Poetry Explorer

Search Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Search Results

Back to search

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Searching...
Author: di prima, diane
Matches Found: 428


Di Prima, Diane    Poet's Biography
428 poems available by this author


& FROM WHEREVER THOU WILLST THOU GATHEREST ME       
First Line: Steel, from the belly of aries
Last Line: Because I gnaw at the boundaries of the light


& IN ALL THINGS AM I DISPERSED       
First Line: Gold fleece on the hunted deer
Last Line: Like a shaky boat, it is %the winking eye of god


(DREAM OF EMILY DICKINSON AS IMMATERIAL SURF BREAKING)       
Last Line: & all in the mind


1 MRN 38.30       
First Line: Some nights %I hear without straining
Last Line: Inside my head, or out there?


4 TAKES, SAME HAIKU       
First Line: First storm of autumn
Last Line: Autumn storms begin


ABYSS       
First Line: It really irks me to think I'm afraid of heights
Last Line: Her skirt tucked into her belt


ALL NIGHT LONG WE       
Last Line: All night long, yr %steady %jelly roll


AMERICAN INDIAN ART: FORM AND TRADITION    Poem Text    
First Line: Were we not fine
Last Line: Bright glance, where is our song now / our sorrow
Subject(s): Native Americans; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


AMERICAN INDIAN ART: FORM AND TRADITION       
First Line: Were we not fine
Last Line: Bright glance, where is our song now %our sorrow?
Subject(s): Native Americans


AN EXERCISE IN LOVE    Poem Text    
First Line: My friend wears my scarf at his waist
Subject(s): Love


AND LOBA IS LOVHA, OR LOUVA       
Last Line: That we attend on %the passage


AND SHE TO TRISTAN       
First Line: O it is not woods
Last Line: I leave in a spray of stars


AND THIS IS A CLEARING IN WHICH GLIDE - SPIRIT WOLVES       
Last Line: Spirit in extension %interface


AND VERCHIEL       
First Line: His name is almost on my lips
Last Line: Are found rarely in the %western tradition


AND WHEN WE HAVE WON CLEAR       
Last Line: Return the dance to the pulses of the hunt


AND WHERE THOU ART, I AM       
First Line: Astride the wind. Or held
Last Line: What laughter spins you %around in the windy street?


AND WILL YOU HUNT THE LOBA ?       
Last Line: Noli me tangere in jewels %across the sky


ANNUNCIATION       
First Line: The tall man, towering
Last Line: Began to spin the scarlet thread %for the temple


ANOTHER REVOLUTIONARY LETTER, 1988       
First Line: Where is gestapo, where
Last Line: But hungry %(eyes %blaze %over ancient guns


ANTLERED / I FLEE HIM       
Last Line: The hounds of anger


ANY DAY NOW       
First Line: How do you love is the question, and who
Last Line: Love or not love & do you


APPARUIT'       
First Line: There is some sweet woman
Last Line: Stream toward %o shadow sister!


APRIL FOOL BIRTHDAY POEM FOR GRANDPA    Poem Text    
First Line: Today is your / birthday and I have tried
Subject(s): Birthdays; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


APRIL FOOL BIRTHDAY POEM FOR GRANDPA       
First Line: Today is your %birthday and I have tried
Last Line: And not be ashamed
Subject(s): Birthdays; Ethnic Groups - United States; Grandparents; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


APRIL FOOL POEM FOR GRANDPA    Poem Text    
First Line: Today is yout
Subject(s): Birthdays; Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers


ARIADNE AS STARMAKER       
First Line: She draws me w/ a thread across the beams
Last Line: Is she also %there


ARMS - (BRANCHES / OF THE TREE       
Last Line: We read as guilt %(looking up


ARS METALLURGICA       
First Line: Beneath the skin of metals a total love is growing
Last Line: Each from the stream %in which it hath its beginning


AULA LUCIS       
First Line: How shall I win you to me? Shall I toy
Last Line: The same shall receive %all her treasures


AUTOUR DE       
First Line: Do you understand
Last Line: No light but her own


AVE, FR. LOBA    Poem Text    
First Line: O lost moon sisters
Subject(s): Women


AVE, FR. LOBA       
First Line: O lost moon sisters
Last Line: Om star mother ma om %maya ma ah
Subject(s): Women


BABYLONIA       
First Line: The star rises over the stone gates
Last Line: Into the river. %he sank like a stone


BACKYARD       
First Line: Where angls turned into honeysuckle & poured nectar into my mouth
Last Line: On black st. Stephen's steeple


BANQUET       
First Line: Your face is craggy as the marin county hills
Last Line: Gleams on the pillow between us


BEACH       
First Line: Where I ship out from, the tides
Last Line: & my choice, my monster lobster walked back %home


BEARS SEE ONLY       
Last Line: This is important


BECAUSE YOU LOVE THE BURNING GROUNDS       
Last Line: I await you with closed eyes


BEFORE COMPLETION       
First Line: Like wind, dispersing, like some huge
Last Line: Erode, the desert %spreads to the sea


BEING IN LOVE WITH DARKNESS       
First Line: It shows %us off
Last Line: Encasing starlight for a million years


BELI - ISHTAR - THE WHITE LADY - MOTHER OF ALL LIVING - CERRIDWEN       
Last Line: Neith - mother - hubur - ninmah - ninul - nisaba - canyonlady


BELTAIN NOTE       
First Line: This road to blackest memory'
Last Line: Leads thru %the double helix


BIOLOGY LESSON       
First Line: It's sinister how everything comes alive
Last Line: They were dead wrong about no spontaneous %generation


BLACKOUT       
First Line: Machinery has no part in it, what comes apart
Last Line: Your laugh. Your hands at the window, wanting in


BODY ITSELF IS THE VECTOR       
Last Line: It carries %another order


BRIEF WYOMING MEDITATION    Poem Text    
First Line: I read / sand creek massacre: white antelope's scrotum
Last Line: & the mountains
Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970; Meditation


BRIEF WYOMING MEDITATION       
First Line: I read %sand creek massacre: white antelope's scrotum
Last Line: Nothing lasts long %nothing %but earth %& the mountains
Subject(s): Kent State University - Riot, 1970; Meditation


BUDDHIST NEW YEAR    Poem Text    
First Line: I saw you in green velvet, wide full sleeves
Subject(s): Buddhism; Buddha; Buddhists


BUDDHIST NEW YEAR SONG       
First Line: I saw you in green velvet, wide full sleeves
Last Line: A madness, or a beginning?


