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Subject: MUSIC, ROCK
Matches Found: 150

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` AFTER SUPPER, by DAVID KELLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: In the last light I drove
Last Line: Chocolate, and then, insistent, 'well, %do you got any at your house?'
Subject(s): Cooking And Cooks; Music, Rock


ALL SHOOK UP', by DAN SICOLI    Poem Source                    
First Line: In there these short hairs
Last Line: Start counting backwards %from 10
Subject(s): Music, Rock


AMERICAN BANDSTAND, by MICHAEL WATERS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The boy rehearsing the continental stroll
Last Line: Forever awkward, %each partner dreaming of grace
Subject(s): Music, Rock


ANCESTRAL ECHOES / RAP MUSIC, by CHARLES LYNCH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Sunk in slate-gray plastic panels
Last Line: Mixes, cuts, and scratches, %sand-dances electric chakere
Subject(s): Music, Rap; Music, Rock


AUDUBON DRIVE, MEMPHIS, by JAMES SEAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: There's a black and white photo of elvis
Last Line: The photo is 1034 audubon drive, memphis, %and then it's hollywood, %still waiting for the pool to f
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


BACK-UP SINGER, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The father of the stethoscope
Last Line: The first notes of the treble world %break from my throat %over the heads of everyone listening but
Subject(s): Music, Rock


BETTY, by PAUL MARIANI            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And the fumbling. Oh blessed lord the fumbling
Subject(s): Love - Erotic; Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


BETTY, by PAUL MARIANI    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: And the fumbling. Oh blessed lord the fumbling
Last Line: & kissed her lips & dear god tasted woman once again
Subject(s): Erotic Love; Music, Rock


BO DIDDLY AT THE CRYSTAL LAKE BALLROOM, by WILLIAM DORESKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: A spear of lightning five miles long
Last Line: Any music lover might follow %to the edge of the knowable world
Subject(s): Diddly, Bo; Music, Rock


BRYAN FERRY, by B. D. LOVE    Poem Source                    
First Line: And as the world turns, so turns the light
Last Line: And as the heart turns, so turns the light
Subject(s): Music, Rock


BUDDY HOLLY, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What there's been of winter moves away
Last Line: The dead are breathing, their hands cupped gently %to whisper again, their names into our ears
Subject(s): Holly, Buddy (1936-1959); Music, Rock


BUDDY HOLLY WATCHING REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, LUBBOCK, TEXAS, 1956, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He's played hookey to see the flick again,
Last Line: Some of us, he thinks, will never get it right.
Variant Title(s): Buddy Holly Watching Rebel Without A Cause, Lubboc
Subject(s): Holly, Buddy (1936-1959); Music, Rock


BURDEN LIFTERS, by MICHAEL WATERS    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: At least you left me the green
Last Line: Gentle fingers upon %my godforsaken shoulders?
Subject(s): Music, Rock


CALIFORNIA, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My last night in california
Last Line: Of that fortress where lips of ice have sinned
Subject(s): California; Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


CALIFORNIA, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My last night in california
Last Line: The world holds many dreams at least %one of them holds you
Subject(s): California; Music, Rock


CALIFORNIA DREAMING', by ROCHELLE NAMEROFF    Poem Source                    
First Line: I don't believe in anythin
Last Line: Drink the proper snobby wines %and live forever
Subject(s): Music, Rock


CHALLENGE TO THE READER, by TAD RICHARDS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Chapter x: you're probably wondering why I called you all here
Last Line: Bumped off and dumped in an alley, but that %would be another story
Subject(s): Music, Rock


CHOSEN TO BE WATER, by CHRISTOPHER GILBERT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Across the field the gret willow rocking its head
Last Line: She will go see, and pushes herself up %from a table already wet with her judgment
Subject(s): Music, Rock


CHUCK BERRY, by CORNELIUS ROBERT EADY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hamburger wizard, %loose-limbed instigator
Last Line: Surrounds the joint, waits for their opportunity %to break in
Subject(s): Berry, Chuck (b. 1931); Music, Rock


CHUCK BERRY, by B. D. LOVE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Some critics wail and moan that you rewrote
Subject(s): Berry, Chuck (b. 1931); Music, Rock


CLASS BULLY, by THOMAS REITER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Pursued by one nun or another
Last Line: Crossing guard, your white belt and raised hand %keeping us from going under the wheels
Subject(s): Music, Rock


