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Discover our poem explanations - click here!Searching... Author: PIERCY, MARGE Matches Found: 609 Piercy, Marge Poet's Biography 609 poems available by this author 16/53 First Line: Your elephant adolescence in sandlots brooklyn 184TH DEMONSTRATION First Line: This is the 184th demonstration 31ST OF MARCH First Line: A cold insistent rain swells the buds Last Line: The first slug of spring extends itself %like a yawn across the sand. My next %year splits open to s A CANDLE IN A GLASS Poem Text First Line: When you died, it was time to light the first Subject(s): Jewish Families A KIND OF THEFT Poem Text First Line: It is the season of making vinegars, Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Cookery A NEW CONSTELLATION Poem Text First Line: We go intertwined, him and you Subject(s): Conduct Of Life A STORY AS WET AS TEARS Poem Text First Line: Remember the princess who kissed the frog Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives A VALLEY WHERE I DON'T BELONG Poem Text First Line: The first cocks begin clearing the throat of morning Subject(s): Poetry & Poets A WORK OF ARTIFACE Poem Text First Line: The bonsai / in the attractive pot Subject(s): Bonsai; Poetry & Poets ABSOLUTELY SAFE First Line: Take the pills, little lady, take the pills Last Line: And a new pill grows hair on roads AFTER THE CORN MOON First Line: Swallows thrown from a giant hand turn Last Line: Sometimes the knife of frost is a blessing AFTER THE LOSS Poem Text First Line: A storm rips the leaves Last Line: Litter of dead leaves Subject(s): Storms AFTER THE WIND ABATED, HE WALKED OUT AND DIED Poem Text First Line: A little green snake trapped Last Line: And the long cold between the stars Subject(s): Jewish Families AFTER THE WIND ABATED, HE WALKED OUT AND DIED First Line: A little green snake trapped Last Line: And the long cold between the stars Subject(s): Jewish Families ALL DAY ALL NIGHT TALK RADIO First Line: The voice roars from the radio Last Line: Howling all night at the benign %public moon ALL LOVERS HAVE SECRET NAMES Poem Text First Line: The day I forget to write Subject(s): Jewish Families ALL LOVERS HAVE SECRET NAMES First Line: The day I forget to write Last Line: Is simply, finally %love Subject(s): Jewish Families ALL SYSTEMS ARE UP First Line: You dial and a voice answers Last Line: Have a nice day ALTNEUSHUL IN THE OLD PRAGUE GHETTO First Line: Craggy lines stoop against a crowded sky Last Line: Here you slam against fact and then rejoice Subject(s): Jewish Families ALWAYS UNSUITABLE Poem Text First Line: She wore little teeth of pearls around her neck. Subject(s): Sex; Conduct Of Life ALWAYS UNSUITABLE First Line: She wore little teeth of pearls around her neck Last Line: How to love yourselves, bitter sisters AMIDAH: ON OUR FEET WE SPEAK TO YOU Poem Text First Line: We rise to speak / a web of bodies aligned like notes of music Subject(s): Jewish Families AMIDAH: ON OUR FEET WE SPEAK TO YOU First Line: We rise to speak %a web of bodies aligned like notes of music Last Line: Praise the light that shines before us, through us, after us, amein Subject(s): Jewish Families ANCIENT WOOD First Line: The wood speaks to me, said the carver Last Line: Outlasted not only tree but forest ANOTHER COUNTRY Poem Text First Line: When I visited with the porpoises Last Line: That harvest the tuna like wheat Subject(s): Environment; Sea Monsters; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Sea Serpents ANOTHER COUNTRY First Line: When I visited with the porpoises Subject(s): Environment; Sea Monsters ANOTHER OBITUARY Poem Text First Line: We were filled with the strong wine Subject(s): Rich, Adrienne (1929-2012); Women's Rights; Feminism ANSWER TO ALL PROBLEMS First Line: We aren't available, we can't talk to you Last Line: Hi, my humans have been murdered and cannot come ANXIETY WINS A ROUND First Line: All night stone is grinding upon stone Last Line: And walk on the painted map called reality APOLOGIES First Line: Moments %when I care about nothing Last Line: Never otherwise %so happy APPLE SAUCE FOR EVE Poem Text First Line: Those old daddies cursed you and us in you Subject(s): Jewish Families APPLE SAUCE FOR EVE First Line: Those old daddies cursed you and us in you Last Line: The seeds were freedom and the flowering of choice Subject(s): Jewish Families ARGUMENT WITH MEMORY First Line: You are something I drag behind me Last Line: My flame with your mind ARIA First Line: One crow comes now every morning Last Line: And I bowed my head as she sang Subject(s): Birds; Crows ARK OF CONSEQUENCE First Line: The classic rainbow shows as an arc Last Line: With the dead moon for company and warning Subject(s): Jewish Families ARLES, 7 P.M. First Line: Shoals of americans scout supper ART OF BLESSING THE DAY First Line: This is the blessing for rain after drought Last Line: Can't bless it, get ready to make it new Subject(s): Jewish Families AS THE RUNNERS CREAK First Line: I realized the other day, ferried Last Line: Old ladies watch oprah instead Subject(s): Track Athletics ASCENDING SCALE First Line: Climbing a long open flight of sandstone steps AT THE CORE OF LOVING, FEAR First Line: I fear the government, lightning, car crashes Last Line: A whole greater than the sum of our hearts AT THE NEW MOON: ROSH HODESH Poem Text First Line: Once a two day holiday, the most sacred stretches Last Line: Breast, opening, pool, the source Subject(s): Prayer; Jews; Moon AT THE NEW MOON: ROSH HODESH First Line: Once a two day holiday, the most sacred stretches Last Line: We look dead, making a new season shine Subject(s): Jewish Families AT THE WELL Poem Text First Line: Though I'm blind now and age Subject(s): Jewish Families AT THE WELL First Line: Though I'm blind now and age Last Line: Why has the sun gone out %why is it dark? Subject(s): Jewish Families ATHENA IN THE FRONT LINES First Line: Only accidents preserve ATTACK OF THE SQUASH PEOPLE Poem Text First Line: And thus the people every year Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Vegetables ATTACK OF THE SQUASH PEOPLE First Line: And thus the people every year AUGUST First Line: How long can all AUGUST, SUBMERGING First Line: Till that time when the late light burns the leaves AUNT I WANTED TO BE First Line: My aunt ruth was the youngest girl Last Line: And are still fighting to conquer Subject(s): Jewish Families AVAILABLE LIGHT Poem Text First Line: Ripe and runny as perfect brie, at this age Subject(s): Jewish Families AVAILABLE LIGHT First Line: Ripe and runny as perfect brie, at this age Last Line: That I can ever live to name and speak Subject(s): Jewish Families BABOONS IN THE PERENNIAL BED First Line: Even after common sense whittles ambition Last Line: Must we wish we were as certain of our beauty BARBIE DOLL Poem Text First Line: This girlchild was born as usual Subject(s): Death; Sexism; Dead, The BARBIE DOLL First Line: This girlchild was born as usual Last Line: Consummation at last. %to every woman a happy ending Subject(s): Death; Sexism BEAUTIFUL WEEPER First Line: Come under the willow Last Line: Sister willow BEAUTY I WOULD SUFFER FOR Poem Text First Line: Last week a doctor told me Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks BEAUTY I WOULD SUFFER FOR First Line: Last week a doctor told me Last Line: For the sake of appearance Subject(s): Cooking And Cooks BELL SONG First Line: Ah, the body. It is a great Last Line: Peal me again, again, again BELLY GOOD Poem Text First Line: A heap of wheat, says the song of songs Subject(s): Jewish Families BELLY GOOD First Line: A heap of wheat, says the song of songs Last Line: We hand you down like a prize feather quilt. %you are our female shame and sunburst strength Subject(s): Jewish Families BETWEEN TWO HAMLETS First Line: He married me for reasons of state Last Line: Or did his desperate guilt walk about %the night wearing the king's busy sword? BEYTZEH: SEASON OF THE EGG Poem Text First Line: It's the season of the egg Last Line: To do and stronger light Subject(s): Jewish Families; Eggs BEYTZEH: SEASON OF THE EGG First Line: It's the season of the egg Last Line: Every day there is more work %to do and stronger light Subject(s): Jewish Families BITE INTO THE ONION First Line: Take a big bite and let its jagged fumes pierce Last Line: When food must slam a door, roar and shout BLACK LEAVES First Line: The forest of hair %we are lost in it Last Line: Of knotted limbs, the dark %wilderness of desire BLACK MOUNTAIN Poem Text First Line: On montagne noire creeping everywhere under the / beech trees Subject(s): Jewish Families BLACK MOUNTAIN First Line: On montagne noire creeping everywhere under the %beech trees Last Line: Like warm precious lumps of amber in my mind Subject(s): Jewish Families BLAH BLAH