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Author: gwynn, robert
Matches Found: 120


Gwynn, Robert Samuel    Poet's Biography
Alternate Author Name(s): Gwynn, R. S.
120 poems available by this author


1-800       
First Line: Credit cards out, pencil and notepad handy
Last Line: Of what may be the area code of god


1916       
First Line: So thank mum for the book of poetry


1916       
First Line: Other rank: %'a' company
Last Line: Deliverance of constantinople from the turks


1969       
First Line: A dim-lit, smoky bar. Your twenty-first
Last Line: Where everything you gaze upon is new


ALBRECHT HAUSHOFER: THREE SONNETS FROM MOABIT PRISON: TIME       
First Line: I dream a lot at night, a lot by day
Last Line: The current surges on. His hands are tied
Variant Title(s): Tim


ALSO TO THE TOWER       
First Line: My second thought was, kill the s.O.B.


ALSO TO THE TOWER       
First Line: My first thought was, he lied in every word
Last Line: Nothing, dear childe, would give us greater joy!


AMONG PHILISTINES    Poem Text    
First Line: The night before they meant to pluck his eyes
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Samson; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


AMONG PHILISTINES       
First Line: The night before they meant to pluck his eyes
Last Line: As searing, the twin picks hissed in his eyes
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Samson


ANACREONTIC       
First Line: You drink to piss it all the way


ANACREONTIC       
First Line: You drink to piss it all away
Last Line: When you're gone you're gone


ANONYMOUS: SONNET AGAINST RACINE'S PHEDRE       
First Line: Fidgety phaedra, pale in her gilt chair
Last Line: Confesses everything and dies, stage-center


APPROACHING A SIGNIFICANT BIRTHDAY, HE PERUSES THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF       
First Line: All human things are subject to decay
Last Line: I do not think that they will sing to me


ARS POETICA       
First Line: Sweet music makes the same old story new
Last Line: That is a lie, but it will have to do


AS YOU LEAVE VERMONT       
First Line: My ties lie wrinkled on the floor


AT ROSE'S RANGE       
First Line: Old gladys, in lime polyester slacks
Last Line: I reckon there's just one way this can end


AT THE CENTER       
First Line: The pianist is playing debussy
Last Line: How no one asks how long you plan to stay


AUDENESQUE: FOR THE LATE RETURNS       
First Line: Ambivalence's faction %exits from the booth
Last Line: Still in each other's shoes


B. 1885; D. 1980       
First Line: Grandpater's wit, the empire's plum
Last Line: Hoolywood bloddy unsufferable


BALLAD OF BURTON AND BOBBY AND BILL       
First Line: My best friend and I would often stop by
Last Line: They've boarded the door. We'll bargain no more %with burton and bobby and bill
Subject(s): Children; Memory; Schools


BALLADE OF THE YALE YOUNGER POETS OF YESTERYEAR       
First Line: Tell where, oh, where are they
Last Line: And where is lindley williams hubbell?
Subject(s): Poetry And Poets


BARD OF VIA VOICE       
First Line: Shell like comparing the to a summer's day?
Last Line: And then I scorn to change by state with a
Variant Title(s): The Bard Of Viavoic


BEARING & DISTANCE       
First Line: The lady has left her cigarette butts in the ashtray
Last Line: The line recedes to where the smoke still curls


BEFORE PROSTATE SURGERY       
First Line: Farewell, thou joy of my right hand, my toy
Last Line: From death to life we might thee yet recover


BLACK HELICOPTERS       
First Line: Gather your families. Lift your eyes
Last Line: Black helicopters rule the skies


BODY BAGS       
First Line: Let's hear it for dwayne coburn, who was small
Last Line: To settle in the tray, where all the dust is


BONE SCAN       
First Line: Shadows surround me, building in the air
Last Line: Now, circuits close. A tunnel beckons where %shadows surround me


BOX OF ASHES       
First Line: A box of ashes, which we scattered on
Last Line: Ponder, father, why these green blades have grown: %a box of ashes
Subject(s): Cemeteries; Memory; Parents


CHANG ENG       
First Line: Constant other %who know I think
Last Line: Warnings to one %he could not save