BULL / BELONGS TO THE MOON       
Last Line: His blood. The sun %fills him up


BUS RIDE       
First Line: I thought at first it was from the shore of sicily you had taken me
Last Line: Greeting the winter sun at the edge of the world


BUT IN GATHERING ME THOU GATHEREST THYSELF       
First Line: Daystar that hovers
Last Line: The shafts of dawn like agony %down the night


BUT IN THE LONGHOUSE       
Last Line: Moved like an arc %across the gap %(ravine


BUT WE CANT       
Last Line: Not fresh rose


CAN YOU, FRIEND, SAY YOU NEVER LEANED       
Last Line: A tattered army blanket over %her swollen face


CANTICLE OF ST. JOAN       
First Line: It is in god's hands. How can I decide
Last Line: O little children's bones! The sword & cup %are shivered into stars


CAUSE & EFFECT       
First Line: Madyamika %yogacarin %our eyes are red
Last Line: I tremble %awaiting a new name


CHANCE ARRANGEMENT OF CONSTELLATION       
Last Line: Maze %at the temple %gate


CHILDHOOD OF THE LOBA       
First Line: Not that he was not strong, but his gentleness
Last Line: Wove dreams around eight suns


CHRONOLOGY    Poem Text    
First Line: I loved youj in october


CHRONOLOGY       
First Line: I loved you in october
Last Line: Carries your new songs in snatches thru the windows %of our sad, high, pretty rooms


CLEARING IN AUTUMN       
First Line: Hot sun & cold wind. Bank of fog sits
Last Line: Inaudible cries as I spin toward %the sun


CONVERSATIONS: AND FACE THE DAY       
First Line: I was watching a mobile. It was a calder-circles and discs inside each
Last Line: Don't worry. It's not important


CONVERSATIONS: DEAD OF WINTER       
First Line: How are things ben said. He brushed the snow off his sweater and sat
Last Line: Like man you can always stay here. I hoped to god he wouldn't


CONVERSATIONS: NEW YORK IS A SUMMER FESTIVAL       
First Line: The rats were all right I said it was the rooster
Last Line: Shit I said shit. Oh shit. %I locked the door


CONVERSATIONS: NO SAVIORS FOR THIS RACE       
First Line: For christ sake not the war again I thought
Last Line: Not this time I said


CONVERSATIONS: SOME FOOL THING       
First Line: Anyway I said you can always be a painter
Last Line: Don't go and do some fool thing I said. I was very tired


CONVERSATIONS: THE ART CLASS       
First Line: You have such a lyrical face said irma. She poked her canvas
Last Line: Darling doesn't mean it's art


CONVERSATIONS: THE CONFERENCE       
First Line: Well I said that's the layout. Now what?
Last Line: No I said. I got up and took the book. We're not helpless I told him


CONVERSATIONS: THE END OF WINTER       
First Line: Don came into the room and I woke up
Last Line: Yeah I said as bad as that


CONVERSATIONS: THE FRENCHMAN       
First Line: Leon said come here will you. He was using his accent
Last Line: Yes he said I am uncool. He was proud of it


CONVERSATIONS: THE LOVERS       
First Line: It would be nice she said to have a whole night sometime. She tied her
Last Line: Then she grinned. %you'll go she told him


CONVERSATIONS: THE POET       
First Line: You gotta love he said. The world is full of children of sorrow and I am
Last Line: I know I said. And you weep


CONVERSATIONS: THE QUARREL       
First Line: You know I said to mark that I'm furious at you
Last Line: Hey hon mark yelled at me from the living room. It says here picasso pro-%duces fourteen hours a day
Variant Title(s): The Quarre


CONVERSATIONS: THE START OF WINTER       
First Line: Brad said ok let's do it
Last Line: Maybe we better do it before april I told brad. Just in case you make the %company


CONVERSATIONS: THE VISITOR       
First Line: Well he said so you're lee. He stood in the doorway
Last Line: I really would like to read it I said to him. %yeah he said


CONVERSATIONS: WHILE THEY LAST       
First Line: Let me sit on the inside I said
Last Line: Write those before or after he cut off his ear?


CORONATION       
First Line: I have unfolded from this flowering crystal
Last Line: Broomless, unarmed, unready %I will fly


COSCIA'S: NOVEMBER 1963       
First Line: I expect a certain amount of
Last Line: What more tiara now, for you or I?


COUGAR NIGHT REPORT       
First Line: O he flashes purple
Last Line: By a thread %in the threatening %light


CREVASSE       
First Line: Every ravine a %glimpse
Last Line: Farther %from %the sea


CRITIC REVIEWS LOBA       
First Line: Where is the history in this, %how
Last Line: Thru this quivering %flesh seepod / %cosmos


CRYSTAL PYRAMID W/ DIAMOND HEART       
Last Line: Shoe of the goddess


DAWN SEQUENCE       
First Line: Birds %& alarm clocks %chirp
Last Line: Her real beauty begins to shine thru


DAY LAY LIKE A PEARL ON HER LAP       
Last Line: Broke on, as on the waves


DEATH & THE LOBA       
First Line: Now you are near
Last Line: My blind head %under my arm


DEATH SUNYATA CHANT: A RITE FOR PASSING OVER    Poem Text    
First Line: If there is a pure land
Subject(s): Buddhism; Buddha; Buddhists


DEATH SUNYATA CHANT: A RITE FOR PASSING OVER       
First Line: If there is a pure land
Last Line: That all is well
Subject(s): Buddhism


DEE'S SONG       
First Line: Velvet lady, lay on velvet pillows
Last Line: My sister in a cage, sleep tight


DEER LEAP       
First Line: High hart at deer leap, park
Last Line: Shivers & bursts like diamonds %in the heart


DELICIOUS THE FLESH SHE OFFERS, LIKE SUCCULENT       
Last Line: Beyond the stars


DIAMOND, QUARTZ, AGATE, IT IS LABYRINTH       
Last Line: Dark o'the moon


DOCTRINE OF SIGNATURES       
First Line: There are knowable numbers too
Last Line: Who yearns to be himself %& frighten no one


DREAM POEM       
First Line: There is a fire above the ramparts of the world
Last Line: A fire burns behind the skin of the world


DREAM: THE LOBA REVEALS HERSELF       
First Line: She came %to hunt me down; carried down-ladder trussed
Last Line: Leave the children with. %mother & sister. %myself


ENDURANCE. WHAT REMAINS       
Last Line: The serpent, brazen, rearing


EROS/ANIMUS       
First Line: Black body glistening, he stands
Last Line: In %or out %of his body


EVEN W/ JEWELS ON HER EYES SHE CD NOT DREAM       
Last Line: She leaned into the sound


EXERCISE IN LOVE       
First Line: My friend wears my scarf at his waist
Last Line: I awake in the smell of his hair & cannot remember %his name, or my own


FIRE GUARDIAN       
First Line: Let yrself be seen as shadow
Last Line: Soul-stuff (we call it %joy


FIRST SNOW, KERHONKSON    Poem Text    
First Line: This, then, is the gift the world has given me
Subject(s): Snow


FIRST SNOW, KERHONKSON       
First Line: This, then, is the gift the world has given me
Last Line: White silence filling the contours of my life


FLIGHT INTO EGYPT       
First Line: Stone force. Stone heart, I move
Last Line: Keep off the sun


FOR BELLA AKHMADULINA       
First Line: A life for a life, a young black
Last Line: I know it won't be worse