BLUES First Line: A big floppy ragdoll child groping Last Line: And love me back into my flesh BLIZZARD COMES First Line: Snow clings in circles to the side of trees Last Line: To warm us in the vortex of whirling ice BLOOD LAKE First Line: Near marquette, the plane circling Last Line: As a japanese garden BOOK OF RUTH AND NAOMI First Line: When you pick up the tanakh and read Last Line: Stronger than hunger, who walked together %the road of shards, hands joined Subject(s): Jewish Families BORROWED LIVES First Line: In the detroit neighborhood Last Line: People the dollhouse of my life BOTTOM LINE First Line: That white withered angel cancer Last Line: Falling across, withering the dumb flesh BREADCRUMBS Poem Text First Line: Some time on rosh hashanah I go Subject(s): Jewish Families BREADCRUMBS First Line: Some time on rosh hashanah I go Last Line: He will broil my sins for supper Subject(s): Jewish Families BREAKING CAMP First Line: Now it begins BRIDGEING Poem Text First Line: Being together is knowing Subject(s): Togetherness; Bridges BROTHER-LESS FIVE: TRUTH AS A CLOUD OF MOTHS First Line: In adolescence I tried on others' Last Line: Maybe we just like the taste %of different lies BROTHER-LESS FOUR: LIARS' DANCE First Line: The myth says, he left three women Last Line: They did not tire of the mirror %or each other BROTHER-LESS ONE: SUN GOD First Line: In a family snapshop I stand in pigtails Last Line: For the right of the body to joy BROTHER-LESS SEVEN: ENDLESS END First Line: I have trouble understanding Last Line: Of silence and wet ashes BROTHER-LESS SIX: UNCONVERSATION First Line: I buzz irritating and persistent Last Line: Who would not bother me BROTHER-LESS THREE: NEVER GOOD ENOUGH First Line: Susie was my niece; she was not Last Line: With my voice of fire BROTHER-LESS TWO: PALIMPSEST First Line: My friend elizabeth said, the week you died Last Line: And the war became a recruiting poster %featuring you BURIAL BY SALT First Line: The day after thanksgiving I took you to the sea Last Line: And now I give you over to salt and silence BURYING BLUES FOR JANIS [JOPLIN] First Line: Your voice always whacked me right on the funny bone BUTT OF WINTER First Line: The city lies grey and sopping like a dead rat CANDLE IN A GLASS First Line: When you died, it was time to light the first Last Line: A little winter no spring can melt Subject(s): Jewish Families CARROT First Line: Lacy hair above the earth waistline, not untidily CAST OFF First Line: This is a day to celebrate canopeners CAST SKINS First Line: The snake casts its skin on the sand track Last Line: Bandages to sit out life in, to wait to die CAT'S SONG First Line: Mine, says the cat, putting out his paw of darkness Last Line: I will teach you to be still as an egg %and to slip like the ghost of wind through the grass CATS LIKE ANGELS Poem Text Subject(s): Sex CATS LIKE ANGELS Subject(s): Sex CATS OF GREECE CHAIN OF BEING: SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE First Line: We hauled from the car CHAROSET Poem Text First Line: Sweet and sticky Last Line: Tonight in the mind Subject(s): Jewish Families; Passover; Food & Eating; Ceremonies & Rituals CHAROSET First Line: Sweet and sticky Last Line: Tonight in the mind Subject(s): Jewish Families CHAZERET: LETTUCE IN REBELLION Poem Text First Line: Bland almost as water Last Line: Waving your own new flag Subject(s): Jewish Families; Food & Eating CHAZERET: LETTUCE IN REBELLION First Line: Bland almost as water Last Line: Waving your own new flag Subject(s): Jewish Families CHOICES Poem Text First Line: Would you rather have health insurance Subject(s): Politics & Government; War CHOICES First Line: Would you rather have health insurance Last Line: And it's hard to tell the difference Subject(s): Politics; War CHRYSANTHEMUM SEASON First Line: It comes round again, round Last Line: And red and the grey of terror CHUPPAH First Line: The chuppah stands on four poles Last Line: In the stearing heat of our time Subject(s): Jewish Families CLINIC HALLLWAY First Line: Six cubicles side by side CLOCK IN THE CLOSET First Line: I'll never get old, says the fifteen-year-old Last Line: I wring what wisdom I own from every hour COLD AND MARRIED WAR First Line: Loving you is a warm room COLD HEAD, COLD START Poem Text First Line: I suppose no one has ever died of a head cold Subject(s): Illness COLORS PASSING THROUGH US Poem Text First Line: Purple as tulips in may, mauve Subject(s): Colors COMING UP ON SEPTEMBER Poem Text First Line: White butterflies, with single Subject(s): Jewish Families COMING UP ON SEPTEMBER First Line: White butterflies, with single Last Line: Tomatoes, we harvest the fruit of our lives Subject(s): Jewish Families COMMON LIVING DIRT First Line: The small ears prick up on the bushes Last Line: On our knees, the common living dirt Subject(s): Spiritual Life; Women And Religion CONCERNING THE MATHEMATICIAN First Line: In the livingroom you are someplace else like a cat CORE MEMORY First Line: Apple core: dark eye seeds Last Line: Indifferent to who is inside them COUNCILS First Line: We must sit down %and reason together COUSIN, COUSINE First Line: How many chimpanzees does it take Last Line: How we can give them aids and endless pain CRABS First Line: They are light as flakes of dandruff with scrawny legs CROW BABIES First Line: The crows are scolding the hunters Last Line: In the interstices of ours CROWS First Line: They gave me a bad CUT First Line: The cliff of a life Last Line: Shaped like an angel CYCLIST First Line: Eleven-thirty and hot DAILY LIFE OF THE WORKER BEE First Line: We breed plants, order seeds from the %opulent pornography o Last Line: Like lover letters turned up in an attic trunk %her honey remains to sweeten us Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening DANCE OF THE TREES First Line: Little sister, little sister Last Line: Now I am the willow tree DAUGHTER OF THE AFRICAN EVOLUTION First Line: The beauty of the great predators amazes me Last Line: Like my grandmother, my mother and like me DAY IN THE LIFE First Line: She is wakened at four a.M. Last Line: Of goodness in our time DEAD WATERS First Line: At aigues mortes the dog was a practiced beggar Last Line: Or simply something entire, seamless, perfect for once DEALING WITH THE PIECES First Line: A city street littered Last Line: Miss that old perfect %relic, our friend DEATH OF A DOE ON CHEQUESSET NECK First Line: Because you did not look at what Last Line: Wet with rain and blood DECK THAT POUTS First Line: My deck is furious DEER COUCHANT First Line: Seen from the air, when the small plane Last Line: As a deer will take her ease after %the season of rifles and boots DESCENT OF ORPHEE First Line: Blue flame cupped Last Line: Only a book flies past me %into the light DETROIT MEANS STRAIT First Line: Down to the river, down, down Last Line: In that windsor attic whistling for love DETROIT, SUMMER CAMP First Line: In midwestern cities, behind the bungalows Last Line: Our first tongues and first moonshine, twisted DEVELOPMENT First Line: The bulldozers come, they rip DIANA INACCESSIBLE First Line: Must we always measure values Last Line: Collected for your homecoming DIGGING IN First Line: This fall you will taste carrots DIMINISHING ADDITION First Line: It's a madness that comes over us every seven Last Line: You start envisioning a second story DIRTY POEM Poem Text First Line: Snow lies on my fields Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening DIRTY POEM First Line: Snow lies on my fields Last Line: Why don't you hurry up %and take your clothes off? Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening DISINTEGRATION First Line: We watch the marriage of friends Last Line: Finally pronounced entirely dead DISLOCATION Poem Text First Line: It happens in an instant. Subject(s): Accidents DISMISSAL First Line: For pissing on her sofa DISTANCE MAKES THINGS SMALLER First Line: Give me something, give DO NOT ERECT THE WALL BEFORE YOURSELVES First Line: You walked through the supermarket shelves Last Line: Too early. We carry all those lives in us, %eggs in an alewife that must keep thrashing upstream DOE First Line: On bound brook island on december Last Line: And the leap of our own hearts %that thud with her hooves as she bounds DOG DAYS DOGGED RAG First Line: The crickets rub their legs so fast they zizz Last Line: The other possibility is that god is a slug DOG STREET NUMBER First Line: Growling through the glass Last Line: A sensuous creep %toward fresh food DOMESTIC DANGER First Line: You are my best miracle Last Line: When it is the electricity %that powers us DOWN THE ROAD, DOWN THE ROAD First Line: My younger self fled not toward but from Last Line: Calling from my own marsh and woods my name DREAM OF WHITE AND RED POPPIES First Line: Drifts of white poppy blow on the foaming wind Last Line: Silk wings scattered by storm on the dune DREAMING THE FROG'S SLEEP First Line: I think of all the cold ones Last Line: On the surface shivering DUET THAT TRAILS OFF First Line: I don't guess well, I say Last Line: The key lies on the bottom of the sea EAT FRUIT Poem Text First Line: Keep your legs crossed, mother said. Drinking Subject(s): Jewish Families EAT FRUIT First Line: Keep your legs crossed, mother said. Drinking Last Line: Airports and four cities and grown old in wisdom Subject(s): Jewish Families EDGES OF EMPTINESS First Line: Those who truly inhabit our lives Last Line: Sign to the skilled in x-rays, until death ELEGY IN ROCK, FOR AUDRE LORDE First Line: A child, I cherished a polyhedron of salt Last Line: And dissolved in wine the earth drinks EMBRYOS: 1. WEE First Line: I am thin as nail pairings. Light as dandruff Last Line: On a teatray my vanilla prince will come EMBRYOS: 2. WHEY First Line: Why do you cry? No one comes Last Line: Bury her END OF DAYS Poem Text First Line: Almost always with cats, the end Subject(s): Death; Dead, The EX IN THE SUPERMARKET First Line: I see him among the breakfast foods Last Line: That man pondering the peanut butter of his choice EXACTLY HOW I PURSUE YOU First Line: Turn once in this cave of prisms, turn FADING BETRAYAL First Line: After so long you might as well Last Line: But the silence caresses you FAMILIARITY'S CURSE First Line: Sometimes in the closest bond Last Line: On these once prized dishes FATHERS AND SONS Poem Text First Line: Abraham laboring for dominion and increase Last Line: The road of shards, hands joined Subject(s): Abraham; Sons FATHERS AND SONS First Line: Abraham laboring for dominion and increase Last Line: He made a short heartfelt speech %and dedication Subject(s): Jewish Families FEBRUARY GROUND Poem Text First Line: Three feet of snow in twenty-four hours Subject(s): Snow FECUND COMPLAIN THEY ARE NOT HONORED First Line: To please a critic you should write little Last Line: A little piece of it, a little piece FEELING QUITE TEMPORARY First Line: The air slices my lungs, dissecting me Last Line: Into the great winter between the stars FEW ASHES FOR SUNDAY MORNING First Line: Uproot that burning tree of lightning struck veins FINEST PORCELAIN First Line: We gaze at the perfect gleaming bowls %covered bowls of fine porcelain Last Line: But salt drying on a bruised cheek FIRST DAY OUT OF BED First Line: The fever recedes like a storm tide, dropping FIRST SOWN Poem Text First Line: Peas are the first thing we plant Subject(s): Peas; Seeds FIRST TIME Poem Text First Line: Love felled me Subject(s): Love - Beginnings FISHERMAN'S CATALOGUE: A FOUND POEM First Line: Orvis nymphs: dark hendrickson Last Line: And the salmon. And the popping frog FLAT ON MY BACK First Line: The minutes are carried on the backs of elephants Last Line: How beautiful is trouble %actively pursued FLEA MARKET IN AUGUST First Line: All the things you don't need Last Line: A little of this, then way too much %of that. Shop till you die Subject(s): Flea Markets FLYING JEW First Line: I never met my uncle dave Last Line: Ever knew of him was mother screaming Subject(s): Jewish Families FOR A BALLERINA WHO DIED OF ANOREXIA Poem Text First Line: Her body inscribes an arc like a fine metal Last Line: By eaters of large expensive dinners Subject(s): Anorexia Nervosa; Ballet FOR EACH AGE, ITS AMULET Poem Text First Line: Each illness has its demon, burning you with Last Line: Taped and stolen from every living person Subject(s): Charms (magic); Spies; Jewish Families FOR EACH AGE, ITS AMULET First Line: Each illness has its demon, burning you with Last Line: Taped and stolen from every living person Subject(s): Jewish Families FOR JERIANN'S HANDS First Line: When I hug you you are light as a grasshopper Last Line: Leaving you thin and darkened as burnt glass FOR MARS AND HER CHILDREN RETURNING IN MARCH First Line: To name is not to possess what cannot Last Line: Where only plastic shards cast up on the stained sand FOR MOURNING First Line: I wear grey for mourning, never black Last Line: The color of ash. Death comes in as fog FOR SHE IS A TREE OF LIFE Poem Text First Line: In the cramped living room of my childhood Subject(s): Jewish Families FOR SHE IS A TREE OF LIFE First Line: In the cramped living room of my childhood Last Line: Weep hot acid and the earth chafes into dust Subject(s): Jewish Families FOR STRONG WOMEN Poem Text First Line: A strong woman is a woman who is straining. Subject(s): Women FOR THE YOUNG WHO WANT TO Poem Text First Line: Talent is what they say / you have after the novel Subject(s): Poetry & Poets FOR THE YOUNG WHO WANT TO First Line: Talent is what they say %you have after the novel Last Line: After the fact of fire %work is its own cure. You have to %like it better than being loved Subject(s): Poetry And Poets FOR TWO WOMEN SHOT TO DEATH IN BOOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS First Line: How dare a woman choose Last Line: There is no other monument FOX GRAPES First Line: It is near the railroad bridge over the creek Last Line: You start your wild %solitary fall when you hunt and run alone FOX IN THE MORNING Poem Text First Line: The grey fox, so called Subject(s): Foxes FRIEND First Line: We sat across the table Last Line: Have you cut off your hands yet? FROG SONG First Line: Water lilies float like half moons Last Line: Smear of its thumb on every sigh FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH First Line: The christian right, islamic jihad Last Line: To them, whose torah is splattered %in letters of blood Subject(s): Jewish Families GARDEN OF WORDS First Line: A garden is all we will ever taste of paradise Last Line: To be natural and unnatural at once GASMAN INVITES THE SKYSCRAPERS TO DANCE First Line: Lonely skyscrapers, deserted tombs of buisness risen GETTING IT BACK First Line: When the guests have gone, the house is Last Line: Us the hanging nest of our intimacy is rewoven GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING Poem Text First Line: You know when you unwrap them: Subject(s): Gifts & Giving GIRL IN WHITE First Line: Don't think GIRLWATCHING: 1 First Line: From his table sol is plucking GIRLWATCHING: 2 First Line: Shark clean they nose past GOING IN First Line: Everyday alone whittles me Last Line: The great roaring fiery heart %the crakling terrible furnace of the sun GOING INTO TOWN IN THE STORM First Line: The sky is white and the earth is white Last Line: We stagger out of the belly of the snow %plucked or words naked and steaming GRACIOUS GOODNESS Poem Text First Line: On the beach where we had been idly Subject(s): Poetry & Poets GRACIOUS GOODNESS First Line: On the beach where we had been idly Last Line: I have ever done with anybody %that seems to me so obviouslyright? Subject(s): Poetry And Poets GREAT HORNED OWL First Line: I wake after midnight and hear Last Line: Of my lover sleeping beside me on his stomach %like a child GREY FLANNEL SEXUAL HARASSMENT SUIT First Line: The woman in the sexual harassment Last Line: Cannot be harassed GROWING UP HAUNTED Poem Text First Line: When I enter through the hatch of memory Subject(s): Jewish Families GROWING UP HAUNTED First Line: When I enter through the hatch of memory Last Line: As real now as words can make it Subject(s): Jewish Families HALF VULTURE, HALF EAGLE First Line: I saw it last night, the mortgage Last Line: And my weight is on your back HALLOW EVE WITH SPACES FOR GHOSTS First Line: The joy of wax teeth HARD TIME First Line: A diamond is forever, diamond hard Last Line: This is not a jewel %I would wear HARE IN WINTER First Line: The wounded hare looks out Subject(s): Trapping HAVDALAH Poem Text First Line: The sun slides from the sky Subject(s): Jewish Families HAVDALAH First Line: The sun slides from the sky Subject(s): Jewish Families HEAD OF THE YEAR First Line: The moon is dark tonight, a new Last Line: That will wax in new goodness Subject(s): Jewish Families HEART'S CLOCK First Line: Through the darkness the house paddles Last Line: Through the hours of light toward their source HEEL SHOULD NOT BE AN INSULT First Line: The true humility of heels; Last Line: And massage you %tenderly, my little flatiron shaped %heroes, my hard laboring heels HELLO UP THERE First Line: Are you you or me or it HER BODY INSCRIBES First Line: Her body inscribes an arc like a fine metal Last Line: By eaters of large expensive dinners Subject(s): Bodies HOMAGE TO LUCILLE, DR. LORD-HEINSTEIN First Line: We all wanted to go to you Last Line: I shall feel for any other doctor, %bordering on love HOMO FABER: THE SHELL GAME First Line: Pyramids of flesh sweet pyramids of stone Last Line: The dark fiery omphalos of the bomb HOT, HOTTER First Line: The world is a