, I
Last Line: Rhythms of casting - that slow dance


RIVER RHYME    Poem Text    
First Line: The rumpled river
Subject(s): Rivers


RIVER RHYME       
First Line: The rumpled river %takes its course %lashed by rain
Last Line: Of swamps a bulk %that writhes and fattens %as it speeds


RIVER RHYME II       
First Line: Shine miraculous %mottled river
Last Line: Love portends %never its flower %in bloom


ROCK-OLD DOGMA       
First Line: It had to be, of course, a rock
Last Line: Rock-like but living and will live again


ROCKING WOMAN       
First Line: Wind your thread %and wind your thread,
Last Line: The leaves falling %when the wind blows


ROGATION SUNDAY       
First Line: O let the seeds be planted
Last Line: Speak their message of revival and thrive %by our labor this maytime


ROMANCE MODERNE    Poem Text    
First Line: Tracks of rain and light linger in
Last Line: It's the clay of these parts.


ROSE (1)       
First Line: First the warmth, variability
Last Line: The gold hawk's-eye speaks once %coldly its perfection
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


ROSE (2)       
First Line: The stillness of the rose
Last Line: Stillness was an eternity %long since begun
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


ROSE (3)       
First Line: The rose is obsolete
Last Line: The fragility of the flower %unbruised %penetrates space
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


ROSEBUSH IN AN UNLIKELY GARDEN       
First Line: The flowers are yours %the full blown
Last Line: The stillness %of this squalid corner this %veined achievement is %yours


RUMBA! RUMBA!       
First Line: No, not the downfall %of the western world
Last Line: Dance, baby, dance %to the cuban rumba


RUSSIA       
First Line: The williams avenue zionist church (colored)
Last Line: Upon which you will build your empire


SADNESS OF THE SEA       
First Line: This is the sadness of the sea
Last Line: The seeds will make it habitable


SALE       
First Line: Why should I, who know the cost so well
Last Line: And I be I, come world end when it will


SAPPHO       
First Line: That man is peer of the gods, who %face to face sits listening
Last Line: I grow %paler than grass and lack little %of dying


SAPPHO, BE COMFORTED       
First Line: There is only one love
Last Line: Present for my passionate caresses


SAVAGE BEAST       
First Line: As I leaned to retrieve
Last Line: Had been here in my %place, only a little closer
Subject(s): Hate


SEA       
First Line: The sea that encloses her young body
Last Line: Underneath the sea where it is dark %there is no edge %so two


SEA-ELEPHANT       
First Line: Trundled from
Last Line: Fish dripping from %the bounty %of....And spring %they say %spring is icummen in


SEA-ELEPHANT       
First Line: Trundled from %the strangeness of the sea
Last Line: The bounty %of...And spring %they say %spring is icummen in
Subject(s): Animals


SEA-TROUT AND BUTTERFISH    Poem Text    
First Line: The contours and the shine
Subject(s): Fish & Fishing; Anglers


SEA-TROUT AND BUTTERFISH       
First Line: The contours and the shine
Last Line: Separates this from that %and the fine fins' sharp spines


SEAFARER    Poem Text    
First Line: The sea will wash in
Last Line: Without me nothing laughs
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


SEAFARER       
First Line: The sea will wash in
Last Line: It is I! I who am the rocks! %without me nothing laughs
Subject(s): Sea


SELF       
First Line: The poem %is a discipline
Last Line: Laid crudely %delicately %before you


SELF-PORTRAIT 1    Poem Text    
First Line: You lie packed
Last Line: And go in clouds!
Subject(s): Self


SELF-PORTRAIT 2    Poem Text    
First Line: It is raining
Last Line: Lips opening upward.
Subject(s): Self


SEMBLABLES       
First Line: The red brick monastery in
Last Line: His club gives sign, that agony %within where the wrapt machines %are praying
Subject(s): Monasteries


SEPTEMBER       
First Line: Rich september, season bountiful
Last Line: Starts up to hear their prophecies begun


SERAPH    Poem Text    
First Line: I was here alone
Last Line: But it was gone.
Subject(s): Compassion; Light


SHADOWS       
First Line: Shadows cast by the street light
Last Line: The scent of the rose, %startle us anew


SHE WHO TURNS HER HEAD       
First Line: She turns her head %to breathe the morning air
Last Line: Overpowering mastery %of this %garish dream


SHOOT IT JIMMY!       
First Line: Our orchestra %is the cat's nuts
Last Line: Nobody else %but me-- %they can't copy it


SHORT POEM       
First Line: You slapped my face
Last Line: I smiled %at the caress


SICILIAN EMIGRANT'S SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: O -- eh -- lee! La -- la
Last Line: Donna! Donna! Maria!
Subject(s): Immigrants; Emigrant; Emigration; Immigration


SICILIAN EMIGRANT'S SONG       
First Line: O-eh-lee! La-la! %donna! Donna!


SICK AFRICAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Wm. Yates, colored
Last Line: Too weak to stand.
Subject(s): African Americans


SIGNS EVERYWHERE OF BIRDS NESTING, WHILE       
Last Line: He is led forward by their announcing wings


SILENCE       
First Line: Under a low sky
Last Line: Of the green leaved peach tree


SIMPLEX SIGILUM VERI       
First Line: An american papermatch packet
Last Line: His might drove a golf ball


SIMPLEX SIGILUM VERI: A CATALOGUE (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: An american papermatch packet
Last Line: His might drove a golf ball


SKETCH FOR A PORTRAIT OF HENRY FORD       
First Line: A tin bucket %full of small used parts
Last Line: Way and the bucket %is propelled through %space


SLEEPING BRUTE       
First Line: For three years at evening
Last Line: Asleep among the gray shadows


SLOW MOVEMENT    Poem Text    
First Line: All those treasures that lie in the little bolted box whose tiny space is
Last Line: As they are now.


SLUGGISHLY       
First Line: Or with a rush %the river flows
Last Line: Having eaten %fouling %the water grass


SMELL    Poem Text    
First Line: Oh strong-ridged and deeply hollowed
Last Line: Must you have a part in everything?