FOR BILL VITT    Poem Text    
First Line: Brother, I rest on your arm
Last Line: & I need no dream
Subject(s): Brothers; Love; Togetherness; Half-brothers


FOR BILL VITT       
First Line: Brother, I rest on your arm
Last Line: & I need no dream
Subject(s): Brothers; Love; Togetherness


FOR BLAKE       
First Line: By now it is too late to wonder
Last Line: All our eyes remembering love


FOR CAMERON       
First Line: How was woman broken
Last Line: Or yr slack breast under my hand


FOR H.D.       
First Line: Trophies of pain I've gathered. Whose sorrow
Last Line: Song for salt


FOR PIGPEN       
First Line: Velvet at the edge of the tongue
Last Line: Spill velvet damage on the edge %of history


FOR THE DEAD LECTURER       
First Line: The dead can sing
Last Line: I'll kill you yet %so your song can fill my life


FOR ZELLA, PAINTING       
First Line: What are you
Last Line: And from your hands the cadmiums run, shouting


FOUR POETS SPEAK OF HER       
First Line: She was, herself, the dweller in the shrine
Last Line: In the cold light of dawn. A chinese scroll: %four poets / %nodding out


FRAGMENTED ADDRESS TO THE FBI    Poem Text    
First Line: O do you in fedora or trenchcoat bear record
Last Line: Rise singing above the trees
Subject(s): Federal Bureau Of Investigation; Fbi


FRAGMENTED ADDRESS TO THE FBI       
First Line: O do you in fedora or trenchcoat bear record
Last Line: Rise singing above the trees
Subject(s): Federal Bureau Of Investigation


FROM THE WISHED UNIVERSE       
Last Line: We scale %like bandit children


GIRL HAD BROUGHT THE WEATHER WITH HER       
First Line: It clung like smoke around her torso
Last Line: Brushed against it, going down


GOOD CLEAN FUN       
First Line: It's terrorism, isn't it, when you're afraid to answer the
Last Line: Mere diversionary tactics before the onslaught


GOODBYE NKRUMAH       
First Line: And yet, where would we be without the american culture
Last Line: And it is their calm that will finish us, it is the calm %ofthe earth itself


GUARDAVIAZ!       
First Line: If you stood again framed, by window
Last Line: Might have sharpened our senses


GUINEVERE       
First Line: Do you understand, beloved? It was
Last Line: For the sweeter than shame %is the fire


GWALCHMAI       
First Line: Whenver I am alone I find a fountain
Last Line: The woman dressed in red


HANDFUL OF STARCHIPS THROWN       
Last Line: It does not stop her, either


HEADLANDS: THE MUSIC       
First Line: What remains are the poppies
Last Line: Of colors. %a language of light


HELEN ON THE WALL       
Last Line: This is helen's tale


HER DREAM       
First Line: You are walking the streets of omaha
Last Line: Coming to terms w/ impermanence %is on your lips


HER POWER IS TO OPEN WHAT IS SHUT, SHUT WHAT IS OPEN    Poem Text    
First Line: Her power is to fall like razors
Last Line: Curled on the greenwood fires
Subject(s): Women


HERMETIC ASTRONOMY       
First Line: Sow yr gold %in the white
Last Line: We claim the sun


HINAYANA       
First Line: We are having spring %he said at summer solstice
Last Line: Stalks a secret %in the tall spring grass


HORNED LADY       
Last Line: Flanked by owls


HOW DO THE GODS MANIFEST, WHERE DO THEY       
Last Line: White pelt under the flowing waters


HOW HE DREW HER DOWN TO PLEASURE! SHE LEFT       
Last Line: Fell like water on him


HUNTRESS. SHE IN RED SARI       
Last Line: Cannot raise the horse from the ground


HYMN: THE OTHER FACE       
First Line: Lucus %lycos %grove of light
Last Line: On planes of light: %forest floor


I AM A SHADOW CROSSING ICE       
Last Line: I stare out of broken cupboards


I AM THOU & THOU ART I       
First Line: Where tossing in grey sheets you weep
Last Line: Struggling eternally against %these swaddling clothes


I CHING    Poem Text    
First Line: Mountain & lake
Last Line: That they lean against
Subject(s): Jazz; Music & Musicians; Taylor, Cecil (b. 1929)


I CHING       
First Line: Mountain & lake
Last Line: But the white care stays the same %that they lean against
Subject(s): Jazz; Music And Musicians; Taylor, Cecil (b. 1929)


I DRAW A CIRCLE ABOUT ME       
Last Line: I throw dirt in your eyes


I FAIL AS A DHARMA TEACHER    Poem Text    
First Line: I don't imagine I'll manage to express sunyata
Last Line: Swimming in and through us like transparent fish
Subject(s): Buddhism; Buddha; Buddhists


I FAIL AS A DHARMA TEACHER       
First Line: I don't imagine I'll manage to express sunyata
Last Line: Swimming in and through us like transparent fish
Subject(s): Buddhism


I GET MY PERIOD, SEPTEMBER 1964       
First Line: How can I forgive you this blood?
Last Line: Which meant to be something else


I TRY TO MAKE AN IMAGE OF ILLUSION       
Last Line: What artist could make an image %w/ such eyes


I WAS DRAWN TO THIS WORLD       
Last Line: Rock me to sleep in your arms


I'M BITING AT YR LEASH, I'M PLOTTING       
Last Line: With me, to somewhere else


IMAGO MUNDI       
First Line: Who stands in the sun
Last Line: Fly by - on the fiery winds


IN MEMORY OF MY FIRST CHAPATIS       
First Line: If we had dope for an excuse, or love
Last Line: Bursting the air with perennial desperations


IN WHOSE DREAM       
Last Line: To go like her on all fours


INANNA: THE EPIPHANY       
First Line: Before the first days, when no one numbered the moons
Last Line: She came to the sea


INFLUENCE (WOOING)       
First Line: I am no
Last Line: Alone, my tears drop %thinking of winter


INTERLOPER       
First Line: Brazen %head %(of brass
Last Line: Swathe, sister. %stand clear


IS HE IN BONDAGE? DOES HE BOW       
Last Line: Crouches for him, raises %her haunch


IS IT / FROZEN FLESH OR POLISHED BONE?       
Last Line: Carved out %& %polished to ivory


IS IT SHE IN FLAME AT HEART       
Last Line: What is unfolding from %these preposterous stars


ISEULT ON THE SHIP       
First Line: Is there other time
Last Line: Rocks, more than the ocean


ISHTAR       
First Line: Deliberate as the shell of a body you offer
Subject(s): Ishtar (babylonian Goddess); Women


ISHTAR       
First Line: Deliberate as the shell of a body you offer
Last Line: To wrap them round
Subject(s): Ishtar (babylonian Goddess); Women


IT IS STILL NEWS TO HER THAT PASSION       
Last Line: Come out all right


JOHN DEE       
First Line: Thru the transparency of water is the explication of light
Last Line: Like frost on the glass our tears %make of the heavens