CLASSROOM AT THE MALL       
First Line: Our dean of something thought it would be good
Last Line: Something of value, soon to go on sale


CLEANTE TO ELMIRE       
First Line: Rising, madame, towards heaven in a bed
Last Line: It is the wind that bears the world away


COASTAL FREEZE       
First Line: It will come with warnings published on the air, %so beware
Last Line: Stunned camellia stands, white petals shed below- %snow on snow


DARK PLACE       
First Line: In the dark place where I had come to piss
Last Line: Where none of us deserves a death like this


DEATH OF MISHIMA       
First Line: The color of mishima's toe was blue


DECLINE OF THE WEST       
First Line: Help is on the way! Cried the decadent
Last Line: As if the axeman's sorrows were his own


DENOUEMENT       
First Line: Who were those persons who chased us?
Last Line: What is the mark on your cheek?


DREAM AGAIN       
First Line: The dream again. Near christmas. It is time
Last Line: Tinkling above their candles as they climb %the wall in shadows, marking nothing more than time


DRIVE-IN       
First Line: Under the neon sign he stands
Last Line: And no one tells me how it ends


EASIEST ROOM IN HELL       
First Line: What torments for the genteel sonneteers
Last Line: Ubi sunt? %ars longa, vita brevis


EDUCATION OF NARCISSUS       
First Line: From the jacuzzi, wreathed in scented foam
Last Line: That, cured, he's ready to ascend the slopes of art


EMINENT PERSONAGES       
First Line: To strive, to seek,' sang tennyson


FOR W.       
First Line: Who will not proffer you his pot of beer
Last Line: May that vast motive wash and wash our own


FRANCOIS VILLON: EPITAPH       
First Line: Francis by name, france's by state
Last Line: Will teach my neck my ass's weight


FRANCOIS VILLON: THE DEBATE OF BODY AND HEART       
First Line: What's that I hear? Me. Who: your heart
Last Line: Then, I've no more to say. I'll get along


GREAT FEAR       
First Line: Here where the door stands open, lights are on
Last Line: Ready for the next one, whose name is you


HONEYMOONERS       
First Line: Is hell like this room?
Last Line: Ed from the sewers?


HORATIO'S PHILOSOPHY       
First Line: Absented from felicity a year
Last Line: Sunday, stood knocking at reynaldo's door


HUMAN NATURE       
First Line: Walking for pleasure, not reward
Last Line: Came forward from the turning wood


HUNCHBACK WITH THE WITHERED ARM       


IAGO TO HIS TORTURERS       
First Line: Tighter, me boys! One half-twist on that screw
Last Line: It's all in the wrist. For this relief, much thanks


IMMORTAL COMBAT       
First Line: Our scene fades, showing several years have passed
Last Line: Eclipsed in turn by each, like orbiting twin moons


IN PLACE OF AN ELEGY       
First Line: Facing a gray morning, I read 'the joys
Last Line: Car there were screams, her own voice screaming


JUST FOLKS       
First Line: As penance for your class's wrongs
Last Line: Friend, you've more than paid your dues: %ego te absolvo


LAIRD OF THE MAZE       
First Line: Despite he was a frog and relished flies
Last Line: A slick spot drying on the courtyard stone


LETTER FROM BILTMORE       
First Line: Two days by rail from richmond, through a vast
Last Line: Also, I lack a tooth. Affectionately, %henry james


LETTER FROM CARTHAGE       
First Line: To carthage then I came
Last Line: My shoes are filled with dust.'


LIES       
First Line: Here lies a truth about the poet who fished
Last Line: The trick is lying still. The trick was true


LOCAL INITIATIVE       
First Line: For years his parents saw that wreaths were placed
Last Line: Blockbuster, target, texaco, and lowes


MAKE US AN OFFER       
First Line: ...A shriner...She was big in eastern star
Last Line: The brown spots on its pages whispering, 'no'


MASTERPIECE       
First Line: It came but was hard enough for those


MIMOSA       
First Line: Thrusting fernlike leaves
Last Line: A tree that the mind can bear


MONSIEUR MAGUS       
First Line: In the south of france the peasants had the gall
Last Line: Wonder and wander. The blind shall lead the blind
Variant Title(s): M. Magu


MY AGENT SAYS       
First Line: My agent says los angeles will call
Last Line: My agent says los angeles may call


NOTES AND QUERIES: AN ACADEMIC OPERETTA, SELS.       