SMILING DANE       
First Line: The danish native %before the christian era
Last Line: We can still see in his smile %their grimaces


SNOW BEGINS       
First Line: A rain of bombs, well placed
Last Line: Gently and silently in the night


SOLO       
First Line: The pavilion pierces the green sky
Last Line: To soar with her like a mandarin drake


SOLSTICE       
First Line: The river is full
Last Line: The shortest day of the year %is favorable


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 1. EXERCISE IN TIMING       
First Line: Oh %the sumac died
Last Line: It's %the first time %I %noticed it


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 2. HISTOLOGY       
First Line: There is %the %microscopic
Last Line: This is %reassuring


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 3. PERPETUUM MOBILE       
First Line: To all the girls
Last Line: Forth and back and forth %and back and forth


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 4. THE BLUE JAY       
First Line: It crouched %just before the take-off
Last Line: Serving art %as usual


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 5. THE EXISTENTIALIST'S WIFE       
First Line: I used to follow %the seasons
Last Line: No season but %the one %for me now


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 6. A SALAD FOR THE SOUL       
First Line: My peasant soul %we may not be destined to
Last Line: The source %of all delicious salads


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 7. CHLOE       
First Line: The calves of %the young girls legs
Last Line: On my way to %mail a letter %smiling to a friend


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 8. THE COCKTAIL PARTY       
First Line: A young woman %on whose belly I have never
Last Line: What we were saying %eyes blinded %breathless by that alone


SOME SIMPLE MEASURES: 9. THE STOLEN PEONIES       
First Line: What I got out of women
Last Line: Brought us closer %we had been %married ten years


SONG       
First Line: The black-winged gull
Last Line: Of their torment %day or night


SONG       
First Line: You are forever april
Last Line: In the spring %of %the year


SONG       
First Line: I'd rather read an account
Last Line: Bring us to %eat out of the same bowl


SONG       
First Line: If I %could count the silence %I could sleep, sleep
Last Line: Until sleep dropped as rain %upon me


SONG       
First Line: Beauty is a shell
Last Line: Undying accents %repeated till %the ear and the eye lie %down together in the same bed


SONG       
First Line: Pluck the florets from %a clover head
Last Line: And suck the honey, sweet


SONNET IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR       
First Line: Nude bodies like peeled logs
Last Line: Other than trailing woodbine that %has no odor, odor of a nude woman %sometimes, odor of a man


SORT OF A SONG       
First Line: Let the snake wait under
Last Line: Saxifrage is my flower that splits %the rocks


SOUND OF WAVES       
First Line: A quatrain? Is that %the end I envision
Last Line: The sound of waves, a %voice -- speaking


SOURCE       
First Line: The slope of the heavy woods %pales and disappears %in the wall of mist
Last Line: The profuse body advances %over the stones unchanged


SPARROW       
First Line: This sparrow %who comes to sit at my window
Last Line: This was I, %a sparrow. %I did my best; %farewell
Subject(s): Sparrows


SPARROWS AMONG DRY LEAVES    Poem Text    
First Line: The sparrows by the iron fence post
Last Line: Obscure and insatiable / appetite
Subject(s): Sparrows


SPARROWS AMONG DRY LEAVES       
First Line: The sparrows by the iron fence post
Last Line: Obscure and insatiable appetite
Subject(s): Sparrows


SPIRIT OF '76    Poem Text    
First Line: Dear miss monroe: provided you will allow me to use small letters
Last Line: W. C. Williams
Subject(s): Monroe, Harriet (1860-1936); Poetry & Poets


SPOUTS    Poem Text    
First Line: In this world of / as fine a pair of breasts
Last Line: Reflectively drops down again.


SPRING    Poem Text    
First Line: O my grey hairs
Last Line: You are truly white as plum blossoms.
Subject(s): Aging; Hair


SPRING AND ALL    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: By the road to the contagious hospital
Variant Title(s): Poem
Subject(s): Spring


SPRING AND ALL       
First Line: By the road to the contagious hospital
Last Line: Entrance-still, the profound change %has come upon them: rooted, they %grip down and begin to awaken
Variant Title(s): Poe
Subject(s): Spring


SPRING AND ALL, XIV    Poem Text    
First Line: Of death / the barber
Subject(s): Barbers; Death; Dead, The


SPRING IS HERE AGAIN, SIR       
First Line: Goffle brook of a may day
Last Line: It, to our satisfaction, %as in the past, still wet


SPRING SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Having died / one is at great advantage
Last Line: Hand in hand in the dirt with you.
Subject(s): Death; Desire


SPRING STORM    Poem Text    
First Line: The sky has given over
Last Line: Of the overhanging embankment.
Subject(s): Spring; Storms


SPRING STRAINS    Poem Text    
First Line: In a tissue-thin monotone of blue-grey buds
Last Line: Flung outward and up -- disappearing suddenly!
Subject(s): Spring


ST. FRANCIS EINSTEIN OF THE DAFFODILS       
First Line: Sweet land' %at last
Last Line: And throws off his covers %one by one


ST. FRANCIS EINSTEIN OF THE DAFFODILS (FIRST VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: In march's black boat / einstein and april
Last Line: Shaking the flowers!
Subject(s): Mathematics; Statue Of Liberty


ST. VALENTINE    Poem Text    
First Line: A woman's breasts
Last Line: Will stand up by / that book!
Subject(s): Sex


STILL LIFE    Poem Text    
First Line: Astride the boney jointed ridge
Last Line: The whole dry world's gaping misery
Subject(s): Bodies; Breasts; Women


STILL LIFES       
First Line: All poems can be represented by
Last Line: In more or less haphazard disarray


STILLNESS    Poem Text    
First Line: Heavy white rooves / of rutherford
Last Line: And say -- nothing.
Subject(s): Silence


STONE CROCK       
First Line: In my hand I hold %a postcard
Last Line: Now he is dead how %gentle he %was and %persistent


STORM       
First Line: A perfect rainbow! A wide
Last Line: Cannot waken anything %but drives the smoke from %a few lean chimneys streaming %violently southward
Subject(s): Travel


STORMY    Poem Text    
First Line: What name could
Subject(s): Dogs; Names


STORMY       
First Line: What name could %better %explode from
Last Line: Stormy! %stormy! Stormy


STREET MARKET, NY., 1908       
First Line: Eyes that can see
Last Line: Blind to a patent wide reality


STROLLER    Poem Text    
First Line: I have seen the hills blue
Last Line: Of an old willow.
Subject(s): Women


STRUGGLE OF WINGS       
First Line: Roundclouds occluding patches of the %sky rival steam bluntly towering
Last Line: Very well then, a red vest


STYLIST       
First Line: Long time no see
Last Line: To come up and bring %me into town. %no answer


SUB TERRA    Poem Text    
First Line: Where shall I find you
Last Line: Nostrils lipping the wind!