JULIANA       
First Line: And now, friend, I do not know
Last Line: Rocked on the threshold


JUNGLE       
First Line: Time & time again the laughter after the footsteps
Last Line: That the block of ice which binds us %binds us both


KALI'S GREATNESS IS INCREASED BY THE ONE WITH MATTED HAIR       
Last Line: He lies at her feet


KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EPIPHANY & THEOPHANY       
Last Line: All 'honor' %is derivative


LADY IS FRESH AS JASMINE       
Last Line: Who worships the sky-clad mother %is dear to all gods


LAMENT       
First Line: The great emperor death has called my son %to his service
Last Line: & strolled into the twilight %with flowers on her hat


LETTER TO JEANNE (AT TASSAJARA)       
First Line: Dry heat of the tassajara canyon
Last Line: Like fire light up your beauty years %on these new, jagged hills


LETTER TO JEANNE (FROM TASJARA)    Poem Text    
First Line: Dry heat of the tasajara canyon
Last Line: On these new, jagged hills
Subject(s): Youth


LETTER TO SHEPPARD       
First Line: From the dining tent %shouts & laughter
Last Line: As if for the first time


LIGHT MADE MY BODY TO LIVE       
Last Line: Speech of the dream


LIGHT POEM       
First Line: Light on dry hayfields, the cedar
Last Line: Light crackling around %the body. %field


LILITH OF THE STARS       
First Line: For there is another lilith, not made for earth
Last Line: White fox that leaps over tombstones


LIMANTOUR BEACH--1       
First Line: Dark o' the moon, but
Last Line: & the sea's %pouring gold on the land


LIMANTOUR BEACH--2       
First Line: Surf riding in/spray torn off
Last Line: Kids building towers in the rising tide


LITANY       
First Line: I have been a black cat in a silver chair
Last Line: I shall rise, like the full moon, from that cemetery


LOBA ADDRESSES THE GODDESS / OR THE POET AS PRIESTESS...       
First Line: Is it not in yr service that I wear myself out
Last Line: Our skins ache of emergence / dark o' the moon
Variant Title(s): The Loba Addresses The Goddess/ Or The Poet As Priestess Addresses..


LOBA AS EVE       
First Line: I am thou & thou art I
Last Line: Thou gatherest thyself %--gospel of eve


LOBA AS KORE IN THE LABYRINTH OF HER BEAUTY       
First Line: This is a journey to egypt


LOBA COMPARES THE EARTHLY & HEAVENLY MOTHERS       
First Line: A corpse too gave me birth it was
Last Line: Ascend to the net of stars


LOBA CONTINUES TO SING       
First Line: I will make you flesh again
Last Line: Sad beast eyes %share this sorrow


LOBA DANCES       
First Line: She raises %in flames
Last Line: Her breath %itself %is carnage


LOBA IN BROOKLYN       
First Line: Her snout %pokes thru wrought iron
Last Line: We call it %sophic fire


LOBA IN CHILDBED       
First Line: She lay in bed, screaming, the boat


LOBA IN FLANDERS       
First Line: I am in the light &
Last Line: To my swollen stomach


LOBA LONGS FOR REMEMBRANCE IN THE BARDO       
First Line: Shall we say that the streets were littered
Last Line: Who will recall it, later


LOBA OLD       
First Line: With what suffering do I finally recall
Last Line: Sit still, till I die of thirst


LOBA PREPARES AN AMULET FOR HER DAUGHTER       
First Line: It was not fate she feared
Last Line: To hem her round


LOBA PRIESTESS AS BAG LADY UTTERS RAGGED WARNINGS       
First Line: Don't %cheapen aphrodite, don't sell
Last Line: They are not %your toys


LOBA RECOVERS THE MEMORY OF A MARE       
First Line: Small hooves %the ankles fragile
Last Line: Unrooted, she walks %into the wind


LOBA SINGS TO HER CUB       
First Line: O my mole, sudden & perfect


LOBA, IN MAY       
First Line: And yet, she knows, no one has loved her enough nor can
Last Line: Her supple, 16-yr-old limbs %brushes %her thick hair


LOBA, TO APOLLO, AT THE FOUNTAIN OF HEALING       
First Line: Now dervish I slough off
Last Line: To be born %in uniqueness


LOBA: 1    Poem Text    
First Line: If her did not come apart in her hands, he fell
Last Line: W/ her wolf's eyes out of your head?
Subject(s): Women


LOBA: 1       
First Line: If her did not come apart in her hands, he fell
Last Line: W/her wolf's eyes out of your head?
Subject(s): Women


LOBA: THE WINDS OF CHANGE       
First Line: Bear - birrow - barrow - burrin
Last Line: Burnished, %it burns


LORD JIM       
First Line: Forcing it thru yr teeth like the red syrup
Last Line: The green & flickering sea that comes to meet us


LOVE SONG OF THE LOBA       
First Line: O my lord, blue beast
Last Line: O lost lord %of the failing hills


MADNESS OF THE LOBA       
First Line: Is it the molten core of the earth
Last Line: For breath it is necklace, seemly %ornament, agony %of size


MAGICK IN THEORY & PRACTICE       
First Line: To all you with gaunt cheeks who sit
Last Line: Called past as I move backwards over %its black velvet floor


MAKE ME MAD, O MOTHER!       
Last Line: Make me rich, beloved, in the madness of your joy


MARRIAGE AT CANA       
First Line: Window %it is %window - on pain
Last Line: In that %moon's shadow


MASK IS THE PATH OF THE STAR       
First Line: Stubs of horns %snout
Last Line: We read %as hologram %'eternal city


MEDUSA GAZEBO       
First Line: Blue babies birthing
Last Line: To eat no more


MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD: 1       
First Line: So I said to him hey mister what're you doing with that h bomb how
Last Line: So I went home


MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD: 2       
First Line: So my mother was in the kitchen and I ran in and I said to her hey ma
Last Line: Nothing out there but the tree


MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD: 3       
First Line: So I waited till my father came home and by then it was dark. And I said
Last Line: There's no man out there


MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD: 4       
First Line: So we had supper and after supper I went to my grandfather's room to
Last Line: And he said I believe in god sonny and god will never let it happen now %go play


MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD: 5       
First Line: So I went out to play and I got dick and he said to me hey you know
Last Line: Thinking he might drop it in his sleep especially if he had bad dreams


MEMORY OF FAR THINGS       
Last Line: Of graveyard, & swamp


MIDSUMMER       
First Line: Apex %of light, %confusion of greens
Last Line: Whom does the grail serve?