womb, hot and wet Last Line: In the sticky knot of sheets we close in sleep HOUSE BUILT OF BREATH Poem Text First Line: Words plain as pancakes syruped with endearment Subject(s): Jewish Families HOUSE BUILT OF BREATH First Line: Words plain as pancakes syruped with endearment Last Line: And then in words. And then in food Subject(s): Jewish Families HOUSING PROJECT AT DRANCY First Line: Trains without signs flee through paris Last Line: And enter the bones of children Subject(s): Jewish Families HOW DIVINE IS FORGIVING First Line: It's a nice concept Last Line: And we are too tired to rise and haul a log HOW THE FULL MOON WAKES YOU First Line: The white cat is curled up in the sky Last Line: On owl wings you will hunt through the night HOW YOU STARE Poem Text First Line: Your smile is a rubber ball HOW YOU STARE First Line: Your smile is a rubbber ball HUNGER MOON First Line: The snow is frozen moonlight on the marshes Last Line: To survive the death marches of winters past? Subject(s): Jewish Families I AWAKE FEATHERED Poem Text First Line: I awake covered in feathers Subject(s): Birds I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN POOR AT FLIRTING First Line: I know it's harmless. My friends who flirt Last Line: Feathers is more war and less love than I need I SAW HER DANCING First Line: Because I saw her change Last Line: And fullness is never and now I SEE THE SIGN AND TREMBLE First Line: I first saw that sign off the midcape highway and thought Last Line: Not to us, buffeted in the center of the explosion %we call our lives I WILL NOT BE YOUR SICKNESS First Line: Opening like a marigold Last Line: Even with our eyes closed %we are walking on someone's map I WOKE WITH THE ROOM COLD IF I HAD BEEN CALLED SABRINA OR ANN, SHE SAID First Line: I'm the only poet with the name Last Line: You did unto me, forever. Even %my tombstone will look like a cartoon IF THEY COME IN THE NIGHT First Line: Long ago on a night of danger and vigil IF WE CAN'T FIND IT, WE MAKE IT First Line: I remember lying in the grass of the yard Last Line: Tell me why I saw crystalline seas in bottles IMAGING First Line: I am my body Last Line: The other, my lost holy self IMPLICATIONS OF ONE PLUS ONE Poem Text First Line: Sometimes we collide, tectonic plates merging, Subject(s): Relationships IMPLICATIONS OF ONE PLUS ONE First Line: Sometimes we collide, tectonic plates merging Last Line: But it is. And it is. And it is. Amen IN JUNE ALL THINGS WAKE FULLY First Line: The multiflora is blooming -- wild roses Last Line: Hotter than ours and devour us whole IN JUNE, THE YOUNG DEER ARE ALMOST TAME First Line: We had met the two of them, young mates Last Line: Your maiden throat in my shaking hands IN PRAISE OF JOE Poem Text First Line: I love you hot Subject(s): Coffee IN THE ATTIC OF DREAMS First Line: I imagine an attic Last Line: Into my ears their stories and songs IN THE ATTIC OF MY DREAMS Poem Text First Line: I imagine an attic Last Line: Into my ears their stories and songs Subject(s): Attics; Dreams; Ancestors & Ancestry IN THE DARK ALL CATS FLY First Line: Rising stars rush toward me Last Line: Seeking themselves in the white waves IN THE DEPARTMENT STORE Poem Text First Line: The women who work at cosmetics Subject(s): Department Stores IN THE GRIP OF THE SOLSTICE Poem Text First Line: Feels like a train roaring into night Subject(s): Jewish Families IN THE GRIP OF THE SOLSTICE First Line: Feels like a train roaring into night Last Line: To touch it, only flesh still %welcoming to flesh Subject(s): Jewish Families IN THE MEN'S ROOM(S) Poem Text First Line: When I was young I believed in intellectual conversation: Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Women's Rights; Male-female Relations; Feminism IN WAIT First Line: White roofs hump IN WHICH SHE BEGS (LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE) THAT LOVE MAY LAST First Line: The lilac blossoms now in may Last Line: I want to drop my red red %petals on the hard black ice INFLUENCE COMING INTO PLAY: THE SEVEN OF PENTACLES First Line: Under a sky the color of pea soup Last Line: After the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes Subject(s): Jews - Women INSIDE CHANCE First Line: Dance like a jackrabbit %in the dunegrass, dance Last Line: As the blood of the maple %that will open its leaves %like thousands of waving hands Subject(s): Spring INSOMNIA First Line: Where is that plain door? Last Line: Of the body on the brain %at ease, simple %as breathing INTENSE First Line: One morning they are there Last Line: Extruding a tent city from swollen bellies INTERIOR WITH SUN First Line: Rooms blown in treetop rapids INTERSPECIES Poem Text First Line: I was teaching a residency in cincinnati Subject(s): Loneliness; Alienation (social Psychology); Friendship; Zoos; Estrangement; Outcasts IT AIN'T HEAVY, IT'S MY PURSE First Line: We have marsupial instincts, women Last Line: Our own helplessness and its fancied cures IT ARRIVES SUDDENLY AND CARRIES US OFF AS USUAL Poem Text First Line: Sometimes in early june I am standing Subject(s): Love - Erotic IT ARRIVES SUDDENLY AND CARRIES US OFF AS USUAL First Line: Sometimes in early june I am standing Last Line: To a height and dropped straight down Subject(s): Erotic Love IT DOESN'T SUFFICE First Line: Washing socks in the marble basin Last Line: Skull, dry for a taste of my well's water JOY ROAD AND LIVERNOIS First Line: My name was pat. We used to read poe in bed Last Line: Rages and drives onward, an engine of light JUNE 21 AT 9:30 First Line: The wood thrush at twilight Last Line: Swirl and eddy %under the sand KADDISH Poem Text First Line: Look around us, search above us, below, behind Subject(s): Jewish Families KADDISH First Line: Look around us, search above us, below, behind Last Line: Everywhere, blessed and holy is peace, let's say amein Subject(s): Jewish Families KARPAS Poem Text First Line: I am one of those weird people Subject(s): Jewish Families KARPAS First Line: I am one of those weird people Last Line: Of days growing longer like hair Subject(s): Jewish Families KARPAS AND SALT WATER Poem Text First Line: So that the gardeners say it goes Subject(s): Jewish Families KID ON HER WAY First Line: The kid wanders, dazzled by the crowd KNEELING AT THE PIPES First Line: Princely cockroach, inheritor KNEELING HERE, I FEEL GOOD First Line: Sand: crystalline children Last Line: Sweet black mother of our food %you will have the rest LA DOLCE FAR NIENTE First Line: I lack the gift for idleness Last Line: Has the odor of sin and bonbons LANDED FISH First Line: Danny dead of a heart attack LAPSED First Line: Never to close again LAST DAY OF EXILE WINDS UPWARD First Line: I turn and turn around again, revolving Last Line: Speed through the night towards our bed LAST SCENE IN THE FIRST ACT First Line: In the wind that ripples over them LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS First Line: Seven great sensuous coils project Last Line: I am of you and soon shall be in you. Amen LEANING EXPERIENCE First Line: The boy sits in the classroom LEARNING TO READ Poem Text First Line: My mother would not teach me to read Subject(s): Jewish Families LEARNING TO READ First Line: My mother would not teach me to read Last Line: I have never (yet) arrived Subject(s): Jewish Families LEAVES INSTEAD OF RICE First Line: Out of a formula LET US GATHER AT THE RIVER First Line: I am the woman who sits by the river LEVEL First Line: A great balance hangs in the sky Last Line: Gaia, can always make it work LIARS' DICE First Line: The lies march out bravely Last Line: To put into love LIKE LITTLE FIRECRACKERS IN THE BRAIN First Line: June morning hot as fresh coffee just poured Last Line: Primary colors and pastels, opening wide LINE OF DANCERS THROUGH TIME First Line: Sometimes when I'm dancing and the music Last Line: Betrayed all too soon into memory LINES DRAWN First Line: Generals send troops into battle Last Line: On a map that cuts through flesh LIPSKY ON NINTH AVENUE First Line: You look like a mad but polite odessa angel LISTENING TO A SPEECH First Line: The woman carefully dressed Last Line: Are, just one owner away %from the streets and starvation LITTER First Line: I am always forgetting something Last Line: White lilacs, thickens the air till I weep LITTLE ACTS OF LOVE First Line: Shaking out clean sheets Last Line: For the feast to start LITTLE MONUMENT First Line: One unknown martyr of civil rights Last Line: Chicago, a gentle cat with a stupid name %who sent me marching and shouting for justice LITTLE PISCHNA REVISITED First Line: Every workshop I teach, he or she sweeps in Last Line: The other in the same strait bed of the poem LONG NIGHT OF THE INCOMPLETE Poem Text First Line: In the brief light of the stolstice Last Line: Dying in the throat like the year