SUMMER SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Wanderer moon / smiling a / faintly ironical smile
Last Line: Where would they carry me?


SUN       
First Line: Lifts heavily %and cloud and sea
Last Line: Whose heavy body %opens %to their leaps %without a wound


SUN BATHERS       
First Line: A tramp thawing out
Last Line: While a fat negress %in a yellow-house window %nearby %leansout and yawns %into the fine weather


SUNDAY       
First Line: Small barking sounds
Last Line: A distant door slammed. %amen


SUNDAY (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: Small barking sounds
Last Line: Stillness. A distant door %slammed. Amen


SUNFLOWERS       
First Line: There's a sort of %multibranched sunflower
Last Line: In one basket and, in %the other shining reds


SUZANNE       
First Line: Brother paul! Look!
Last Line: Shrieking %and pounding the glass %with both fists! %brother paul! The moon!


SUZY       
First Line: Women your age have decided
Last Line: Not to look he yearns after %you protectively %hopelessly wanting nothing


SWAGGERING GAIT       
First Line: Bareheaded %the hair blond in tight curls
Last Line: Sharing %that one distinction


SYMPATHETIC PORTRAIT OF A CHILD    Poem Text    
First Line: The murderer's little daughter
Last Line: That darts along her smile?
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


TAILPIECE       
First Line: What time is it? Yes
Last Line: River to time without end %the salt sea


TAPIOLA       
First Line: He is no more dead than finland herself is dead
Last Line: Has been born and continues to live in all our %minds, all of us, forever


TERM       
First Line: A rumpled sheet %of brown paper
Last Line: The ground. Unlike %a man it rose %again rolling %with the wind over %and over to be as %it was befo
Subject(s): Ghosts; Supernatural


TESTAMENT OF PERPETUAL CHANGE       
First Line: Mortal prudence, handmaid of divine providence
Last Line: Of the cliff dwellers' palaces still in my possession of my mind


THE BIRDS    Poem Text    
First Line: The world begins again
Last Line: And the dripping grass.
Subject(s): Blackbirds


THE BIRTH OF VENUS': SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: Come with us and play
Last Line: It is forbidden!
Subject(s): Sin; Lust


THE BOTTICELLIAN TREES    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: The alphabet / of the trees
Subject(s): Trees; Winter


THE BULL    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: It is in captivity
Subject(s): Bulls


THE CATHOLIC BELLS    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Tho' I'm no catholic
Subject(s): Bells; Catholics; Roman Catholics; Catholicism


THE CATS' MONTH    Poem Text    
First Line: Your frosty hands
Last Line: Where deep snow lies.
Subject(s): Animals; Cats


THE CENTENARIAN    Poem Text    
First Line: I don't think we shall
Subject(s): Women - Old Age; Drinks & Drinking; Wine


THE COLD NIGHT    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: It is cold. The white moon
Last Line: Perfect after many babiers. / oya!
Subject(s): Cold


THE DANCE (1)    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: In brueghel's great picture, the kermess
Variant Title(s): The Dance
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Dancing & Dancers; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter


THE DANCE (2)    Poem Text    
First Line: When the snow falls the flakes
Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Dancing & Dancers; Festivals; Paintings And Painters; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter; Fairs; Pageants


THE DARK DAY    Poem Text    
First Line: A three-day-long rain from the east
Last Line: Backward, backward, backward.


THE DEATH OF FRANCO OF COLOGNE: HIS PROPHECY OF BEETHOVEN    Poem Text    
First Line: It is useless, good woman, useless: the spark fails me
Last Line: Over the bronze gates of paradise!
Subject(s): Death; Children; Aging


THE DECEPTRICES    Poem Text    
First Line: Because they are not
Last Line: The unalterable conclusion
Subject(s): Youth


THE DELICACIES    Poem Text    
First Line: The hostess, in pink satin and blond hair -- dressed high -- shone beautifully
Last Line: Cream cheese and whole walnuts!
Subject(s): Food & Eating; Parties


THE DESCENT    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: The descent beckons / as the ascent beckoned
Subject(s): Aging


THE DESOLATE FIELD    Poem Text    
First Line: Vast and grey, the sky
Last Line: Yearning silently over me.
Subject(s): Fields; Pastures; Meadows; Leas


THE DISPUTANTS    Poem Text    
First Line: Upon the table in their bowl
Last Line: Grown frail as vaudeville.


THE DRUNKARD    Poem Text    
First Line: You drunken / tottering / bum
Last Line: To despair
Subject(s): Alcoholism & Alcoholics


THE FLOWERS ALONE    Poem Text    
First Line: I should have to be
Subject(s): Flowers


THE FOOL'S SONG    Poem Text    
First Line: I tried to put a bird in a cage
Last Line: Heigh-ho! Truth in a cage.
Subject(s): Truth


THE FORGOTTEN CITY    Poem Text    
First Line: When with my mother I was coming down
Subject(s): Americans; United States; America


THE GENTLE MAN    Poem Text    
First Line: I feel the caress of my own fingers
Last Line: Of the kind women I have known.


THE GIFT    Poem Text    
First Line: As the wise men of old brought gifts
Last Line: To worship / this perfection
Subject(s): Bible; Religion; Theology


THE GREAT FIGURE    Poem Text    
First Line: Among the rain
Last Line: Through the dark city.
Subject(s): Fire


THE GREAT MULLEN    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: One leaves his leaves at home
Subject(s): Flowers


THE HORSE    Poem Text    
First Line: The horse moves / independently
Last Line: Exhausts of a car
Subject(s): Animals


THE HORSE SHOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Constantly near you, I never in my entire
Last Line: There, I was so interested to hear about it
Subject(s): Relationships


THE HOUNDED LOVERS    Poem Text    
First Line: Where shall we go
Last Line: Does not turn back / the cold wind
Subject(s): Desire; Love


THE HUNTER    Poem Text    
First Line: In the flashes and black shadows
Last Line: And become fast to a twig again.