MINNESOTA MORNING ODE       
First Line: The city of the sun is coming! I hear it! I smell it!
Last Line: The strong, bright light of flesh which is the link %the laughter, which transmutes


MINOR ARCANA       
First Line: Body %whose flesh
Last Line: Now tell the tale


MONTEZUMA    Poem Text    
First Line: To give it away, give it up, before they take it from us
Last Line: And yet no city is ever built again
Subject(s): Montezuma Ii (1466-1520)


MONTEZUMA       
First Line: To give it away, give it up, before they take it from us
Last Line: And yet no city is ever built again
Subject(s): Montezuma Ii (1466-1520)


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEM: YOU ARE NOT QUITE       
Last Line: Thank god %so go


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS       
First Line: They all say
Last Line: So distance holds, so love is safe


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: BUT BABE       
Last Line: The week %in town %with


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: DAMN YOU       
Last Line: Which makes it hard %on rocks


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: HERE WITH THE LAKE FOR COMFORT       
Last Line: This here's no place to think of beer. %all green


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: I DON'T FORGET THINGS       
Last Line: Like that's uncool


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: I HOPE       
Last Line: Can pick up on %this dawn


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: IN CASE YOU PUT ME DOWN       
Last Line: In case you put me down it won't help much


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: IN YOUR ARMS BABY       
Last Line: To turn on %the phonograph


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: NO APETURE OF YOUR BODY       
Last Line: In the hollow of your neck %a tongue %goes gently


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: NO BABE       
Last Line: Would be something wild


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: NOTICE TO ALL       
Last Line: Claim %in the rocky mountains


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: SO BABE       
Last Line: Just cause %the house burned down?


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: THE WORD YOU WHISPERED       
Last Line: Your face %went nearly %out


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: THEY ALL SAY       
Last Line: Gets in my eyes


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: YOU ARE MY BREAD       
Last Line: And shine %unspent and underground


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: YOUR TONGUE       
Last Line: Like jailbreaks %in my head


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: LULLABY       
First Line: Sleep lad %lie easy %now don't you moan
Last Line: It happened %accidental


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: POEMS FOR BRET       
First Line: I've caught you at it %mister %with your
Last Line: To know we're both %uncool


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: REQUIEM       
First Line: I think %you'll find %a coffin
Last Line: I think %your lips %won't like it %by themselves


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: SHORT NOTE ON THE SPARSENESS OF THE LANGUAGE       
First Line: Wow man I said %when you tipped my chin and fed
Last Line: And my two books and cut and that was that


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: SONG AT 24       
First Line: Time %has eaten my innocence like a pistachio nut
Last Line: And holes in my shoes?


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: SONGS FOR BABIO, UNBORN       
First Line: Body %whose flesh %has crossed my will?
Last Line: Enough to love %to break your heart %forever


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: SONGS TO SPRING       
First Line: Spring %you're nice
Last Line: Till dawn %and then %dancing the day


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MONOS       
First Line: Monos %they say %went mad
Last Line: They say %he never %wept


MORE OR LESS LOVE POEMS: THREE LAMENTS       
First Line: Alas %I believe %I might have become
Last Line: I chew my pride %like cud


MY LADY, WE ARE BEING HUNTED       
First Line: Possibility we are poisoned, possibility
Last Line: Possibility that we shd cut & run


MY LOVER'S EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN       
First Line: These eyes are amber, they
Last Line: Like spiderman, at windows %not our own
Variant Title(s): My Lover's Eyes Are Nothing Like The Su


MY MOTHER IS MAD, MY FATHER IS MAD, THEIR TWO DISCIPLES - MAD       
Last Line: And who but she would wear a necklace of heads


NARROW PATH INTO THE BACK COUNTRY       
First Line: You are flying to dahomey, going back
Last Line: Fine-wrought enough for our joy. %for all our joy


NATIVITY       
First Line: Dark timbers of lost forests falling into my bed
Last Line: Does not end %his dance


NIGHTMARES: 10       
First Line: I saw it man, I read it in one of their god damned trade journals
Last Line: You can say I'm mad but that don't mean I'm crazy. Ask any cabdriver


NIGHTMARES: 13       
Last Line: It hurts to be murdered


NIGHTMARES: 2       
First Line: Having a cleaner house than usual I did the dishes. Gathering those long
Last Line: Larger roach, obviously leader, nudged me to see if I too could be car- %ried off


NIGHTMARES: 3       
First Line: Spent fascinated hours watching the uncool of a young moth doing herself
Last Line: And screaming 'dido' followed her


NIGHTMARES: 6       
Last Line: Get your cut throat off my knife


NIGHTMARES: 8       
First Line: Then I was standing in line unemployment green institution green room
Last Line: Here are your twenty reasons for living sir
Variant Title(s): Thirteen Nightmares:


NO PROBLEM PARTY POEM       
First Line: First glass broken on patio no problem
Last Line: Make a quick getaway. No problem


NOTE ON THE ABOVE       
First Line: Our death %belongs to psyche
Last Line: Of the spirit's %business


NOTES ON THE ART OF MEMORY    Poem Text    
First Line: The stars are a memory system
Last Line: Makes us think so
Subject(s): Jazz; Memory; Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music & Musicians


NOTES ON THE ART OF MEMORY       
First Line: The stars are a memory system
Last Line: That fills us %makes us think so
Subject(s): Jazz; Memory; Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music And Musicians


NOTES TOWARD A POEM OF REVOLUTION    Poem Text    
First Line: What did we in all honesty expect?
Last Line: Do they hate me
Subject(s): World Trade Center Tragedy (9/11/2001); New York City - Terrorist Attack, 9/11


NOTES TOWARD A POEM OF REVOLUTION       
First Line: What did we in all honesty expect?
Last Line: Strike & move on
Subject(s): World Trade Center Tragedy (9/11/2001)


NOVEMBER       
First Line: If there's one pain that I can't bear
Last Line: And the fancy we called love has made an end


NOW BORN IN UNIQUENESS, JOIN THE COMMON QUEST       
First Line: I come to speak of the long & slender vase
Last Line: Does the vessel drink


NUMBERS RACKET       
First Line: When you take no for an answer
Last Line: Now, taking no %for an answer


O MAKE LATONA WHITE. SMOOTH OUT HER HAIR       
Last Line: Brushes the day star


O MIND, YOU HAVE LOST THE ROOT       
Last Line: Speak mantra w/ pure breath


O MOTHER, PUT ON A ROBE & COVER YOURSELF       
Last Line: I too become mad with the hope of seeing you


O TASTE THE / ROSE-PETAL WINE       
Last Line: The evening & the morning stars %span time


O THE UNMATCHED BEAUTY OF THIS DISHEVELLED WOMAN       
Last Line: He pretends to be dead, to feel your feet on his heart


ODE TO ELEGANCE       
First Line: And praise the grace, the elegance of body. Your hands
Last Line: The ferris wheel has started up again'


ODE TO KEATS       
First Line: Had you lived longer than your 26 years
Last Line: I shall melt into them


ODE TO KEATS, 2, THE DREAM    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: Hedged about as we are with prayers
Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares


OH LIL! YOU PROMISED ME SECRETS OF MUSHROOM & FERN       
Last Line: On yr murderous black crossroads


ON SITTING DOWN TO WRITE        Recitation
First Line: I decide instead to go to fred herko's concert


ON SITTING DOWN TO WRITE, I DECIDE INSTEAD TO GO...       
First Line: As water, silk
Last Line: I came here %after all