Subject(s): Night; Mortality; Time LONGEST NIGHT IS LONG DRAWN LOOKING AT QUILTS Poem Text First Line: Who decided what is useful in its beauty Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers LOOKING AT QUILTS First Line: Who decided what is useful in its beauty Subject(s): Labor And Laborers LOST Poem Text First Line: Women of dark houses Last Line: Dim fiery pain Subject(s): Women; Houses; Grief LOVE LIKE A TICKING BOMB First Line: The text was a discussion of his business problems Last Line: But clearer, with different blood and face LOVE OF LETTUCE First Line: With a pale green curly LOVING THE CRONE First Line: Two sisters, seventy and seventy-two, jogging Last Line: Workhouse turning some owner's mill LOW PERSPECTIVE First Line: Snow blink: that's light Last Line: This low light hardens the black %in every twig to precision LOW ROAD First Line: What can they do %to you? Whatever they want Last Line: It starts when you say we %and know who you mean, and each %day you mean one more MAGGID Poem Text First Line: The courage to let go of the door, the handle Subject(s): Jewish Families; Jews - Women MAGGID First Line: The courage to let go of the door, the handle Last Line: Who became other by saving themselves Subject(s): Jewish Families; Jews - Women MAN WITH TOO MANY WOMEN IN HIS LIFE First Line: He is counting his orgasms Last Line: He is afraid to limp home %to his crowded bed MARCH COMES IN ON CLEFT HOOVES First Line: I stand in my bedroom at blue dawn Last Line: Of geese as they lift off beating north MAROR Poem Text First Line: A bitter cud / biting into the bitter, that bites back Subject(s): Jewish Families MAROR First Line: A bitter cud %biting into the bitter, that bites back Last Line: Is the first taste of freedom Subject(s): Jewish Families MARRIAGE IN WINTER First Line: What we need is to focus sharply Last Line: We have dreamed but never seen Subject(s): Jewish Families MARRIED WALK IN A HOT PLACE First Line: A dusty square hemmed by pink stucco MATERNAL INSTINCT AT WORK First Line: In the bed dinah curls Last Line: The least you can do %is take the night feeding MATZOH Poem Text First Line: Flat you are as a door mat Subject(s): Jewish Families MATZOH First Line: Flat you are as a door mat Last Line: In the mouth you %promise, home Subject(s): Jewish Families MEAN First Line: The grungy truth is, there is relief Last Line: Of love from beginning to end MEANINGFUL EXCHANGE First Line: The man talks Subject(s): Women MEDITATION BEFORE READING TORAH Poem Text First Line: We are the people of the word Subject(s): Jewish Families MEDITATION BEFORE READING TORAH First Line: We are the people of the word Last Line: So does light enter us, and we shine Subject(s): Jewish Families MIRACLE First Line: Your ghost last night MOON IS ALWAYS FEMALE MOON OF THE MOTHER TURTLE First Line: I am the busybody who interferes Last Line: Like moon with the same and different faces MOONBURN First Line: I stayed under the moon too long Last Line: We curl inside it licking MORE THAN ENOUGH Poem Text First Line: The first lily of june opens its red mouth. Subject(s): Summer; Spring; Flowers MORE THAT WINTER ENDS THAN SPRING BEGINS First Line: Nothing stirs out of the earth Last Line: White belly up rolls on the sun %heated concrete with a sensuous shudder MORNING ATHLETES Poem Text First Line: Most mornings we go running side by side Subject(s): Sports; Women MORNING ATHLETES First Line: Most mornings we go running side by side Last Line: And we talk and pant, pant and talk %in the morning early and busy together Subject(s): Sports; Women MORNING LOVE SONG First Line: I am filled with love like a melon Last Line: Waiting to flow all over your skin MORNINGS IN VARIOUS YEARS First Line: To wake and see the day piled up MOTOWN, ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY Poem Text First Line: Fog used to bloom off the distant river Subject(s): New York City; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple MOVES ON THE CEILING First Line: In the dark all things become Last Line: And how salty is fresh blood MUSIC WARS First Line: Smog sweats from the streets Last Line: We buy identity off the rack. %everybody pays MY BOA First Line: What says home is various as the shades Last Line: But my own vast green coiling monster %my own MY HEROINES Poem Text First Line: When I think of women heroes, Subject(s): Heroines MY MOTHER GIVES ME HER RECIPE Poem Text First Line: Take some flour. Oh, I don't know, Subject(s): Mothers; Bakeries & Bakers MY MOTHER GIVES ME HER RECIPE First Line: Take some flour. Oh, I don't know %like two-three cups, and you cut Last Line: But she never %got it right MY MOTHER'S BODY Poem Text First Line: The dark socket of the year Subject(s): Jewish Families MY MOTHER'S BODY First Line: The dark socket of the year Last Line: Did not dare in your life you dare in mine Subject(s): Jewish Families MY MOTHER'S NOVEL Poem Text First Line: Married academic woman ten Subject(s): Jews - Women; Writing & Writers MY MOTHER'S NOVEL First Line: Married academic woman ten Last Line: Understand: I am my mother's %novel daughter: I %have my duty to perform Subject(s): Jews - Women; Writing And Writers MY RICH UNCLE, WHOM I ONLY MET THREE TIMES Poem Text First Line: We were never invited to his house Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Jewish Families; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations MY RICH UNCLE, WHOM I ONLY MET THREE TIMES First Line: We were never invited to his house Last Line: His last trick was to vanish himself forever Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Jewish Families; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations NAILING UP THE MEZUZAH Poem Text First Line: A friend from greece Subject(s): Jewish Families NAILING UP THE MEZUZAH First Line: A friend from greece Last Line: Malach ha-moves, angel of death %pass over, pass on Subject(s): Jewish Families NEGATIVE ION DANCE First Line: The ocean reopens us Last Line: As they caress you later in the dark NEVER-NEVER First Line: Missing is a pain %in everyplace Last Line: By the dealer, %in unused dreams NEW ROCK ISLAND LINE First Line: The rock island line is the road to ride Last Line: Feeds on the bottom mud NEW YEAR OF THE TREES First Line: It is the new year of the trees, but here Last Line: Over them on february's cold table I spread %a feast. Wings rustle like summer leaves Subject(s): Jewish Families NEWLY SHARPENED WIND First Line: The ground is a sponge full of the brown water Last Line: To be out stirred by the sharp scented wind NIGHT FIGHT First Line: Yin and yang, they say, %female and male but the real Last Line: Stills. The conscious %being conscious at four a.M. %cannot forgive NIGHT OF THE BEAR AND POLAR LIGHT First Line: Into the wood black as a child's midnight waking NISHMAT Poem Text First Line: When the night slides under with the last dimming star Subject(s): Jewish Families NISHMAT First Line: When the night slides under with the last dimming star Last Line: And we can out of that stillness rise and praise Subject(s): Jewish Families NOCTURNE First Line: Raccoons on the roof clump and stomp Last Line: Now slow and quicken my human blood NOON OF THE SUNBATHER First Line: The sun struts over the asphalt world Last Line: But the ashes dance. Each ashfleck leaps at the sun NORTHERN LIGHTS OF THE SKULL First Line: As I leaned over the book Last Line: As simply as fog burns off NOTHING MORE WILL HAPPEN First Line: You are rumpled like a sweater Last Line: Heavy iron gates like those in a levee or fortress %are closing in my breasts NOW ALL AT ONCE IT IS COLDER First Line: You talk too much Last Line: And I saw no reason to hurry, then NOW THAT I AM FREE First Line: Trees scratch at the sky but can't get in O! First Line: Oh, the golden bauble of your rising OCTOBER ECLIPSE First Line: Tonight she does not glow Last Line: Beings of cool light OF THE PATIENCE CALLED FORTH BY TRANSITION First Line: Notice how the sky is a milky opal Last Line: And we face into it like gulls, waiting OFF SEASON RENTAL First Line: The sea turns over on its side Last Line: Last to fade are reproachful eyes %and the silently beating tail OH, VEBLEN, THIS IS MUCH BETTER Poem Text First Line: Years and modes ago, in the heyday Subject(s): Poetry Readings; Detroit, Mcihigan; Mansions OLD MOON CRADLING THE NEW MOON Poem Text First Line: What we have known is fully formed Subject(s): Moon OLD SHOES First Line: Old shoes, you tilt toward different poles Last Line: Returned, ugliness as pure joy ON CASTLE HILL First Line: As we wandered through the hill of graves Last Line: Our wind blows on toward those hills %we will never see ON GUARD Poem Text First Line: I want you for my bodyguard Subject(s): Togetherness ON GUARD First Line: I want you for my bodyguard Last