CONSOLATION, by DAVID RIVARD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There is none. And this means today
Last Line: I have to listen - like a heartbeat after an accident, %racing, racing
Subject(s): Music, Rock


CRUISING WITH THE BEACH BOYS, by DANA GIOIA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So strange to hear that song again tonight
Last Line: Bringing on tears shed only for myself
Variant Title(s): Cruising With The Beachboy
Subject(s): Adolescence; Music, Rock


CURES, by DAVID RIVARD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The part of the soul that doubts, again and again
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


CURES, by DAVID RIVARD    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The part of the soul that doubts, again and again
Last Line: Like stardom %in america, or now this silence between songs
Subject(s): Music, Rock


DANCING AT THE TRACK SINGERS AT THE NIGHTCLUB, by JUDITH BERKE    Poem Source                    
First Line: A plastic freezer bag filled with cocaine, worn
Last Line: And a bass: what's there, and what isn't %there, in the music
Subject(s): Music, Rock


DEAF DANCING TO ROCK, by LISEL MUELLER    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The eardrums of the deaf are already broken; they like it loud
Last Line: Waving arms signal the sea and pull its great waves ashore
Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel
Subject(s): Music, Rock


DEATH OF JANIS JOPLIN, by ROBERT SCHAEFFER PHILLIPS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Because she was a white girl
Last Line: Part of something at last
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock


DECRESCENDO, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If there is only one world, it is this one
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


DECRESCENDO, by LARRY LEVIS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: If there is only one world, it is this one
Last Line: Hoping to fix up, a little, this world
Subject(s): Music, Rock


DREAM LOVER', by MARK DEFOE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Once they stood tiptoe, dewy, poised
Last Line: We were elected king and queen of something
Subject(s): Music, Rock


DUCKLING, SWAN, by JIM ELLEDGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: In bunches bright as marigolds
Last Line: Can I pet your leather?
Subject(s): Music, Rock


EIGHT BALL, by RICHARD JACKSON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Every time I tried to put the eight ball in a corner pocket
Last Line: The holy electrons, the lost worlds, all of them going on
Subject(s): Music, Rock


EIGHTIES MEDITATION, by KAY ANN MURPHY    Poem Source                    
First Line: This picnic table's carefully etched
Last Line: Fresher, deliberately deep, these three scars %sprawl over the others: fuck the world
Subject(s): Music, Rock


ELEGY FOR BOB MARLEY, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In an elegy for a musician
Last Line: Could be used of our lives and bodies %and all that we hope survives them
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Marley, Robert Nesta (bob) (1945-1981); Music, Rock


ELEGY FOR ELVIS, by RICHARD A. BLESSING    Poem Source                    
First Line: Elvis lay cool in his thick shadow
Last Line: I twist the dial and you are everywhere
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


ELVIS PRESLEY, by ROCHELLE NAMEROFF    Poem Source                    
First Line: I want to get the streams in here
Last Line: As we shook free of their world, the new %holy rollers, and they knew it
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


ENCLOSURE, by CHRISTOPHER GILBERT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Mad daddy like mule
Last Line: His only closeness. Trance-blue %breath, the drifter's home
Subject(s): Music, Rock


EPITHALAMION, by NANCY SCHOENBERGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Let the cruel spring begin, sweeney
Last Line: No altar, and one in this picture %to declare that beauty
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Wedding Song


EVERLY BROTHERS, by FLOYD SKLOOT    Poem Source                    
First Line: My brother thought they were freaks
Last Line: Harmony. The song did not %have to be about faith in love
Subject(s): Music, Rock


FANS, by BARON WORMSER    Poem Source                    
First Line: When janis joplin died
Last Line: We are still listening, but life is like death, %so strong it doesn't have to explain
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock


FATHER OF THE MAN, by DAVID GRAHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Your daughter, fifteen, has drunk a half bottle
Last Line: You'd never have trusted when you were your age
Subject(s): Music, Rock


FIFTIES ROCK PARTY, 1985, by JUDITH BERKE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The big living room is crowded
Last Line: Thought she was singing only %for heaven
Subject(s): Music, Rock


FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE ROCK 'N' ROLL BAND PUCE EXIT, by KEVIN STEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: If puce were sound not color
Last Line: In puffs of dust, and neither of us %in a hurry to leaven this sweet bouquet
Subject(s): Music, Rock