OR IS SHE SOFT       
Last Line: Faust too, he thought so


OR SHE TAKES YR SHAPE, SHE BITES       
Last Line: He rubs his eyes


PAINTING OF THE LOBA       
First Line: It is in a dark & gloomy canyon
Last Line: Like a moving scroll: the moon & she stand still


PARACELSUS       
First Line: Extract the juice which is itself a light
Last Line: Out of the ash, the eidolon of the world %crystalline. %perfect


PARACELSUS:    Poem Text    
First Line: Extract the juice which is itself a light.
Subject(s): Paracelsus (1493-1541)


PART OF THE THOUSAND WAYS TO SAY GOODBYE (PSYCHE TO AMOR)       
First Line: Goodbye to the wings of light outlined
Last Line: I am %told to hurry I am not sure %if toward death %or a further life


PARTHENOS       
First Line: The black stone shines tho its
Last Line: Her feathered skull - athena %new %beginnings


PARTY       
First Line: War is our carnival
Last Line: My way %to say goodbye


PERSEPHONE       
First Line: And must I return again to that
Last Line: Is lost in vast darkness of galactic air


PERSEPHONE: REPRISE       
First Line: One 'life' is not more real than the other
Last Line: Where I go down to bleed, to birth, to die
Variant Title(s): Psyche And The Maiden


PETER HARTMAN'S SEQUENCE       
First Line: Rain falls %my tears do not
Last Line: Of reflected light %from the gomdens


PHOSPHOROS       
First Line: The morning star casts light on all
Last Line: Precise as mathematics
Subject(s): Morning Star


POEM IN PRAISE OF MY HUSBAND (TAOS)    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: I suppose it hasn't been easy living with me either
Last Line: Where they are going
Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


POEM IN PRAISE OF MY HUSBAND (TAOS)       
First Line: I suppose it hasn't been easy living with me either
Last Line: About which they know nothing, to find out %where they are going
Subject(s): Marriage


POEM OF REFUSALS       
First Line: No strong men in shirtsleeves
Last Line: But I burned the script %where I meet your eyes & smile


POET PRAYS TO THE LOBA       
First Line: O lady %the hem of whose garment
Last Line: O smile, disrobe for us, unveil your eyes


POET, SEEKING HER       
First Line: Did she sit all day on that donkey
Last Line: & they the pleiades - was she always the moon


POETICS       
First Line: I have deserted my post, I cdnt hold it
Last Line: Corner me in the coral & I die


POETRY DEAL       
First Line: I want to say that I don't want anything
Last Line: And which is the quasar?


POINT OF RIPENING: LUGHNASA       
First Line: There is no myth
Last Line: Some myth that encompasses that


PRACTICE OF MAGICAL EVOCATION       
First Line: I am a woman and my poems
Last Line: What rhythm add to stillness %what applause?
Subject(s): Women


PRAJAPATI       
First Line: O lord of beasts
Last Line: Draw closer %look in his eyes


PRAYER TO THE ANCESTORS       
First Line: O you who burn forever wheeling
Last Line: To glory now (the depths %of space a single sheet of flame


PRAYER TO THE MOTHERS       
First Line: They say you lurk here still, perhaps
Last Line: I am afraid to hear %your songs


PROPHETISSA: & OUT OF THE THREE THE FOUR, AS ONE       
First Line: This is the mystery of which we
Last Line: O breathe %against my skin
Subject(s): Prophets And Prophecy


PROPHETISSA: THREE FROM TWO       
First Line: Bent %like bow. This is
Last Line: Again %he is other %than fire
Subject(s): Prophets And Prophecy


PROPHETISSA: TWO FROM ONE       
First Line: Know this wind as
Last Line: Hold orbit %spiraling %& reach
Subject(s): Prophets And Prophecy


RAMADA INN, DENVER       
First Line: It's taken a whole day to get from great falls to casper
Last Line: & walk what I hope is a straight line to the door


RANT    Poem Text    
First Line: You cannot write a single line w/out a cosmology
Last Line: Anything else
Subject(s): Imagination; War; Fancy


RANT       
First Line: You cannot write a single line w/out a cosmology
Last Line: The polis is constellated around the sun %the fire is central
Subject(s): Imagination; War


RANT, FROM A COOL PLACE       
First Line: We are in the middle of a bloody, heartrending revolution
Last Line: From the very first nothing


REEDGATHERERS: THE LOBA NORTH       
First Line: This is a song
Last Line: So does this song


REPORT TO APHRODITE (EVENING)       
First Line: In her service & not
Last Line: To drown %& drown again


REPRISE       
First Line: Stumbled keening %tongue cut out
Last Line: The black water %apollo %abhors


REQUIEM       
First Line: I think %you'll find
Last Line: I think %your lips %won't like it %by themselves


RESURRECTION       
First Line: O what have I spun out of entrails
Last Line: Keep back, - I leap %thru flaming hoop


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 1       
First Line: I have just realized that the stakes are myself
Last Line: (we hope) between the lines


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 12       
First Line: The vortex of creation is the vortex of destruction
Last Line: Rooted as he is in the past he sets out to destroy


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 13    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: Now let me tell you


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 16    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: We are eating up the planet. The new york times
Subject(s): Ecology


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 19    Poem Text    
First Line: If what you want is jobs
Last Line: You can have what you ask for, ask for everything
Subject(s): Poverty


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 19       
First Line: If what you want is jobs
Last Line: You can have what you ask for, ask for %everything
Subject(s): Poverty


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 20       
First Line: I will not rest


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 29       
First Line: Beware of those
Last Line: Goodmorning sister, let me %fight by your side


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 32       
First Line: Not western civilization, but civilization itself


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 36       
First Line: Who is the we, who is
Last Line: Make heavy hearts and to them %life is suffering. Stand clear


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 4       
First Line: Left to themselves people
Last Line: Our babes toddle barefoot thru the cities of the universe


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 49        Recitation by Author
First Line: Free julian beck
Subject(s): Liberty


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 51    Poem Text    
First Line: Know this wind as
Last Line: Consume, whatever naem you call it
Subject(s): Machinery & Machinists


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 54. HOW TO BECOME A WALKING ALCHEMICA       
First Line: Eat mercury (in wheat & fish)
Last Line: & cook the mixture in the heat %of an atomic explosion


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 68. LIFE CHANT       
First Line: Cacophony of small birds at dawn
Last Line: May it continue


REVOLUTIONARY LETTER: 7    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: There are those who can tell you


RONDEAU FOR THE YULE       
First Line: I got away with it all summer will
Last Line: O winter closing down on our separate shells


RUSES: A COYOTE TALE       
First Line: Sometimes you take up the trap &
Last Line: At such times it is unnecessary to sing


SACRED GEOMETRY       
First Line: Cross-hatching on stone / & wind
Last Line: It is then the white stair glistens


SEATTLE SONG       
First Line: Stray cat, climbing in my window
Last Line: You just ain't coming here any more