Line: Each other's rose red warrior ON SHABBAT SHE DANCES IN THE CANDLE FLAMES Poem Text First Line: How we danced then, you can't imagine Subject(s): Jewish Families ON SHABBAT SHE DANCES IN THE CANDLE FLAMES First Line: How we danced then, you can't imagine Last Line: And when you wake, you imagine me Subject(s): Jewish Families ON THE ROAD IN MIDDLE AGE First Line: Hell is traveling forever Last Line: That matter are never there ONCE-IN-A LIFETIME WAREHOUSE SALE First Line: Rooms for sale. Completely furnished ONE BIRD, IF THERE IS ONLY ONE, DIES IN THE NIGHT Poem Text First Line: I dropped my spoon into my yogurt Last Line: Who might warm us through a lethal night's freeze Subject(s): Birds; Compassion ONE BIRD, IF THERE IS ONLY ONE, DIES IN THE NIGHT First Line: I dropped my spoon into my yogurt Last Line: Warm us through a lethal night's freeze Subject(s): Jewish Families ONE REASON I LIKE OPERA Poem Text First Line: In movies, you can tell the heroine Subject(s): Opera; Motion Pictures; Movies; Cinema OPEN TO THE SKY First Line: It's a different sky every half hour all day Last Line: The seasons rule me like a field gone wild OUT OF SIGHT First Line: Put away %they do that to cats Last Line: By our casual white jacketed %banal torture OUT OF THE RUBBISH Poem Text First Line: Among my mother's things I found Subject(s): Jewish Families OUT OF THE RUBBISH First Line: Among my mother's things I found Last Line: Where no one could see Subject(s): Jewish Families PAIN CAME BACK LIKE SOMETHING SHARP IN MY EYE First Line: I'm not even sure if it's three or four years Last Line: At last, supine to that sour kiss PEACEABLE KINGDOM First Line: Creamcheese babies square and downy as bolsters PEELED AFTER FLU First Line: After fever raged through both our bodies Last Line: Gulp down the sun at dawn without tasting it PENETRATING COLD First Line: Insidious as fine rain Last Line: It will bloom and bear fruit in one night PERFECT WEATHER First Line: On the six o'clock news, ken poses in his three Last Line: Then tell us what good weather you're providing PERPETUAL MIGRATION First Line: How do we know where we are going Last Line: And passion I will know the shape %of the mountains of freedom, I will know PERSIMMON PUDDING First Line: Smooth, lacquered you shine like a japanese box Last Line: She swears for the touch of frost PHOTOGRAPH OF MY MOTHER SITTING ON THE STEPS Poem Text First Line: My mother who isn't anyone's Last Line: The sun of love Subject(s): Mothers POP-SICLE Poem Text First Line: Martina had a mama, anna-lisa Subject(s): Healing; Cures POP-SICLE First Line: Martina had a mama, anna-lisa Last Line: Fathers. Martina glares at the men from %slitted eyes. Herbie's still frozen Subject(s): Healing POSSESSION First Line: The first bud of morning opens at home Last Line: Blood and tissue and bone. This land owns me POSTCARD FROM THE GARDEN First Line: I live in an orchard. Confetti of bruised petals PRACTICING WITH THE WINDOWS OPEN First Line: Inside she is chained to the piano Last Line: On the block and filled each with fresh flowers PRICE BEGINS TO MOUNT First Line: What gets you in its teeth in middle age Last Line: That time bomb ticking in your chest like a heart PRICE OF THE BODY First Line: The price of the brain is paid in shock Last Line: That thought is flesh, and flesh thinks PROMOTION First Line: My friend has become an administrator Last Line: Never deflate or look down PROXIMITY FUSES First Line: The country is too much itself Last Line: My inferno enacts itself at any time %on dingy urban streets PUTTING THE GARDENS TO SLEEP First Line: We are putting the gardens to sleep Last Line: Never tame, the soil is only captive PUTTING THE GOOD THINGS AWAY Poem Text First Line: In the drawer were folded fine Subject(s): Jewish Families PUTTING THE GOOD THINGS AWAY First Line: In the drawer were folded fine Last Line: No day of hers was ever good enough Subject(s): Jewish Families PUZZLE First Line: We were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle Last Line: As we turn through savage seasons QUARREL IN THE BERRY PATCH Poem Text First Line: I gave you the cherries this year, Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Birds QUICK AND QUIET ONE First Line: I watch the garter snake thrust Last Line: Imagine, seeking warmth and prey RABBI'S GRANDDAUGHTER AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE First Line: Mother, the rabbi's granddaughter, wanted christmas Last Line: Only red, gold and blue shining for me Subject(s): Children; Christmas; Jewish Families; Jews RAIN FALLS ON IOANNNINA First Line: Grey clouds sink Last Line: I am learning something about wet %and grey and bad RAINY 4TH First Line: I am someone who boots myself from bed Last Line: That like the pole beans on the fence %expand perceptibly in the long rain RAISIN PUMPERNICKEL First Line: You shine, my love, like a sugar maple in october Last Line: Of passion. So we die and die with loving %and go on living RAM'S HORN SOUNDING First Line: Giant porcupine, I walk a rope braided Last Line: And scaled folk born from the ancient warm sea Subject(s): Jewish Families RAPE POEM Poem Text First Line: There is no difference between being raped Subject(s): Poetry & Poets RAPE POEM First Line: There is no difference between being raped Last Line: To possess and punish in one act, %to rip up pleasure, to murder those who dare %live in the leafy f Subject(s): Poetry And Poets REAL HEARTH First Line: Let's heat up the night to a boil Last Line: As the hours jump off the cliff Subject(s): Jewish Families RECONCILED First Line: You have come back from your hike Last Line: Thanking the sea that it has turned and risen REFLECTIONS ON A MIRROR First Line: Mirror mirror on the wall Last Line: The world turns half around REPORT OF 14TH SUBCOMMITTE ON CONVENING A DISCUSSION GROUP First Line: They are how things begin to tilt into change REPORT OF THE FOURTEENTH SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONVENING First Line: This is how things begin to tilt into change Last Line: And dances. I have spoken. So be it forevermore RESHAPING EACH OTHER First Line: We are differently shaped Last Line: In the gears of marriage RETREAT First Line: Come back to me Last Line: Enter and scrub your mind RETURN TO LIFE Poem Text First Line: A woman is not a pear tree Subject(s): Women's Rights; Feminism RETURNING TO THE CEMETERY IN THE OLD PRAGUE GHETTO Poem Text First Line: Like bad teeth jammed crooked in a mouth Subject(s): Jewish Families RETURNING TO THE CEMETERY IN THE OLD PRAGUE GHETTO First Line: Like bad teeth jammed crooked in a mouth Last Line: Nights afterward, stone and bone Subject(s): Jewish Families ROOT CANAL First Line: You see before you an icing of skin Last Line: Pyramid standing here, a grandiose %talking headstone for my tooth RUNNING TOWARD R First Line: The night is funnel shaped RUNT VIGOR First Line: This apple tree was born of accident Last Line: All november the deer taste its fruit S. DEAD First Line: You were unreasonably kind SABBATH OF MUTUAL RESPECT First Line: In the natural year come two thanksgivings SALT IN THE AFTERNOON First Line: The room is a conch shell Last Line: Salt puddles on the flats SALT WATER Poem Text First Line: It is a bowl of tears on the table Last Line: The salt of regret and the salt of effort Subject(s): Jewish Families; Salt SALT WATER First Line: It is a bowl of tears on the table Last Line: The salt of regret and the salt of effort Subject(s): Jewish Families SEASON OF BREAKAGE: 1. First Line: The hurricaine parched the oak leaves brown Last Line: Till after the winter has taxed us lean SEASON OF BREAKAGE: 2. First Line: We are cheated of fall. Only the low Last Line: Into the winter that will kill or renew us SECRETARY CHANT First Line: My hips are a desk Last Line: Because I wonce %was a woman Subject(s): Jewish Families SEDUCTION OF ANTICIPATED PAIN First Line: You rush to embrace a certain Last Line: What we can and endure in light and darkness SEPTEMBER AFTERNOON AT FOUR O'CLOCK First Line: Full in the hand, heavy Last Line: There is %no other wisdom SEXUAL SELECTION AMONG BIRDS First Line: The soft breasted dun bird on her nest Last Line: And bloom like a perfect rose SHABBAT MOMENT Poem Text First Line: A scarf trailing / over the lilac sunset Subject(s): Jewish Families SHABBAT MOMENT First Line: A scarf trailing %over the lilac sunset Last Line: Drinking the darkness Subject(s): Jewish Families SHAD BLOW First Line: Deer tracks cloven dark in the pale sand Last Line: Spring moves through me like an armada of light SHADOWS OF THE BURNING First Line: Oak burns steady and hot and long Last Line: And you and I dance in the fire of which %we are the logs, the matches and the flames SHAME First Line: I was nine years old and carted off %to