FIRST RADIO, by MICHAEL ALAN MCFEE    Poem Source                    
First Line: A plastic transistor from japan
Last Line: Better than any answered prayer
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Radio


FOR THE LAST SUMMER, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That summer with a thousand julys
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Youth; Summer; War; Desire; Rock & Roll


FOR THE LAST SUMMER, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: That summer with a thousand julys
Last Line: For him, in the only hours of his life he ever knew %as his own, was music, music, music
Subject(s): Music, Rock


FORGETTING THE SIXTIES, by MARK DEFOE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Recall how she lolly-gagged beneath
Last Line: Can you see? Can you see? Can you see?
Subject(s): Music, Rock


GIRL WITH THE BAD REP, by KAY ANN MURPHY    Poem Source                    
First Line: Flay the square with crowds
Last Line: We danced like fools through the ancestors
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HANOI HANNAH, by YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ray charles! His voice
Last Line: As though the airways are %buried under our feet
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, James Willie, Jr.
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HEARTBREAK HOTEL PIANO-BAR, by RICHARD SPEAKES    Poem Source                    
First Line: Okay. We're stuck with our lives and those
Last Line: That's why I come here, for the music
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HEAT, by DENIS JOHNSON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here in the electric dusk your naked lover
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


HEAT, by DENIS JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here in the electric dusk your naked lover
Last Line: The bogus moon of tenderness and magic %you hold out to each prisoner like a cup of light?
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HEAVEN, by GARY SOTO    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Scott and I bent
Last Line: But still singing, %'baby, baby, o baby.'
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HOMAGE TO LESTER FLATT, by DAVID BOTTOMS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Five seasons without traveling to a festival, without walking
Last Line: Rattling the bank echoes the tenor of our lives.
Subject(s): Fame; Festivals; Flatt, Lester; Future Life; Music, Rock; Homage & Respect; Reputation; Fairs; Pageants; Retribution; Eternity; After Life; Rock & Roll


HOMAGE TO ROBERT JOHNSON, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sometimes the moon
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


HOMAGE TO ROBERT JOHNSON, by DAVID ST. JOHN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sometimes the moon
Last Line: Salvations setting like a moon in its ladt black %spiraling range of sky
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HONKY-TONKY BLUES, by WALTER ROBERT MCDONALD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shoving another quarter home to make
Last Line: Her spun silk rope one night %and slid out of his arms forever
Alternate Author Name(s): Mcdonald, Walt
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HOURS MUSICIANS KEEP, by ALEDA SHIRLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: They were gestures out of a movie, I tell you
Last Line: I keep going because I refuse to stop
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HOUSEHOLD GODS, by JIM ELLEDGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tuned to 104.6 on the fm
Last Line: Here, friends, be dragons
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HOW GARNETT MIMS AND THE CHANTERS CAME INTO YOUR LIFE, by BRUCE SMITH    Poem Source                    
First Line: The scent of pencil, a house full
Last Line: You'll say to her, 'garnett mims %and the enchanters'
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HOW IT COMES, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Like the small sound
Last Line: In the backseats of the great, generous %muscle cars of the sixties
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HOW NEAR VIETNAM CAME TO US, by PAUL ZARZYSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: The id bracelet I never did give
Last Line: A red, white, and blue %united world or I could ever give from going under the wheels
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HULLY GULLY, by RITA DOVE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Locked in bathrooms for hours
Last Line: Above the exhausted chenille %in bedrooms upstairs everywhere
Subject(s): Music, Rock


HURLEY HIGH, by PAUL ZARZYSKI    Poem Source                    
First Line: Though the nuns had dubbed us crusaders
Last Line: For 18 pm a friday night in 1966, %when friday night meant living, %and living meant sinning till da
Subject(s): Music, Rock


I WANNABE YOUR QUEEN, by SUSAN SWARTWOUT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Elvis, king of ptl tv
Last Line: Take me, elvis, make me queen %of I saw elvis magazine
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


IN 1969, by KATHARYN HOWD MACHAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: What were the secrets that we didn't tell?
Last Line: What hurt. We lied: there was no other way
Subject(s): Music, Rock


IT WAS FEVER THAT MADE THE WORLD, by JIM POWELL    Poem Source                    
Last Line: Till all five lanes of their sharp reds merge %toward the city's bright towers
Subject(s): Music, Rock