THE HURRICAN    Poem Text    
First Line: The tree lay down
Subject(s): Hurricanes; Trees


THE IVY CROWN    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: The whole process is a lie
Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening


THE LAST WORDS OF MY ENGLISH GRANDMOTHER    Poem Text    
First Line: There were some dirty plates
Subject(s): Death; Grandparents; Men; Mothers; Dead, The; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


THE LATE SINGER    Poem Text    
First Line: Here it is spring again
Last Line: I am late at my singing.
Subject(s): Singing & Singers


THE LOCUST TREE IN FLOWER (SECOND VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: Among / the leaves / bright
Subject(s): Locust Trees


THE LOCUST TREE IN FLOWER (FIRST VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: Among / the leaves / bright
Last Line: And quickly / fall
Subject(s): Locust Trees


THE LOCUST TREE IN FLOWER (SECOND VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: Among / of / green
Subject(s): Locust Trees


THE LONELY STREET    Poem Text    
First Line: School is over. It is too hot
Last Line: They mount the lonely street.
Subject(s): Schools; Students


THE MANOEUVRE     Poem Text    
First Line: I saw the two starlings
Last Line: Face into the wind's teeth
Subject(s): Starlings


THE MARRIAGE OF SOULS    Poem Text    
First Line: That heat! / that terrible heat
Last Line: Unfused / and unfusing
Subject(s): Marriage; Man-woman Relationships; Love – Complaints; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


THE MENTAL HOSPITAL GARDEN    Poem Text    
First Line: It is far to assisi
Last Line: The full meaning / of it / all
Subject(s): Religion; Psychiatric Hospitals; Gardens & Gardening; Theology


THE MORAL    Poem Text    
First Line: Just junk / is what it amounts to
Subject(s): Junk & Junkyards


THE NIGHTINGALES    Poem Text    
First Line: My shoes as I lean
Last Line: Over shoes and flowers.
Subject(s): Shoes


THE OBSERVER    Poem Text    
First Line: What a scurvy mind
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


THE OGRE    Poem Text    
First Line: Sweet child, / little girl with well-shaped legs
Last Line: These are my excuses.
Subject(s): Daughters; Thought


THE OLD MEN    Poem Text    
First Line: Old men who have studied
Last Line: Be yours!
Subject(s): Old Age


THE OLD WORSHIPPER    Poem Text    
First Line: How times change, old friend
Last Line: Old worshipper!


THE ORCHESTRA    Poem Text    
First Line: The precise counterpart
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


THE ORDEAL    Poem Text    
First Line: O crimson salamander
Last Line: O crimson salamander.
Subject(s): Salamanders


THE POET AND HIS POEMS    Poem Text    
First Line: The poem is this:
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


THE POOR    Poem Text    
First Line: By constantly tormenting them
Last Line: Took him for their friend and adviser.
Subject(s): Poverty


THE RAPER FROM PASSENACK    Poem Text    
First Line: Was very kind. When she regained
Last Line: "be cured. And hatred, hatred of all men
Subject(s): Hate


THE RED WHEELBARROW    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: So much depends
Subject(s): Language; Wheelbarrows; Words; Vocabulary


THE REVELATION    Poem Text    
First Line: I awoke happy, the house
Last Line: For that quiet look --
Subject(s): Dreams


THE REWAKING    Poem Text    
First Line: Sooner or later / we must come to the end
Last Line: Itself is revived
Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love


THE ROSE (1)    Poem Text    
First Line: First the warmth, variability
Last Line: Coldly its perfection
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


THE ROSE (2)    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: The stillness of the rose
Last Line: Long since begun
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


THE ROSE (3)    Poem Text    
First Line: The rose is obsolete
Last Line: Penetrates space
Subject(s): Flowers; Roses


THE SAVAGE BEAST    Poem Text    
First Line: As I leaned to retrieve
Last Line: Place, only a little closer
Subject(s): Hate


THE SEA-ELEPHANT    Poem Text    
First Line: Trundled from / the strangeness of the sea
Last Line: "spring is icummen in ---
Subject(s): Sea Monsters


THE SEMBLABLES    Poem Text    
First Line: The red brick monastery in
Last Line: Within where the wrapt machines / are praying ...
Subject(s): Monasteries; Abbeys


THE SHADOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Soft as the bed in the earth
Last Line: Brings dark to my eyes.


THE SLOUGHING WIND    Poem Text    
First Line: Some leaves hang late, some fall
Last Line: The tale of winter branches and old bones.
Subject(s): Leaves; Winter


THE SPARROW    Poem Text    
First Line: This sparrow / who comes to sit at my window
Subject(s): Sparrows


THE STORM    Poem Text    
First Line: A perfect rainbow! A wide
Last Line: Violently southward
Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips


THE TERM    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: A rumpled sheet / of brown paper
Subject(s): Ghosts; Supernatural


THE THINKER    Poem Text    
First Line: My wife's new pink slippers
Last Line: Out of pure happiness.


THE THREE GRACES    Poem Text    
First Line: We have the picture of you in mind
Last Line: So as I write this mary has died
Subject(s): Beauty; Change; Death; Dead, The


THE TULIP BED    Poem Text    
First Line: The may sun -- whom / all things imitate
Last Line: Reposedly.