ebensburg pa to visit my father's Last Line: Than that silly doorstep %I stole to possess SHUTTLE First Line: From one goblet we both drank wine SIGN Poem Text First Line: The first white hair coils in my hand Subject(s): Aging; Hair; Self-pity SIMPLE-SONG Poem Text First Line: When we are going toward someone we say Subject(s): Love SIMPLE-SONG First Line: When we are going toward someone we say Last Line: The door in the chest standing open Subject(s): Love SIMPLIFICATION First Line: A rolling tank of man, ramparts of flesh SINS OF OMISSION First Line: Little gravestones like mushrooms %sprung up with the moist dawn Last Line: In the knotted prayer of a poem %can I make those colors gleam SITTING LIKE A TURTLE First Line: My fingers are silted shut SIX UNDERRATED PLEASURES First Line: They must be clean SKY CHANGES First Line: I watch the dry wind chafing Last Line: And we drink each other, quenched SKYSCRAPERS OF THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT DANCE WITH GASMAN First Line: The skyscrapers are dancing by the river Subject(s): Skyscrapers; Wall Street, New York City SLIDES FROM OUR RECENT EUROPEAN TRIP First Line: In kennet avenue among the monoliths Variant Title(s): Avebur SMALLEY BAR First Line: Anchored a ways off buoy rocks the sailboat Last Line: It's not my sailboat %ever, but it's my choice SNOWFLAKES, MY MOTHER CALLED THEM Poem Text Last Line: Stood, made of skill and absence Subject(s): Mothers; Grandparents; Snow; Childhood Memories SNOWFLAKES, MY MOTHER CALLED THEM Last Line: Stood, made of skill and absence Subject(s): Jewish Families SOFTLY DURING THE NIGHT First Line: Rain is tickling the leaves like the ghost of itself Last Line: As I pass bear witness to what came and left %furtive as if it took instead of giving SOME THINGS RETURN IN SPRING Poem Text First Line: The brave spears of the garlic Subject(s): Spring SOMEPLACE ELSE First Line: Blackberries sweet and dusty SOMETHING SO SHARP First Line: The blade that slices the afternoon Last Line: When you do not think %of dying SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO Poem Text First Line: Menopause -- word used as an insult Subject(s): Menopause SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO First Line: Menopause -- word used as an insult Last Line: I will burn my last tampons as votive candles Subject(s): Menopause SOMETIMES WHILE I AM CHANTING' Poem Text SOMETIMES WHILE I AM CHANTING' Last Line: There is no I only you only %light burning and unburnt Subject(s): Religion; Spiritual Life SONG OF THE NUDGE First Line: There are eight people in this room Last Line: It is probably better to lock the door SPINNING MY WHEELS First Line: Those of us who come from detroit Last Line: For I'm queen of the road damn it %still greasy after all these years STORY WET AS TEARS First Line: Remember the princess who kissed the frog Last Line: Marriage turns them quietly back SUBTLE COMMANDS OF THE EARTH First Line: All winter long the air is slightly rusted iron Last Line: Till we fall on each other like starving foxes SUMMER MOURNING First Line: One summer morning the light pools heavy Last Line: Of what is, is the bone rotting from within Subject(s): Jewish Families SUN-DAY POACHER First Line: My uncle zimmy worked the face down in the soft Last Line: The same fatality in his embrace SUNDAY AFTERNOON First Line: On manhattan bridge SWEAR IT Poem Text First Line: My mother swore ripely, inventively Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary SYZYGY First Line: Sometimes I drift in a precarious balancde Last Line: Between my wandering poles TARGETS First Line: I am shooting targets propped against Last Line: Painted targets in the sand TASHLICH Poem Text First Line: Go to the ocean and throw the crumbs in Last Line: He will broil my sins for supper Subject(s): Rites & Ceremonies; Jews TASHLICH First Line: Go to the ocean and throw the crumbs in Last Line: The stain of betrayal from the new year Subject(s): Jewish Families TASK NEVER COMPLETED First Line: No task is ever completed Last Line: Rough improvisation, but a start Subject(s): Jewish Families TEACHING EXPERIENCE First Line: Pour into them Last Line: But you, keep quiet and moving THE ALTNEUSHUL IN THE OLD PRAGUE GHETTO Poem Text First Line: Craggy lines stoop against a crowded sky Last Line: Here you slam against the fact and then rejoice Subject(s): Synagogues; Prague, Czech Republic; Ghettos THE ARIA Poem Text First Line: One crow comes now every morning Last Line: Croutons. They throw a party Subject(s): Birds; Crows THE ARK OF CONSEQUENCE Poem Text First Line: The classic rainbow shows as an arc Subject(s): Jewish Families THE ART OF BLESSING THE DAY Poem Text First Line: This is the blessing for rain after drought Subject(s): Jewish Families THE BOOK OF RUTH AND NAOMI Poem Text First Line: When you pick up the tanakh and read Subject(s): Jewish Families THE CAT'S SONG Poem Text First Line: Mine, says the cat, putting out his paw of darkness Subject(s): Cats THE CHUPPAH Poem Text First Line: The chuppah stands on four poles Subject(s): Jewish Families THE DAY MY MOTHER DIED Poem Text First Line: I seldom have premonitions of death Subject(s): Death - Mothers; Dead, The THE FAITHLESS Poem Text First Line: Sleep, you jade smooth liar Subject(s): Unfaithfulness; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy THE FLYING JEW Poem Text First Line: I never met my uncle dave Subject(s): Jewish Families THE FRIEND Poem Text First Line: We sat across the table. Subject(s): Love - Nature Of THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH Poem Text First Line: The christian right, islamic jihad Subject(s): Jewish Families THE GARDENER'S LITANY Poem Text First Line: We plant, it is true Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening THE GLAMOUR OF IT Poem Text First Line: The glamour of it to a child all sniffing Last Line: Curiosity fattened on those scraps Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Nostalgia; Ancestors & Ancestry THE GOOD OLD DAYS AT HOME SWEET HOME Poem Text First Line: On monday my mother washed. Subject(s): Family Life; Mothers; Relatives THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE INCONVENIENT Poem Text First Line: Gardening is often a measured cruelty: Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening THE HEAD OF THE YEAR Poem Text First Line: The moon is dark tonight, a new Subject(s): Jewish Families THE HOUSING PROJECT AT DRANCY Poem Text First Line: Trains without signs flee through paris Subject(s): Jewish Families THE HUNGER MOON Poem Text First Line: The snow is frozen moonlight on the marshes Subject(s): Jewish Families THE INFLUENCE COMING INTO PLAY: THE SEVEN OF PENTACLES Poem Text First Line: Under a sky the color of pea soup Subject(s): Jews - Women THE INSIDE CHANCE Poem Text First Line: Dance like a jackrabbit / in the dunegrass, dance Last Line: Like thousands of waving hands Subject(s): Spring THE LISTMAKER Poem Text First Line: I am a compiler of lists: 1 bag THE MEANINGFUL EXCHANGE Poem Text First Line: The man talks Subject(s): Women THE NEIGHBOR Poem Text First Line: Man stomping over my bed in boots Subject(s): Neighbors; Anger THE NEW YEAR OF THE TREES Poem Text First Line: It is the new year of the trees, but here Subject(s): Jewish Families THE PROMOTION Poem Text First Line: My friend has become an administrator. Subject(s): Corporate Life THE RAM'S HORN SOUNDING Poem Text First Line: Giant porcupine, I walk a rope braided Subject(s): Jewish Families THE REAL HEARTH Poem Text First Line: Let's heat up the night to a boil Subject(s): Jewish Families THE SECRETARY CHANT Poem Text First Line: My hips are a desk Subject(s): Jewish Families THE SKYSCRAPERS OF THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT DANCE WITH GASMAN First Line: The skyscrapers are dancing by the river Subject(s): Skyscrapers; Wall Street, New York City THE TAO OF TOUCH Poem Text First Line: What magic does touch create Subject(s): Touch (sense) THE TASK NEVER COMPLETED Poem Text First Line: No task is ever completed Subject(s): Jewish Families THE THIEF Poem Text First Line: Dina sent me a postcard Subject(s): Jewish Families THE WINE Poem Text First Line: Red is the body's own deep song Last Line: That is the wine of life Subject(s): Wine; Red (color) THE WORLD IN THE YEAR 2000 Poem Text First Line: It will be covered to a depth of seven Subject(s): Packages THIEF First Line: Dina sent me a postcard Last Line: As I freed %those captured coins Subject(s): Jewish Families THING-SONG First Line: Jagged intractability THINKING OF HOMER AT TWILIGHT First Line: Dark harbor: penny wore that phrase Last Line: Out of the dark harbor, still water waiting THIS PROWLING ZOO First Line: I am warm and humane THOUSANDS OF MORNING MOTHS First Line: Today in the