JAMES BROWN, by LENARD DUANE MOORE    Poem Source                    
First Line: The funky beat
Last Line: Peeling back a song %of unspirited years, %crying %another river turning %back muddy waters %in %sid
Subject(s): Brown, James (b. 1933); Music, Rock


JAMES BROWN, by LINWOOD M. ROSS    Poem Source                    
First Line: There were summers
Last Line: A cockroach scales my ghetto wall %I hear %they'll survive %a nuclear war
Subject(s): Brown, James (b. 1933); Music, Rock


JERRY LEE LEWIS'S SECRET MARRIAGE TO THIRTEEN-YEAR OLD..., by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dumb career move, killer. The irs is on your case
Last Line: Your ass is grass, and where's my ten percent?
Subject(s): Lewis, Jerry Lee (b. 1940); Music, Rock


JESUS NEVER SLEEPS, by DAVID GRAHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: Downstairs neighbors quicken
Last Line: Nonbelievers into their own %bodies' good news?
Subject(s): Music, Rock


JOHNNY B. GOODE, by JAMES SEAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: You couldn't count the times
Last Line: Through the tinted glass: the one we're cheering for %and the one we're asking why can't she be true
Subject(s): Music, Rock


JONI MITCHELL, by JOSEPH HUTCHINSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: Waters falls white on the white
Last Line: Collapsing on empty beaches, sliding %back helpless and rising again
Subject(s): Mitchell, Joni (b. 1943); Music, Rock


JUAN ANGEL, by RANE ARROYO    Poem Source                    
First Line: Lately I've been trying to visualize
Last Line: The use. See you on an album cover %near you. Hello, I'm juan angel
Subject(s): Music, Rock


JUNGLE MUSIC, by WARREN WOESSNER    Poem Source                    
First Line: My father yelled,'turn that damn thing down!'
Last Line: Someone yelled come home, but we were dancing in the night
Subject(s): Music And Musicians; Music, Rock


LATE AFTERNOON AT THE ARBORETUM, by KELLY CHERRY    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lilacs are in bloom
Last Line: I say her words, to you
Subject(s): Music, Rock


LATE SUMMER NEWS, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Up and down this red clay route
Last Line: Over hundred-year pines, %all the bright strings attached
Subject(s): Music, Rock


LETTER TO RUSSELL BARRON, by ROBERT GIBB    Poem Source                    
First Line: Most likely whatever glimpse we caught
Last Line: Skinny margie stulginski, %and I'd most likely do so again
Subject(s): Music, Rock


MAMA LOVES JANIS JOPLIN, by RICHARD SPEAKES    Poem Source                    
First Line: It turns out you can have a daughter selling
Last Line: You find the harmonies, and you sing along
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock


MAN WHO KNEW THE WORDS TO LOUIE, LOUIE, by DAVID KELLER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Impossible, the way one black walnut, fallen
Last Line: Seems frightened. How pleased her new parents are
Subject(s): Music, Rock


MARY'S DREAM, by VAN K. BROCK    Poem Source                    
First Line: I was living in new york
Last Line: So I came
Subject(s): Music, Rock


MATINS: JAMES BROWN & HIS FAMOUS FLAMES TOUR THE SOUTH, 1958, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Please, please, please' on the charts permits
Last Line: A billy club, a face, the windshield breaks
Subject(s): Brown, James (b. 1933); Music And Musicians; Music, Rock


MEET THE SUPREMES, by DAVID TRINIDAD                        Poet's Biography
First Line: When petula clark sang 'downtown,' I wished I could go there with her
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Nostalgia; Supremes, The (singing Group); Rock & Roll


MEET THE SUPREMES, by DAVID TRINIDAD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When petula clark sang 'downtown,' I wished I could go there with her
Last Line: Begins the long and painful process of letting go
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Nostalgia; Supremes, The (singing Group)


MICK JAGGER, by B. D. LOVE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Byron delayed above the wreck of rome
Subject(s): Jagger, Mick (b. 1943); Music, Rock


MIDNIGHT REPORTS, by LYNDA HULL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: That's how billboards give up their promises
Alternate Author Name(s): Wojahn, David, Mrs.
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


MIDNIGHT REPORTS, by LYNDA HULL    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: That's how billboards give up their promises
Last Line: Blue the color of bruises, of minor regrets
Alternate Author Name(s): Wojahn, David, Mrs.
Subject(s): Music, Rock