OLE AND SVEN JOIN THE NAVY       
First Line: In world war ii, at uncle sam's request
Last Line: Ya,' ole says. 'but look how wide she is!'


OPRAH OUT OF CONTROL       
First Line: I have seen many horrible headlines
Last Line: And I shudder, in spite of my zoloft, %at oprah out of control


OUR HEARTS WERE GROWING UP       
Last Line: They left no bones behind
Variant Title(s): Our Hearts Were Growing U


PARENTHETICAL       
First Line: None of his seven sons survived the nursery


PARTING       
First Line: Lord, it has come, the parting


PRESIDENTIAL CLERIHEW CONFESSIONS       
First Line: Harry s. Truman: %' I hadn't a cluan
Last Line: When rugs and stairs %caught me unawairs'


PROFESSOR'S LOT       
First Line: When the student body scorns an education
Last Line: The professor's lot is now a happy one - a happy one!


RANDOLPH FIELD, 1938    Poem Text    
First Line: Framed by the open window, a lone stearman
Last Line: Before he sideslips into dreams of fire.
Subject(s): Aviation & Aviators; Military; Sickness; World War Ii; Youth; Airplanes; Air Pilots; Illness; Second World War


RELEASE       
First Line: Slow for the sake of flowers as they turn
Last Line: Breathe quietly, release into repose: be still


RESPECT       
First Line: While lining up a birdie putt, old jim
Last Line: Besides, they had been married forty years'


RHAPSODE       
First Line: His agent could not book him
Last Line: Troy never falls


RINGS       
First Line: I could roll it up with my hair


RUBBERS       
First Line: You held back too


SCENES FROM THE PLAYROOM       
First Line: Now lucy with her family of dolls
Last Line: Her grinning babies, clean behind the ears


SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET       
First Line: A man is haunted by his father's ghost
Last Line: A sexy queen is bitten by a snake


SHORT HISTORY OF THE NEW SOUTH       
First Line: Pass the biscuits,' said pappy, pursing his lips
Last Line: Pass the pizza,' says pappy, stroking his silver beard


SIMPLIFICATION       
First Line: There were days to be gotten through, and days before
Last Line: The sunlight melts like copper in your hair


SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS       
First Line: Good catholic girl, she didn't mind the cleaning
Last Line: Beat it to st. Anne's where she took the veil
Subject(s): Sin


SQUIBS: DR. ARBUTHNOT'S OPINION       
First Line: When ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw
Last Line: A double hernia will lay him low


SQUIBS: PARA(NOI)DOX       
First Line: Your gun barrel pressed into my neck
Last Line: I'd face you. But you might ignore me


SQUIBS: TO CHEERLEADERS, THAT THEY MAKE MUCH OF TIME       
First Line: Imagining you seasons hence
Last Line: I lift my own glass higher. Cheers


STALEMATE       
First Line: Hand grenades fill the fruit bowls


STEPHANE MALLARME: WINDOWS       
First Line: Sick of the ward, sick of the fetid smell
Last Line: Risking the plunge into eternity?
Variant Title(s): Mallarme: Window


STRANDED IN THE JUNGLE       
First Line: We were stranded in the jungle, and we were feeling bad
Last Line: Ah ahah ah ah %ah ahah ah ah


THREE VIEWS OF THE YOUNG POET       
First Line: Here is the young poet sleeping


TOAST FROM CANA       
First Line: Let there be light, his father once had said
Last Line: Like the best vintage - deeper, richer, stronger
Subject(s): Marriage; Religion; Toasts


TRAIN FOR ILL: A BALLAD       
First Line: The train for ill is a long train
Last Line: Aboard the train for ill


TRIUMPH OF NARCISSUS       
First Line: Now hermes to olympus slowly flies
Last Line: And plan for him, perhaps, a victory barbecue