SECOND DAUGHTER: LI (BRIGHTNESS)       
First Line: You enter power, but I am here before you
Last Line: Like flame, it holds us fast


SHE FLIES OVER PARTITIONS ON THE       
Last Line: & do you dare %win at her game


SHE HAS NOT LEFT ME - THO I HAVE PUBLISHED OUR SECRETS       
Last Line: Continuously, %no epiphany %only presence


SHE IS NOT HELEN. ON EVERY BRANCH OF THE TREE       
Last Line: It is flesh, it is flesh, it is lilith. Interface


SHE IS OPPOSED TO CUSTOM       
Last Line: All the world's aflame


SHE IS THE SCRUB OAK, JUNIPER       
Last Line: Floats glistening to shore on %turquoise seas


SHE IS THE WIND YOU NEVER LEAVE BEHIND       
Last Line: When you run flaming %down %to the black sea


SHE LAY / ON THE STRAW MAT       
Last Line: On her lips, her legs %akimbo


SHE SLEEPS ON SHEEPSKINS IN YR DINING ROOM       
Last Line: Off her skinny shoulders, she sinks her teeth %in yr wrist


SHE STRIDES IN BLUE JEANS TO THE CORNER       
Last Line: Wd ever guess her name


SHE STRIDES ON THE BATTLEFIELD W/ LOOSENED HAIR       
Last Line: Her repeated war-cries pierce the sky


SHE WHO       
First Line: She whose face we have never seen
Last Line: It is at their hands that the gods of men receive power


SHORT NOTE ON THE SPARSENESS OF THE LANGUAGE    Poem Text    
First Line: Wow man I said
Last Line: And my two books and cut and that was that
Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary


SHORT NOTE ON THE SPARSENESS OF THE LANGUAGE       
First Line: Wow man I said
Last Line: And my two books and cut and that was that
Subject(s): Language


SIXTH NOTEBOOK INCANTATION       
First Line: Ping-ponging back & forth across america
Last Line: How do you like it here?' 'I like it %very much.'


SKETCHES OF THE LOBA       
First Line: She stood in the dark bar trying
Last Line: Dance in her cavernous nostrils


SLEALTH OF THIEVES       
Last Line: From a crystal %pitcher


SOLSTICE 1993       
First Line: Morning after solstice, I make my way
Last Line: Will break my heart. I want to be %somewhere else


SOME LIES ABOUT THE LOBA       
First Line: That she is eternal, that she sings
Last Line: That there is anything to say of her %which is not truth


SOME SHAPES OF THE LOBA       
First Line: White crow %in the snow
Last Line: White bones & their shadows


SOMETIMES SHE SLIPS SINUOUS THRU GREEN       
Last Line: Still ringing in your ears


SONG FOR BABY-O, UNBORN    Poem Text    
First Line: Sweetheart / when you break thru
Last Line: To break your heart forever
Subject(s): Mothers; Pregnancy


SONG FOR BABY-O, UNBORN       
First Line: Sweetheart %when you break thru
Last Line: To break your heart %forever
Subject(s): Mothers; Pregnancy


SONG OF HELOISE       
First Line: From out of the body of fire
Last Line: How the flesh %adheres %in its %passing


SONG OF THE DREAM-WOLVES       
First Line: They are coming, the jackals
Last Line: The ripened wolf-feast


SONNET SEQUENCE       
First Line: Nevertheless %there is something real %in the world
Last Line: As wonderful as he. Failure %or fluctuation. Just my luck


SPELL FOR FELICIA, THAT SHE COME AWAY       
First Line: Out of her
Last Line: The kernel out of a peach pit, bitter and tasting %of strychnine


STARS SHINE FOR US       
First Line: It was there that my heart faltered
Last Line: Will you %measure %the dark


STICKY NATURE OF       
Last Line: In nets %& trees %of light


STUDIES IN LIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: Sun / caught in dew
Last Line: We stand outside of
Subject(s): Light


STUDIES IN LIGHT       
First Line: Sun %caught in dew
Last Line: Of earth %thinnest %piercing rays
Subject(s): Light


SUNWOLF: BELTAIN       
First Line: Where else the cunning / strength
Last Line: She binds again to us


SWALLOW SEQUENCE       
First Line: After hearing us take the precepts %the swallows decided
Last Line: Wild roses barely tremble %as lightning splits the sky


TAHUTI POEMS       
First Line: Where he passes is transfigured
Last Line: The shapely mist. %walking. %his keen eye


TAKEOFF, FLIGHT 347       
First Line: Goodbye to %mountains of agate, amber, magic
Last Line: Of windows lighting nothing, looking out %on strikers in the rain


TARA       
First Line: On the airplane she said
Last Line: Well, anyway whole wheat %is holy too


TARA'S NAME MAKES ALL PROSPERITY VANISH.       
Last Line: O friends & brothers! Forget me! I am gone


TASAJARA, 1969    Poem Text    
First Line: Even buddha is lost in this land
Last Line: Coyotes met him
Subject(s): Temples; Buddhism


TASSAJARA, 1969       
First Line: Even buddha is lost in this land
Last Line: Bodhidharma came from the west. %coyote met him


THE BELLTOWER    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: The weighing is done in autumn


THE PRACTICE OF MAGICAL EVOCATION    Poem Text     Recitation
First Line: I am a woman and my poems
Subject(s): Women


THE WINDOW    Poem Text    
First Line: You are my bread
Subject(s): Love


THEOLOGY BECOMES THE BODY POLITIC       
First Line: The king is expendable, but not the queen
Last Line: The queen of heaven


THESE DAYS       
First Line: Undisguisedly mirthful & given
Last Line: Over yr dirt road & visit %with the children


THEY CALL ME DRUNKARD, THOUGH I DRINK NO LIQUOR       
Last Line: And the divine bard loves you: she takes you on her lap


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 1       
First Line: Well, I had gotten to a warmer place for starving and lived on beaches
Last Line: Good day they said
Variant Title(s): Nightmares:


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 10       
First Line: I saw it man, I read it in one of their god damned trade journals
Last Line: You can say I'm mad but that dont mean I'm crazy. Ask any cabdriver


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 11       
First Line: I really must get a new vegetable brush. Everytime I forget and use it
Last Line: On my face the vegetables I scrub next day turn brown and kinda %strange
Variant Title(s): Nightmares: 1


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 12       
First Line: I went to the clinic. I twisted my foot I said
Last Line: Oh he said. Perhaps you're right. I'll cut it off
Variant Title(s): Nightmares: 1


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 2       
First Line: Having a cleaner house than usual I did the dishes. Gathering those
Last Line: Slightly larger roach, obviously leader, nudged me to see if I too could %be carried off


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 3       
First Line: Spent fascinated hours watching the uncool of a young moth doing
Last Line: And screaming 'dido' followed her


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 4       
First Line: Many days hungry laid out on table dish raw chopped questionable
Last Line: To get the now beside her meal (she thought) for me, a mouse she %killed and died
Variant Title(s): Nightmares:


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 5       
First Line: Knock knock %who is it I said
Last Line: Plenty of gas guess I wont eat
Variant Title(s): Nightmares:


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 7       
First Line: One day I forgot my sleeve and my heart pinned to my arm was
Last Line: Now how much do you get?
Variant Title(s): Nightmares:


THIRTEEN NIGHTMARES: 9       
First Line: Keep moving said the cop. The park closes at nine keep moving
Last Line: It wasnt the first time theyd seen a catatonic tree
Variant Title(s): Nightmares:


THIS WOLF IS BLACK. SHE DOES NOT       
Last Line: To run circles around the sun


THREE LAMENTS: 1       
First Line: Alas %I believe %I might have become
Last Line: The chairs %in the library %were too hard


THREE LAMENTS: 2       
First Line: I have %the upper hand
Last Line: I'll lose the circulation %in one arm


THREE LAMENTS: 3       
First Line: So here I am the coolest in new york
Last Line: I chew my pride %like cud


THREE MORE SKETCHES OF THE LOBA       
First Line: Worldly & smooth as an
Last Line: To pay her passage


THREE POEMS IN THE CHINESE MANNER: 1       
First Line: Her stone grey eyes like liquid mercury
Last Line: I took the flower & turned in my heavy cloak


THREE POEMS IN THE CHINESE MANNER: 2       
First Line: Still heat in the lowlands; there is thunder among the clouds
Last Line: This poem resembles thunder without lightning


THREE POEMS IN THE CHINESE MANNER: 3       
First Line: Like a bird hidden in the white throat of a lily
Last Line: Carries me in the dark to the jade door of a star


THUS LOVE / IN WOLF'S CLOTHING - STALKS       
Last Line: But the moist %expanse


THUS THERE IS       
Last Line: The heaviness %viscosity %of presence


TO BRING THE WHOLE FORM INTO SILENCE       
Last Line: Of the nuance of speech


TO MY FATHER       
First Line: In my dreams you stand among roses
Last Line: And weep for your wife, my mother


TO MY FATHER - 2    Poem Text    
First Line: You were dying of grief from the moment I saw you
Last Line: Grow in the ground
Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters


TO MY FATHER - 2       
First Line: You were dying of grief from the moment I saw you
Last Line: On the rooftops / of yr mind, but things %grow in the ground
Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters


TO TARA       
First Line: Rosebud, or fat baby cougar bending
Last Line: Solemn as conch, the ritual %winks, among cypresses


TO THE SPECTRE OF THE LECTURER, LONG DEAD       
First Line: Why it shd all
Last Line: Not at all %what you remember


TO THE UNNAMED BUDDHIST NUN WHO BURNED HERSELF TO DEATH    Poem Text    
First Line: Outside your temple wall. Stone or wood, I can't
Last Line: Such a question
Subject(s): Buddhism; Suicide; Buddha; Buddhists


TO THE UNNAMED BUDDHIST NUN WHO BURNED HERSELF TO DEATH       
First Line: Outside your temple wall. Stone or wood, I can't
Last Line: Only a stupid person like yourself would ask such a question
Subject(s): Buddhism; Suicide


TRAJECTORY    Poem Text    
First Line: Suffering, sd the lama, is the greatest blessing
Last Line: Descend on us
Subject(s): Pain; Buddhism


TRAJECTORY       
First Line: Suffereing, sd the lama, is the greatest blessing
Last Line: The hungry ghosts like a wind %descend on us


TRAVELLING, AGAIN       
First Line: Tacoma airport. I am met by poet-in-residence. Tall as in
Last Line: Like the weather, or william stafford, and walk on back


TSOGYAL       
First Line: The central nerve is a white
Last Line: So still %in this storm


TWO DREAM SONGS: DREAM LOVE SONG       
First Line: Cotton-cloud woamn
Last Line: The wetness in your hair %like dew in the grass


TWO DREAM SONGS: SONG OF THE CRAB SPIRIT       
First Line: The blue turns to gold
Last Line: Pebbles in the sea %stars in the sky


TWO FROM GALLUP: 1. SAD IN GALLUP       
First Line: Motel row: sidewalk along
Last Line: Pastel trailer camp: the santa fe %railroad joins in


TWO FROM GALLUP: 2       
First Line: Horny in gallup I think
Last Line: The full thousand & more miles %away


URSA       
First Line: Blessed to be here in spite of
Last Line: Nor the earth %is enough %finally


VECTOR       
First Line: This: to x plode
Last Line: And I walk forward out of it %unembarrassed


VISION OF THE HAG, DEVOURED       
First Line: Even these teats, devoured
Last Line: Morning %je me souviens %l'aurore


VISIT TO KATAGIRI ROSHI       
First Line: A pleasure. %we talk of here & there
Last Line: It stays with me


VISITATION: ELIZABETH & MARY       
First Line: Not the trees remain
Last Line: Bringers of desolation %calling us blest


WALPURGIS       
First Line: Let %it - lay. - transparency
Last Line: It is %enough


WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ROT?       
First Line: The light of the mind
Last Line: Like the boiler of an engine


WHAT I ATE WHERE       
First Line: The first I remember to tell of was the food on east fifth street. All kinds
Last Line: She wrapped up the presents, the last of them was wrapped as it turned %light and we slept


WHAT MORNING IS       
First Line: First you wake up and it is daylight but wrong with some hood honking a
Last Line: Think yes ok I'll swing it


WHAT WOMAN DANCES ON THIS BATTLEGROUND?'       
Last Line: My freedom is the fierce rhythm of her feet


WHEN SHE HOOTS IT MAKES       
Last Line: Sideways in the flat light %off pueblo walls


WHEN WILL HEART LOTUS BLOOM       
Last Line: Black woman scattering darkness in the dark


WHERE DID IT       
Last Line: Ate a tomato


WINDOW       
First Line: You are my bread
Last Line: And shine %unspent and underground


WISTERIA LIGHT    Poem Text    
First Line: In the early days of eternity when none of us was naked as yet, and a good
Last Line: In your mind's eye in front of the white sky before sunrise
Subject(s): Wisteria


WISTERIA LIGHT       
First Line: In the early days of eternity when none of us was naked as yet, and a good
Last Line: In you mind's eye in front of the white sky before sunrise
Subject(s): Wisteria


WYOMING SERIES       
First Line: In october all the bodhisattvas come to wyoming
Last Line: & cast of light. %beloved. Mystery


YEOMAN OF THE GUARD       
First Line: The simplicity of it, you said, a different universe
Last Line: & I (like hedy lamarr) shall tilt back my head %& suddenly smile


YOU ARE THE DANCING YOUTH IN A CIRCLE OF MILKMAIDS       
Last Line: I know you, lady


YOU ROLL, LISTING THRU GUMMY SHEETS LIKE SHIP       
Last Line: Have gone to seed


ZERO       
First Line: A blessing on your velvet shoes
Last Line: And that cruel wind that bore you here %bears you on eternally