THE TURTLE    Poem Text    
First Line: Not because of his eyes, / the eyes of a bird
Last Line: He is your friend
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


THE UNFROCKED PRIEST    Poem Text    
First Line: When a man had gone
Subject(s): Disrespect


THE UNKNOWN    Poem Text    
First Line: Do you exist
Subject(s): Birds; Imagination; Fancy


THE USES OF POETRY    Poem Text    
First Line: I've fond anticipation of a day
Last Line: To worlds afar whose fruits all anguish mend.
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets


THE WANDERER: A ROCOCO STUDY (FIRST VERSION)    Poem Text    
First Line: Even in the time when still I
Last Line: And of the new wandering.
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: ABROAD    Poem Text    
First Line: Never, even in a dream
Last Line: Invisible.
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: ADVENT    Poem Text    
First Line: Even in the time when as yet
Last Line: Followed after.
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: BROADWAY    Poem Text    
First Line: It was then she struck -- from behind
Last Line: And led me away.
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: CLARITY    Poem Text    
First Line: Come!' cried my mind and by her might
Last Line: "I will take my peace in her henceforth!"
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: SOOTHSAY    Poem Text    
First Line: Eight days went by, eight days
Last Line: "and this shall be as it is spoken."
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: ST. JAMES' GROVE    Poem Text    
First Line: And so it came to that last day
Last Line: "and of the new wandering!"
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WANDERER; A ROCOCO STUDY: THE STRIKE    Poem Text    
First Line: At the first peep of dawn she roused me
Last Line: "I am at peace again, old queen, I listen clearer now."
Subject(s): Wandering & Wanderers


THE WIDOW'S LAMENT IN SPRINGTIME    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Sorrow is my own yard
Last Line: And sink into the marsh near them.
Subject(s): Grief; Widows & Widowers; Sorrow; Sadness


THE WOODPECKER    Poem Text    
First Line: Innocence! Innocence is the condition of heaven
Last Line: Stabbing there with a barbed tongue which succeeds!
Subject(s): Birds; Woodpeckers


THE WORLD NARROWED TO A POINT    Poem Text    
First Line: Liquor and love / when the mind is dull
Subject(s): Alcohol & Alcoholics; Love


THE YACHTS    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Contend in a sea which the land partly encloses
Subject(s): Sailing & Sailors; Sea; Yachts & Yachting; Seamen; Sails; Ocean


THE YOUNG HOUSEWIFE    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: At ten a.M. The young housewife
Last Line: Dried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.
Subject(s): Housewives


THE YOUNG LAUNDRYMAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Ladies, I crave your indulgence for
Last Line: Your husband's shirts to wash, please, for wu kee.
Subject(s): Asian Americans; Laundry & Laundering


THEOCRITUS: IDYL 1       
First Line: The whisper of the wind in %that pine tree
Last Line: Take your song, %which drives all things out of mind , %with you to the other world


THERE ARE NO PERFECT WAVES       
Last Line: That never seem to rest


THESE       
First Line: Are the desolate, dark weeks
Last Line: The clock has stopped %that ticked yesterday so well? %and hears the sound of lakewater %splashing -


THESE PURISTS       
First Line: Lovely! All the essential parts
Last Line: An organ grinder in pine street


THING       
First Line: Each time it rings
Last Line: Serve it bitterly %together, they and I


THINKING BACK TOWARD CHRISTMAS: A STATEMENT FOR THE VIRGIN       
First Line: With sharp lights winking
Last Line: Still stand a man in good stead


THIS FLORIDA: 1924       
First Line: Of which I am the sand
Last Line: Peggy has a little albumen %in hers


THIS IS JUST TO SAY    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: I have eaten / the plums
Subject(s): Love; Plums; Plum Trees


THIS IS JUST TO SAY       
First Line: I have eaten %the plums
Last Line: They were delicious %so sweet %and so cold
Subject(s): Love; Plums


THIS IS PIONEER WEATHER       
First Line: Me, go to florida
Last Line: Down hill screaming %our heads off


THISTLE    Poem Text    
First Line: They should have called the thistle
Last Line: For the honey only. And so -- a thistle.
Subject(s): Thistles


THOUGHTFUL LOVER       
First Line: Deny yourself all %half things. %have it %or leave it
Last Line: For time without %odor is time %without me


THREE GRACES       
First Line: We have the picture of you in mind
Last Line: And as I write this mary has died
Subject(s): Beauty; Change; Death


THREE IMPROVISATIONS FROM KORA IN HELL: 26       
First Line: Doors have a back side also. And grass blades are double-edged
Last Line: In the earth of the place the most solid figure imaginable impossible to %remove him


THREE IMPROVISATIONS FROM KORA IN HELL: 8       
First Line: Some fifteen years we'll say I served this friend, was his valet
Last Line: Woman-the moon is swinging from its star


THREE IMPROVISATIONS FROM KORA IN HELL: 9       
First Line: Why pretend to remember the weather two years back? Why
Last Line: Liken the moon to a cow and its light to milk


THREE NAHUATL POEMS       
First Line: One by one I proclaim your songs
Last Line: He has fled to the place where all lack a body


THREE SONNETS       
First Line: As the eye lifts, the field %is moving -- the river
Last Line: Upon her %their memory clings, each one %distinct, enriching her %while I yet live to enjoy, perhaps


THRENODY       
First Line: The christian coin -- %embossed with a dove and sword
Last Line: As it drops, lost, to its grave


THURSDAY    Poem Text    
First Line: I have had my dream -- like others
Last Line: At my nose -- and decide to dream no more.
Subject(s): Reality


TIME THE HANGMAN    Poem Text    
First Line: Poor old abner, poor old white-haired nigger
Last Line: Are on your knees, and you are silent and broken.
Subject(s): African Americans; Old Age; Negroes; American Blacks


TITLE       
First Line: As in gauguin's the loss of virginity
Last Line: And emotional dignity of the whole


TO       
First Line: A child (a boy) bouncing
Last Line: Which is the old back yard


TO A CHINESE WOMAN       
First Line: Passing my house in the suburbs
Last Line: To %hell with this--after %her!--startling the flowers


TO A DEAD JOURNALIST    Poem Text    
First Line: Behind that white brow
Last Line: "to have found so monstrous
Subject(s): Newspapers; Journalism; Journalists


TO A DEAD JOURNALIST       
First Line: Behind that white brow
Last Line: To have found so monstrous %an obscurity
Subject(s): Newspapers


TO A DOG INJURED IN THE STREET    Poem Text    
First Line: It is myself / not the poor beast lying there
Last Line: To believe it
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


TO A DOG INJURED IN THE STREET       
First Line: It is myself %not the poor beast lying there
Last Line: Let all men believe it, as you have taught me also %to believe it
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs


TO A FRIEND    Poem Text    
First Line: Well, lizzie anderson! Seventeen men -- and
Last Line: The law is changed into a mouthful of phrases.
Subject(s): Law & Lawyers; Promiscuity


TO A FRIEND       
First Line: Sweet lady, sure it seem a thousand years
Last Line: To pray you greet me then, say is't o'er bold?