TWO PORTRAITS: 1. THE GARDEN PARASOL       
First Line: She's listening. Make her eyes stray from the book
Last Line: Holds nothing that can comprehend the sun


TWO PORTRAITS: 2. THE PORCH SWING       
First Line: In the new moon's light she might be taken
Last Line: Of feet that do not have to touch the ground


TWO VILANELLES: ELLENALLIV FOR LEW: ON HIS RETIREMENT       
First Line: Retirement into gentle go not do
Last Line: Do to tasks undone many have still you


TWO VILANELLES: OPTIMIST       
First Line: Villanelle follows sonnet, day by day
Last Line: Fridays bring fishcakes and a triolet
Variant Title(s): Optimis


ULTIMA THULE       
First Line: Is not where it's at said the man


UNTITLED       
First Line: In which I rise untroubled by my dreams
Last Line: Unborn, my children come to touch my hands
Variant Title(s): In Which I Rise Untroubled By My Dream


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: AND AS MRS. PARKER MIGHT SAY       
First Line: Men rarely bring rosebuds
Last Line: To girls who wear nose-studs


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: CARPE DIEM       
First Line: Don't sweat it if your tresses gray
Last Line: Tomorrow can get lifted
Variant Title(s): Carpe Die


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: DEAR C-MINUS       
First Line: Stand close around, ye stygian set
Last Line: This crap will it affect my grade?


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT       
First Line: My life had stood - a loaded gun
Last Line: Join - the nra!


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: EBARRETT@BRITNET. COM       
First Line: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Last Line: I'll send them in a zip file, via e-mail


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: I LIKE TO WATCH       
First Line: Drink to me only with thine eyes
Last Line: Is if we never touch


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: I-900       
First Line: When you are old and grey and full of sleep
Last Line: I don't come easy. And I don't come cheap


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: LUCASTA: STAYING HOME FROM THE WARS       
First Line: No, dick, I don't think you're unkind
Last Line: Between my breasts a nunnery


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: THE LOVE SONG OF LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS       
First Line: Had we but world enough and time
Last Line: This boyness, oscar, were no crime
Variant Title(s): The Love Song Of Lord Alfred Dougla


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: UPON DEMI'S BREASTS       
First Line: Display thy breasts, my demi, like a bough
Last Line: Against what looks as succulent as granite


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: UPON HER FEET       
First Line: Her pretty feet
Last Line: Sorry, I think that's pretty sick


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: UPON JULIA ROBERT'S CLOTHES       
First Line: Whenas in silks my julia goes
Last Line: Instead, ask julia's body double


VERSIONS FOR THE MILLENNIUM: VISIT ENGLAND'S HONEYMOON CAPITAL!       
First Line: Where ignorant armies clash by night'?
Last Line: Tomorrow I shall get some sun
Variant Title(s): Visit England's Honeymoon Capital


VICE SQUAD       
First Line: During the wet year and a half or so


VITAMIN DEFICIENCY       
First Line: So I grabbed a handful of men and


WEST PALM       
First Line: Arma virumque cano. It should be
Last Line: And point the bow out where the blue meets blue %and one soon loses sight of everything


WHY THEY LOVE US       
First Line: Dogs love us uncomplainingly because
Last Line: They don't have sense enough to see our flaws


WHY THEY LOVE US       
First Line: Dogs love us uncomplainingly because
Last Line: They don't have sense enought to see our flaws
Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; Love


YUPPIEGRAMS       
First Line: A singles bar! Warm refuge for the lonely
Last Line: A statement? Yes, alas. Noli me tangere


YUPPIGRAMS: SNAPSHOTS FROM THE 80S: 1. SWINGERS       
First Line: A singles bar! Warm refuge for the lonely
Last Line: The mating ritual of rolodexes


YUPPIGRAMS: SNAPSHOTS FROM THE 80S: 2. DRESS FOR SUCCESS       
First Line: Whenas in clinging silks my julia goes
Last Line: A statement? Yes, alas. Noli me tangere


YUPPIGRAMS: SNAPSHOTS FROM THE 80S: 3. WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE       
First Line: He roared up to the cook-out on his harley
Last Line: And grant him tenure very soon thereafter