MONDAY, MONDAY, by DAVID TRINIDAD    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Radio's reality when the hits just keep happening
Last Line: Realized those songs %were no longer my feelings
Subject(s): Music, Rock


NECROMANCY: THE LAST DAYS OF BRIAN JONES, 1968, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hair fanning out, he'll float upside down
Last Line: Hair fanning out, he'll float upside down
Subject(s): Jones, Brian (1943-1969); Music, Rock; Necromancy


NIGHT WAITRESS, by LYNDA HULL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Reflected in the plate glass, the pies
Alternate Author Name(s): Wojahn, David, Mrs.
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Restaurants; Waiters & Waitresses; Rock & Roll; Cafes; Diners


NIGHT WAITRESS, by LYNDA HULL    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Reflected in the plate glass, the pies
Last Line: In wrinkles, in every fault %of this frail machinery
Alternate Author Name(s): Wojahn, David, Mrs.
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Restaurants; Waiters And Waitresses


NINE OF CLUBS, CLEVELAND, OHIO, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Now I know there are bored, beautiful people everywhere
Last Line: The glimpse of smokey, downturned faces - %you, me, in ritual greeting to our neatly razored lines
Subject(s): Music, Rock


NURSING THE SUNBURN, by JUDITH VOLLMER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Only here that I roll my dope
Last Line: Where everything is quiet: %only smoke & the small gray city outside
Subject(s): Music, Rock


ON LIVING WITH A FAT WOMAN IN HEAVEN, by SIDNEY BURRIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: The point is not that troy
Last Line: Arms balances the weight- %less shadows of our fate
Subject(s): Music, Rock


ON THE ELVIS MAILING LIST, by NEAL BOWERS    Poem Source                    
First Line: It started with the greatest hits album
Last Line: By two men who would laugh at anyone %wailing 'don't be cruel'
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


ON THE OTIS REDDING BRIDGE, by JUDSON MITCHAM    Poem Source                    
First Line: This morning, when a woman walks home
Last Line: As an old pain deep in her lungs; this woman %who spits off the bridge and goes on
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Redding, Otis (1941-1967)


ONE WHITE FACE IN THE PLACE, by SYDNEY LEA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So often true back then
Last Line: White face in the place %and will
Subject(s): Music, Rock


OVER VOICE OF AMERICA, by DENNIS FINNELL    Poem Source                    
First Line: Some nights the quiet is all wrong. A tape
Last Line: Sounds of dead stars. Tell me we call them back %since they call us and we can hear, once again
Subject(s): Music, Rock


PAINKILLERS, by THOMSON WILLIAM GUNN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The king of rock 'n roll
Last Line: If not the ultimate pain %of feeling no pain?
Alternate Author Name(s): Gunn, Thom
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Painkillers; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


PATSY CLINE, by RICHARD SPEAKES    Poem Source                    
First Line: Much of what moves us is wrong, our hearts
Last Line: We watch people %we could be, and we are moved
Subject(s): Cline, Patsy (1932-1963); Music, Rock


PAUL BUTTERFIELD, DEAD AT 44, by ROBERT GIBB    Poem Source                    
First Line: So the blues are again requiem
Last Line: And we dance, together, in time
Subject(s): Music, Rock


PENALTY FOR BIGAMY IS TWO WIVES, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I don't understand how janis joplin did it, how she made her voice
Last Line: My arms are easily as my body will hold forever the silence for which the mouth opens slowly
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock


PEOPLE ARE DROPPING OUT OF OUR LIVES, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Joplin's voice, edged like a crack
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


PEOPLE ARE DROPPING OUT OF OUR LIVES, by ALBERT GOLDBARTH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Joplin's voice, edged like a crack
Last Line: Go higher, the hands go %capo up my neck
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock


PERFORMANCE, by PAUL MCRAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: She came to this local bar
Last Line: Had kissed her lilting, sinking life even once, %and meant it
Subject(s): Music, Rock


PLAYLAND, by RICHARD FOERSTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The 8-track clicked through tunes as we two
Last Line: Everywhere were phosphorescent fish, %a thousand up-turned saintly eyes
Subject(s): Music, Rock


PROPHECY, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The minister's enunciations cut like knives
Last Line: The searing violence of electric guitars, %behind which we wailed and sang
Subject(s): Music, Rock


PUREST RAGE, by CHARLES BAXTER    Poem Source                    
First Line: This thing happens in mid-summer
Last Line: Right there, obedient, rooted, crazed %by simple loyalty to the ground it grew in
Subject(s): Music, Rock