TO A FRIEND CONCERNING SEVERAL LADIES    Poem Text    
First Line: You know there is not much / that I desire, a few chrysanthemums
Last Line: Move on their stalks and rattle drily.


TO A LADY       
First Line: Sunshine is to spring so constant
Last Line: Thy love too be sorely tried


TO A LOVELY OLD BITCH       
First Line: Sappho, sappho, sappho! Initiate
Last Line: Rust, broken fruit-baskets %and bits of plaster, %painted on one side, %from dismantled bedrooms


TO A MAN DYING ON HIS FEET       
First Line: Not that we are not all %dying on our feet
Last Line: The plane leaves at 6:30 %or have you another %appointment


TO A MEXICAN PIG-BANK       
First Line: And a small %flock
Last Line: A red %blanket %on his left %shoulder


TO A POOR OLD WOMAN    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Munching a plum on
Subject(s): Plums; Plum Trees


TO A POOR OLD WOMAN       
First Line: Munching a plum on
Last Line: Comforted %a solace of ripe plums %seeming to fill the air %they taste good to her
Subject(s): Plums


TO A SOLITARY DISCIPLE    Poem Text    
First Line: Rather notice, mon cher
Last Line: Of the moon.
Subject(s): Spires; Steeples


TO A SPARROW    Poem Text    
First Line: Your perch is the branch
Last Line: To complete the décor
Subject(s): Sparrows


TO A SPARROW       
First Line: Your perch is the branch
Last Line: Among the hemlocks %insistently of you
Subject(s): Birds


TO A WOMAN SEEN ONCE       
First Line: No one is lovely %but you alone
Last Line: That mold--I %am through with you


TO A WOOD THRUSH       
First Line: Singing across the orchard
Last Line: Before a cheated world


TO A WOODPECKER       
First Line: December bird in the bare tree
Last Line: Woods hang out the snow as if %it wer gay %curtains


TO ALL GENTLENESS       
First Line: Like a cylindrical tank fresh silvered
Last Line: By the other, alternates, the cosine, the %cylinder and the rose


TO AN ELDER POET    Poem Text    
First Line: To be able
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Old Age; Flowers


TO AN ELDER POET       
First Line: To be able %and not to do it
Last Line: Wait forever %shaken by the rain %forever


TO AN OLD JAUNDICED WOMAN       
First Line: O tongue %licking %the sore on
Last Line: Saffron eyeballs %I can't die %I can't die


TO BE CLOSELY WRITTEN ON A SMALL PIECE OF PAPER    Poem Text    
First Line: Lo the leaves
Last Line: Look at them well . . . !
Subject(s): Leaves


TO BE CLOSELY WRITTEN ON A SMALL PIECE OF PAPER WHICH FOLDED INTO A TIGHT LOZENGE WILL FIT ANY GIRL'    Poem Text    
First Line: Lo the leaves
Subject(s): Leaves; Autumn; Fall


TO BE HUNGRY IS TO BE GREAT       
First Line: The small, yellow grass-onion
Last Line: Of it is they grow everywhere


TO BE RECITED TO FLOSSIE ON HER BIRTHDAY       
First Line: Let him who may %among the continuing lines
Last Line: You will believe me %a rose %to the end of time


TO BE RECITED TO FLOSSIE ON HER BIRTHDAY       
First Line: Let him who may
Last Line: A rose %to the end of time


TO CLOSE       
First Line: Will you please rush down and see
Last Line: I, I, I don't think it's breathin'


TO DAPHNE AND VIRGINIA       
First Line: The smell of the heat is boxwood
Last Line: Or watch a heavy goose %who waddles, slopping %noisily in the mud of %his pool


TO ELSIE    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: The pure products of america
Subject(s): United States; Social Commentaries; America


TO FLOSSIE       
First Line: Who showed me %a bunch of garden roses
Last Line: But aren't they %in wax %paper for the %moment beautiful


TO FORD MADOX FORD IN HEAVEN    Poem Text    
First Line: Is it any better in heaven, my friend ford
Last Line: Part, provence, he loved so well
Subject(s): Ford, Ford Madox (1873-1939)


TO FORD MADOX FORD IN HEAVEN       
First Line: Is it any better in heaven, my friend ford
Last Line: A part of that which you were the known %part, provence, he loved so well
Subject(s): Ford, Ford Madox (1873-1939)


TO FREIGHT CARS IN THE AIR    Poem Text    
First Line: All the slow
Last Line: The silence / to the left
Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains


TO FREIGHT CARS IN THE AIR       
First Line: All the slow
Last Line: In silence %to the left
Subject(s): Railroads


TO FRIEND-TREE OF COUNTED DAYS       
First Line: Brief harp of the larches
Last Line: Counterpoint of the void in which %I believe


TO GREET A LETTER-CARRIER       
First Line: Why'n't you bring me a %good letter?
Last Line: Atta boy! Atta boy!


TO HAVE DONE NOTHING       
First Line: No that is not it
Last Line: Has the power %of confusion %which only to %have done nothing %can make %perfect


TO HIS LADY WITH A QUEER NAME       
First Line: Love, change thy name! Elizabeth
Last Line: How soon wouldst find some other's heart


TO MARK ANTHONY IN HEAVEN    Poem Text    
First Line: This quiet morning light
Last Line: Listening in heaven.
Subject(s): Antony, Marc (83-30 B.c.); Heaven; Marcus Antonius; Anthony, Mark; Paradise


TO MY BETTER SELF       
First Line: Good, honest part of me, I bid thee pray
Last Line: And age stretch out to everlasting peace


TO MY FRIEND EZRA POUND       
First Line: Or he were a jew or a %welshman
Last Line: You show yourself to be inept not to say %usurious


TO REGAIN THE DAY AGAIN       
Last Line: I have need of thy tears and to be unjust


TO SIMPLICITY       
First Line: Thou first born nymph of any woody dell
Last Line: Where art thou hid? Cry, cry again! I come! I come! I come!


TO THE DEAN       
First Line: What should I say of henry miller
Last Line: All be praising you, you are a very good %influence


TO THE GHOST OF MARJORIE KINNAN RAWLINGS       
First Line: To celebrate your brief life
Last Line: Thrown from the saddle %and get your neck broke %as it must have happened and it did in the end


TO THE OUTER WORLD    Poem Text    
First Line: At peace here -- I feel you about me
Last Line: And we will join you all wherever you may be circling.
Subject(s): Hope


TO THE SHADE OF PO CHU-I    Poem Text    
First Line: The work is heavy. I see
Last Line: Save of death the bright dancer?
Subject(s): Po Chu-yi (772-846)


TO THE UNKNOWN LADY       
First Line: So shall thy praise, thou whom I love so well
Last Line: In iron crowns rusted as gleams the untouched gold


TO WAKEN AN OLD LADY    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Old age is
Last Line: Piping of plenty.
Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Old Age; Work; Workers


TO WISH MYSELF COURAGE    Poem Text    
First Line: On the day when youth is no more upon me
Last Line: Long at the birth -- and sing me the youth-song!
Subject(s): Youth; Aging


TOLSTOY       
First Line: That art is evil (stale %art, he might have said)
Last Line: Commit yourself to heaven


TRACT    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: I will teach you my townspeople
Last Line: I think you are ready.
Subject(s): Funerals; Burials


TRAGIC DETAIL       
First Line: The day before I died
Last Line: Insistent upon the loose gown


TRALA TRALA TRALA LA-LE-LA    Poem Text    
First Line: When the time has arrived
Last Line: Trala trala la-le-la
Subject(s): Holidays


TRALA TRALA TRALA LA-LE-LA       
First Line: When the time has arrived
Last Line: To the end of time trala %trala trala la-le-la
Subject(s): Holidays


TRANSITIONAL    Poem Text    
First Line: First he said
Last Line: Am I not I -- here?


TRANSLATION       
First Line: There is no distinction in the encounter, sweet
Last Line: Our mistress whom we serve


TRANSLATIONS FROM THE SPANISH       
First Line: The tired workman
Last Line: You murmur complaints of me


TREE       
First Line: The tree is stiff, the branch
Last Line: The tree will remain, stiffly upright


TREE AND SKY    Poem Text    
First Line: - again / the bare brush of
Subject(s): Trees; Sky


TREE AND SKY       
First Line: Again %the bare brush of %the half-broken
Last Line: Vaporously %the unmoving %blue


TREES    Poem Text    
First Line: Crooked, black tree
Last Line: In your eagerness.
Subject(s): Trees


TREES       
First Line: The trees -- being trees
Last Line: No part of us untouched


TRIBUTE TO NERUDA THE POET COLLECTOR OF SEASHELLS       
First Line: Now that I am all but blind
Last Line: His lines the variable pitch %which modern verse requires


TRIBUTE TO THE PAINTERS       
First Line: Satyrs dance! %all the deformities take wing
Last Line: Shall be quieted, %put to bed %again


TURKEY IN THE STRAW       
First Line: I'll put this in my diary
Last Line: I kissed her while she pissed


TURTLE       
First Line: Not because of his eyes, %the eyes of a bird
Last Line: To unknown places. %he is your friend
Subject(s): Fathers; Men; Prayer


TWELVE LINE POEM       
First Line: Pitiful lovers broken by your loves
Last Line: The reprehensible absurdities of %an inferior attitude


TWO ASPECTS OF APRIL       
First Line: Nothing is more certain than the flower
Last Line: Good luck, 1932! It's your turn now


TWO DELIBERATE EXERCISES: 1. LESSON FROM A PUPIL RECITAL       
First Line: In a fourfold silence the music
Last Line: The hand-shakes of his constituents


TWO DELIBERATE EXERCISES: 2. VOYAGES       
First Line: In the center, above the basin
Last Line: For us or nowhere the tree-lined avenues of our desires


TWO PENDANTS: FOR THE EARS       
First Line: I dreamed of a tiger, wounded
Last Line: He must %be a smart little bird %good-bye!


UNFROCKED PRIEST       
First Line: When a man had gone
Last Line: Respect for the understanding


UNISON       
First Line: The grass is very green, my friend
Last Line: Hear the unison of their voices


UNITED FRONT       
First Line: They have removed a building to make %parking space for the bank
Last Line: And there %a black cat scratches and sits down


UNITED STATES       
First Line: The government of your body, sweet
Last Line: I yield my willing services


UNKNOWN       
First Line: Do you exist %my pretty bird
Last Line: Or do I merely %think you %perfect %in mid-air


USURERS OF HEAVEN       
First Line: Wanting to save their fortunes for
Last Line: Rest, rest! And be comforted


VENUS OVER THE DESERT       
First Line: If I do not sin, she said, you shall not %walk in the long gowns down stone
Last Line: Poor monks, you think you are gentle but I tell you %you kill as sure as shot kills a bird flying


VIEW       
First Line: The moon %ovoid %in the black press
Last Line: Above %the ringed city


VIEW BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY ON A COMMERCIAL CALENDAR       
First Line: The church of vico-morcote %in the canton ticino
Last Line: Something %has come to an end here, %it has been accomplished


VIEW OF A LAKE       
First Line: From a %highway below a face %of rock
Last Line: The three %with straight backs %ignore %the stalled traffic %all eyes %toward the water


VIRTUE    Poem Text    
First Line: Now? Why -- / whirlpools of / orange and purple flame
Last Line: Gold watch chains. Come!
Subject(s): Conduct Of Life


VIRTUOUS AGENT       
First Line: That which gives me to see
Last Line: The law may bury me in quicklime


VISION OF LABOR: 1931       
First Line: In my head the juxtapositions
Last Line: Flung their boots over their shoulders and went home


VISIT       
First Line: I have committed many errors
Last Line: You were kind to be at such %pains with me and--thanks %for the view


WAITING    Poem Text    
First Line: When I am alone I am happy
Last Line: As it has happened now?