ROCK N' ROLL, by PETER BALAKIAN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The groove in black plastic got deeper
Last Line: Lord, lead me from hackensack new jersey %into the white streak of exhaust
Subject(s): Music, Rock


ROCKET TO RUSSIA (1), by ALISON STONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: I woke up with purple hair and paul
Last Line: Mugged. Krazy kolor had run down my forehead %and become a wound
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SALAD DAYS, by BRUCE BERGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: Into the common bowl
Last Line: Several hours a day, the rest of the band
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SECRET HISTORY OF ROCK & ROLL, by CHARLES HARPER WEBB    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Elvis presley, bo diddley, bill haley & the comets
Last Line: Who lived for rock has seen the light %my brain was not my own. I renounce that boy
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SEIZING THE DAY, by JUDITH ORTIZ COFER    Poem Source                    
First Line: We are traveling within the boundaries of your time together
Last Line: You have stolen their souls with your eyes
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SMOKING, by RONALD W. WALLACE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'm holding my cigarette out the car window
Last Line: Lighting me up again and again %every time I try to put them down
Alternate Author Name(s): Wallace, Ron
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Smoking


SONG OF THE BURNING, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I wanted the heart to scream
Last Line: I swear you'll never hear my voice again
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SOUL MUSIC, by BARON WORMSER    Poem Source                    
First Line: The baltimore evening I saw
Last Line: That sang of days %no ticket could touch
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SOUND SYSTEMS, by RONALD W. WALLACE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Christmas, 1957. The dell-vikings and the diamonds
Last Line: And then the music's over, %the old turntable rasping, around and around
Alternate Author Name(s): Wallace, Ron
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SPHINX, by VAN K. BROCK    Poem Source                    
First Line: Driving west in the afternoon
Last Line: Not caring what people would say, %should they study me
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SPOFFORD HALL, by ALISON STONE    Poem Source                    
First Line: It might be a university. They took the money
Last Line: The lake is freckled with dead fish. %patients circle in pairs
Subject(s): Music, Rock


STRANGERS: AN ESSAY, by JIM ELLEDGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Forget maps at 10f each. Those before
Last Line: No grafiti or hymns for them %- only flowers, plastic or wilting
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SUMMER THE BEATLES WENT OVER SEVEN MINUTES ON A SINGLE, by DOYLE WESLEY WALLS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Death wasn't the only think aboveboard in new orleans
Last Line: Going to be all right. All right. All right
Subject(s): Music, Rock


SUPREMES, by MARK JARMAN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In ball's market after surfing till noon
Last Line: From that height they still look frail and frozen, %full of simple sweetness and repetition
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Supremes, The (singing Group)


TEMPTED BY THE CLASSICAL ON RETURNING FROM THE STORE ..., by SYDNEY LEA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Weather in place of god
Last Line: But I decline to brake %under the strait sharp sky
Subject(s): Music, Rock


THE COHERENCES, by ANSELM HOLLO    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: For whom the
Last Line: Speech
Subject(s): Cruise Ships; Dancing & Dancers; Music, Rock; Travel; Rock & Roll; Journeys; Trips


THE DAY LADY DIED, by FRANK O'HARA (1926-1966)    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is 12:20 in new york a friday
Last Line: Minneapolis, mn, www.Coffeehousepress.Com
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Holiday, Billie (1915-1959); Jazz; Men; Music & Musicians; Music, Rock; Singing & Singers; Rock & Roll; Songs


THE DEAF DANCING TO ROCK, by LISEL MUELLER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The eardrums of the deaf are already broken; they like it loud
Alternate Author Name(s): Muller, Lisel
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


THE PENALTY FOR BIGAMY IS TWO WIVES, by WILLIAM MATTHEWS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I don't understand how janis joplin did it, how she made her voice
Alternate Author Name(s): Matthews, William Procter
Subject(s): Joplin, Janis (1943-1970); Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


THE PROPHECY, by ROBERT WRIGLEY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The minister's enunciations cut like knives
Last Line: Behind which we wailed and sang
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


THE SUPREMES, by MARK JARMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation by Author     Poet's Biography
First Line: In ball's market after surfing till noon
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Supremes, The (singing Group); Rock & Roll


THEIR HATS IS ALWAYS WHITE', by JIM ELLEDGE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Just an hour before the hump of last night, when
Last Line: Full moon rounded through clouds that got clean away
Subject(s): Music, Rock