WAR, THE DESTROYER    Poem Text    
First Line: What is war, / the destroyer / but an appurtenance
Last Line: Beside the face
Subject(s): War; Dancing & Dancers


WAR, THE DESTROYER       
First Line: What is war, %the destroyer %but an appurtenance
Last Line: Displayed flagrantly %in its place %beside the face
Subject(s): Troy


WEASEL SNOUT    Poem Text    
First Line: Staring / she kindles
Subject(s): Weasels


WEASEL SNOUT       
First Line: Staring she %kindles %the street windows
Last Line: Through glass walls %to inimate %dead things


WELL DISCIPLINED BARGEMAN       
First Line: The shadow does not move. It is the water moves
Last Line: Avidly into the gale. Only the bargeman raking %upon his barge remains, like the shadow, sleeping


WHEN FRESH, IT WAS SWEET       
First Line: Balieff's actors from the bat
Last Line: Katinka rebegins to dance-- %finis


WHEN STRUCTURE FAILS RHYME ATTEMPTS TO COME TO THE RESCUE    Poem Text    
First Line: The old horse dies slow
Last Line: Refuge of his dreams
Subject(s): Horses; Death


WHEN STRUCTURE FAILS RHYME ATTEMPTS TO COME TO THE RESCUE       
First Line: The old horse dies slow
Last Line: By far all pace and every %refuge of his dreams


WIDE AWAKE, FULL OF LOVE       
First Line: Being in this stage
Last Line: Will not startle for %the grinning worm


WILD ORCHARD       
First Line: It is a broken country
Last Line: Has turned %from his repose


WILDFLOWER       
First Line: Black eyed susan %rich orange
Last Line: Arab %indian %dark woman


WILLOW POEM    Poem Text    
First Line: It is a willow when summer is over
Last Line: Into the water and on the ground.
Subject(s): Willow Trees


WIND INCREASES       
First Line: The harried %earth is swept
Last Line: A way %to the last leaftip


WIND OF THE VILLAGE       
First Line: Seated above the dead
Last Line: And death is one swallow only


WINDS       
First Line: Flowing edge to edge
Last Line: The mind and husbands from wives


WINTER       
First Line: Now the snow %lies on the ground %and more snow
Last Line: This is winter %winter, winter %leather-green leaves %spearshaped %in the falling snow


WINTER QUIET    Poem Text    
First Line: Limb to limb, mouth to mouth
Last Line: The ecstasy.
Subject(s): Fields; Winter


WINTER SUNSET    Poem Text    
First Line: Then I raised my head
Last Line: They'd set there.
Subject(s): Evening; Winter


WINTER TREES    Poem Text    
First Line: All the complicated details
Last Line: Stand sleeping in the cold.
Subject(s): Trees


WISTFULNESS IN IDLENESS       
First Line: Oh, for a song!
Last Line: The boon of a song!


WOMAN IN FRONT OF A BANK       
First Line: The bank is a matter of columns
Last Line: Arranged hair profusely blond) or %darwin's and there you %have it: %a woman in front of a bank


WOMAN WALKING    Poem Text    
First Line: An oblique cloud of purple smoke
Last Line: I might well see you oftener.
Subject(s): Country Life; Women; Desire


WOODPECKER       
First Line: Innocence! Innocence is the condition of heaven
Last Line: Flight, means only desire and desire the end of flight, %stabbing there with a barbed tongue which s
Subject(s): Birds; Woodpeckers


WOODTHRUSH       
First Line: Fortunate man it is not too late
Last Line: His dapple breast reflecting %tragic winter %thoughts my love my own


WORDS LYING IDLE       
First Line: The fields parched, the leaves
Last Line: This dryness and the death implied


WORDS, THE WORDS, THE WORDS       
First Line: The perfume of the iris, sweet citron
Last Line: Rise and shake your skirts %to the buttercups, yellow as polished %gold


WORLD CONTRACTED TO A RECOGNIZABLE IMAGE       
First Line: At the small end of an illness
Last Line: The wall lived for me in that picture %I clung to it as a fly


WORLD NARROWED TO A POINT       
First Line: Liquor and love %when the mind is dull
Last Line: Liquor and love %rescue the clousy sense %banish its despair%give it a home


WRESTED FROM MIRRORS       
First Line: In falling the dream was broken
Last Line: Lifts the ensanguined heads of the black bulls


WRITER'S PROLOGUE TO A PLAY IN VERSE       
First Line: In your minds you jump from doors
Last Line: You shall laugh to see yourselves %all naked, on the stage


WRONG DOOR       
First Line: Gi' me a reefer, lawd
Last Line: Of where I is by a new door


YACHTS       
First Line: Contend in a sea which the land partly encloses
Last Line: Their cries rising %in waves still as the skillful yachts pass over
Subject(s): Sailors And Sailing; Sea; Yachts And Yachting


YELLOW CHIMNEY       
First Line: There is a plume %of fleshpale %smoke upon the blue
Last Line: Of the sun not of %the pale sun but %his born brother %the %declining season


YELLOW FLOWER       
First Line: What shall I say, because talk I must?
Last Line: And acclimate %and choose it for my own


YELLOW SEASON       
First Line: The black, long-tailed, %one then, unexpectedly, another
Last Line: Beyond the crackle %of death's tinking certainty


YELLOW TREE PEONY       
First Line: The girl whose arms are leaves
Last Line: Who will protect us %from her dominion


YOU HAVE PISSED YOUR LIFE       
First Line: Any way you walk
Last Line: You have pissed your life


YOUNG CAT AND THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS       
First Line: You mince, you start
Last Line: I wish you had not come here


YOUNG LOVE (FIRST VERSION)       
First Line: What about all this writing
Last Line: Patching up sick school children


YOUNG SYCAMORE    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: I must tell you
Subject(s): Plane Trees; Sycamores


YOUNG SYCAMORE       
First Line: I must tell you
Last Line: But two %eccentric knotted %twigs %bending forward %hornlike at the top
Subject(s): Plane Trees


YOUNG WOMAN AT A WINDOW    Poem Text    
First Line: She sits with / tears on
Last Line: To the glasss
Subject(s): United States; America


YOUNG WOMAN AT A WINDOW       
First Line: She sits with %tears on
Last Line: Pressed %to the glass
Subject(s): United States


YOUNG WOMAN AT A WINDOW       
First Line: While she sits %there
Last Line: But rubs his %nose


YOUTH AND BEAUTY    Poem Text    
First Line: I bought a dishmop -- / having no daughter
Last Line: To her father.