TIME WITH STEVIE WONDER IN IT, by CHRISTOPHER GILBERT    Poem Source                    
First Line: Winter, the empty air, outside
Last Line: Of snow. The crystals show %a future happening with you in it
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Wonder, Stevie (b. 1950)


TO MARIE OSMOND, by JACK SKELLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: There you are again
Last Line: As priests and presidents wither into %indefinite night
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Osmond, Marie (b. 1959)


TU DO STREET, by YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA    Poem Source     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Music divides the evening
Last Line: Run into each other like tunnels %leading to the underworld
Alternate Author Name(s): Brown, James Willie, Jr.
Subject(s): Music, Rock


TUMBLING DICE, by RACHEL LODEN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I thought all your walled cities
Last Line: Some rooftop we can drift on %to the roll of the tumbling dice, %sweet darling %the roll of the tumb
Subject(s): Music, Rock


UPON FINDING A BLACK WOMAN'S DOOR SPRAYED WITH SWASTIKAS, by KEVIN STEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: How to say hate was in rancorous bloom
Last Line: Of forgiveness he knew more of than I
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Racism


VACATION, 1969, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Brothers rolling around in the big back seat
Last Line: Lashed to the wheel, %america, by god, filling the car windows
Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Music, Rock; Women


VENICE BEACH: BRIEF SONG, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Maybe zizi is right
Subject(s): Beiderbecke, Bix (1903-1931); Jazz; Music & Musicians; Music, Rock; Rock & Roll


VENICE BEACH: BRIEF SONG, by DOROTHY BARRESI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Maybe zizi is right
Last Line: To be truly blonde, and just once %blown away, flying and flying and flying
Subject(s): Beiderbecke, Bix (1903-1931); Jazz; Music And Musicians; Music, Rock


VERY TRUE CONFESSIONS, by SIDNEY BURRIS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Once, I grew long hair
Last Line: Anywhere at all %was somewhere else instead
Subject(s): Music, Rock


VICTIM, by THOMSON WILLIAM GUNN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh dead punk lady with the knack
Last Line: Poor girl, what was your name?
Alternate Author Name(s): Gunn, Thom
Subject(s): Music, Rock


VIDEO MAMA, by JACK ROGERS RIDL    Poem Source                    
First Line: My mother watches vidoes
Last Line: Guitar strung across his thighs, %he watched her all day long
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Springsteen, Bruce (b. 1949)


W.C.W. WATCHING PRESLEY'S SECOND APPEARANCE..., by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The tube
Last Line: You don't know %a fucking thing %about cruelty yet
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


WAITING ON ELVIS, 1956, by JOYCE CAROL OATES    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This place up in charlotte called chuck's where I
Last Line: Smiled at me and said, yeah honey I guess I sure am
Subject(s): Music, Rock; Presley, Elvis (1937-1977)


WHAT'S SO FUNNY 'BOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING, by ROBERT LONG    Poem Source                    
First Line: At the party she said
Last Line: And the stars, %like push pins in really lovely material
Subject(s): Music, Rock


WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR THAT TURNS INTO A PLANE', by JAMES HARMS    Poem Source                    
First Line: My clothes are standing up without me
Last Line: And wave past another bus. %I watch myself flicker in its windows
Subject(s): Music, Rock


WILDSISTERS BAR, by JUDITH VOLLMER    Poem Source                    
First Line: How do you operate a jackhammer if
Last Line: The face greeting us at the door %falling off its hinges
Subject(s): Baby Boom Generation; Music, Rock; Women's Rights


WOODY GUTHRIE VISITED BY BOB DYLAN, by DAVID WOJAHN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He has lain here for a terrible, motionless
Last Line: The nurse grits her teeth, stubs out the cigarette
Subject(s): Dylan, Bob (b. 1941); Guthrie, Woody (1912-1967); Music, Rock


WORLD WITHOUT END, by KEVIN STEIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Before my brother-in-law lost his telephone job
Last Line: And hope, our sturdy friend, solid as two good mules
Subject(s): Music, Rock


YEAR THE SPACE AGE WAS BORN, by FLOYD SKLOOT    Poem Source                    
First Line: That fall, when we shared a phonograph
Last Line: That much behind ourselves. Only our %place of birth, the little space we shared
Subject(s): Music, Rock