early june woods Last Line: Along the road like friendly laughter THREE A.M. FEEDING First Line: Three a.M. And I think the moon Last Line: Whose pain still pierces me, become my own THREE MONTHS EXILE First Line: Our roses are blooming Last Line: That long warm furry skein TO BE OF USE Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: The people I love the best Subject(s): Jewish Families; Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers TO BE OF USE First Line: The people I love the best Last Line: The pitcher cries for water to carry %and a person for work that is real Subject(s): Jewish Families TO HAVE WITHOUT HOLDING Poem Text First Line: Learning to love differently is hard Subject(s): Love TO HAVE WITHOUT HOLDING First Line: Learning to love differently is hard Last Line: And anger moment by moment balanced Subject(s): Love TOAD DREAMS Poem Text First Line: The dream of toads: we rarely Subject(s): Dreams; Animals; Conduct Of Life; Nightmares TOAD DREAMS First Line: The dream of toads: we rarely Last Line: We will never dream the intense %wet spring lust of the toads TOO LONG DEAD Poem Text First Line: I just came on it like a rake in the grass Last Line: In a gust of cherries and cinnamon Subject(s): Death; Memory; Mourning; Dead, The TOO LONG DEAD First Line: I just came on it like a rake in the grass Last Line: In a gust of cherries and cinnamon Subject(s): Death; Memory TOO SOON TO BE TRUE First Line: A soft round monday in january Last Line: Relaxes ex-lovers into a warm %slough of flesh on the abandoned bed TOWARD A SUDDEN SILENCE First Line: The vast dry sand dunes are stirring Last Line: Where I have been, where I can still try to go TRACKS Poem Text First Line: The small birds leave cuneiform Subject(s): Animals; Relationships TRANSFIXED ON THE BANK First Line: All rivers are mysteries Last Line: Us downstream and out to sea TRAVELING DREAM Poem Text First Line: I am packing to go to the airport Subject(s): Animals; Cats; Dreams; Travel; Nightmares; Journeys; Trips TRAVELING DREAM First Line: I am packing to go to the airport Last Line: There is one cat the size of a sofa Subject(s): Animals; Cats; Dreams; Travel TROPHY First Line: Fur coats mean slaughter now Last Line: Needing the coat to love %me so something would Subject(s): Clothing And Dress; Fur Trade TRUE PATRIOT First Line: I am ibolan, says she Last Line: There are any of us left TRUE ROMANCE First Line: In a room with a nylon carpet and a daybed Last Line: Become real too, as the box glued to your eyes TRUTH ACCORDING TO LUDD First Line: The pleasure ofkicking the vacuum cleaner Last Line: They have the contempt the whore does for johns TRYING OUR METAL First Line: Silver I like better than gold Last Line: Wash of the river of years TWITCH IN TIME First Line: The cat knows something Last Line: Waiting for the stranger to walk in UNBUTTONING Poem Text First Line: The buttons lie jumbled in a tin Last Line: Left by vanished flesh Subject(s): Death – Mothers; Clothing & Dress; Body, Human UNBUTTONING First Line: The buttons lie jumbled in a tin Last Line: Left by vanished flesh Subject(s): Jewish Families UNCLENCH YOURSELF First Line: Open, love %I tell you we are able UNDERWATER BREATHING First Line: Then I went down to the river Last Line: Into the body till it can swim underblood UP AND OUT Poem Text First Line: We occupy neighborhoods like roominghouses Subject(s): Jewish Families UP AND OUT First Line: We occupy neighborhoods like roominghouses Last Line: In heaven as on earth the dishes must be done Subject(s): Jewish Families UP AND OUT, SELS. V'AHAVTA Poem Text First Line: So you shall love what is holy Subject(s): Jewish Families V'AHAVTA First Line: So you shall love what is holy Last Line: Let us remember to find what is holy %within and without Subject(s): Jewish Families VALLEY WHERE I DON'T BELONG First Line: The first cocks begin clearing the throat of morning Last Line: Than that thin red leap of bone: I live, I live. %I and my worn symbols see up the sun Subject(s): Poetry And Poets VEGETABLE LOVE First Line: Outside gnarled rough black Last Line: Full of juice and hot within %just like our love VIL FOR THE LAYMAN First Line: On the sunblasted and sterile island of vil Last Line: Is carved kansas, a date, and the message mirnie sucks VISITATION First Line: The yearling doe stands by the pile of salt Last Line: Into to graze, from the lean late woods VISITING A DEAD MAN ON A SUMMER DAY Poem Text First Line: In flat america, in chicago, Subject(s): Cemeteries; Chicago; Graveyards VISITING A DEAD MAN ON A SUMMER DAY First Line: In flat america, in chicago VISITORS WITH TOO MUCH BAGGAGE First Line: You stand with your arm heavy on your wife VOICE OF THE GRACKLE First Line: Among the red winged blackbirds Last Line: Half clown, half hero WAKING WITH MY EARS RINGING First Line: Sometimes I wake up in the night Last Line: To ghosts whenever I shut off the lights WALKING IN WANING LIGHT First Line: The december marsh is the rough Last Line: Yet to hatch that hot egg WARM PLACE BECOMES A COLD PLACE First Line: A black hole Last Line: To darkness, where now %means only absence WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TO SAY TO EACH OTHER First Line: The redwing blackbirds have arrived in their hundreds Last Line: And the nest and eggs will be hidden in the grass WE SPEAK OF SEEING THE HERON, AS IF THERE WERE ONLY ONE First Line: Dawn, the sky split by an incoming front, Last Line: Wings promise me something holy survives WELLFLEET SHABBAT Poem Text First Line: The hawk eye of the sun slowly shuts Subject(s): Jewish Families WELLFLEET SHABBAT First Line: The hawk eye of the sun slowly shuts Last Line: Down the fresh clean night Subject(s): Jewish Families WET First Line: Desire urges us on deeper Last Line: To its dark glimmer WHALE WE ARE First Line: The mind plunges into sleep, lurching down Last Line: And bolts somber glimmering ancient prey WHAT ARE BIG GIRLS MADE OF First Line: The construction of a woman Last Line: To be made of pain WHAT ARE BIG GIRLS MADE OF? Poem Text First Line: The construction of a woman: Subject(s): Women WHAT CROSSES OVER First Line: The deep dark waters of the belly Last Line: Of peaches, the alphabet of your spine WHAT SHE CRAVED Poem Text First Line: My mother sugared grapefruit; / my father salted it Subject(s): Jewish Families; Mothers; Sugar WHAT SHE CRAVED First Line: My mother sugared grapefruit; %my father salted it Last Line: Ticking through running down days Subject(s): Jewish Families; Mothers; Sugar WHAT'S THAT SMELL IN THE KITCHEN Poem Text First Line: All over america women are burning dinners Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks WHAT'S THAT SMELL IN THE KITCHEN First Line: All over america women are burning dinners Last Line: Burning dinners is not incompetence but war Subject(s): Cooking And Cooks WHEN TOO MUCH IS BARELY ENOUGH First Line: The scent of butter and cream honeysuckle Last Line: Who could eat this day and not be filled WHERE DREAMS COME FROM Poem Text First Line: A girl slams the door of her little room Subject(s): Universities & Colleges; Ambition; Family Life; Relatives WHERE IS MY HALF-USED TUBE OF TOM'S FENNEL TOOTHPASTE TONIGHT? First Line: Here I am I think in des moines Last Line: O my wandering clothes, come home WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN FRIENDS First Line: What cannot happen %imprints the mind Last Line: On a wall %left otherwise blank WHY I BOUGHT THE STUPID PALM TREE DISH First Line: The woman waits at the dippint card table Last Line: Packed in a heart shaped leaking aluminum mold WHY THE SOUP TASTES LIKE THE DAILY NEWS First Line: The great dream stinks like a whale gone aground Last Line: Dyes every tongue WICKED STEPMOTHER First Line: The good and loving mother dies Last Line: Just before the end of time Subject(s): Jewish Families WIND CHANGES AROUND First Line: Yesterday the sky was larkspur velour Last Line: Bring in more wood, for the snow %is coming like an army of occupation WINDOW OF THE WOMAN BURNING First Line: Woman dancing with hair WINE First Line: Red is the body's own deep song Last Line: That is the wine of life Subject(s): Jewish Families WINTER PROMISES Poem Text First Line: Tomatoes rosy as perfect baby's buttocks, Subject(s): Winter; Tomatoes; Promises WOMAN IN A SHOE Poem Text First Line: There was an old woman who lived Subject(s): Jewish Families WOMAN IN A SHOE First Line: There was an old woman who lived Last Line: And you see living garbage Subject(s): Jewish Families WOMAN IN THE Last Line: Like a hand grenade set to explode, %like goldenrod ready to bloom WOMAN IN THE BUSHES First Line: A snail easing gingerly Last Line: It just takes time and weather WORD PROBLEM First Line: I find I am inhabited WORK OF ARTIFACE First Line: The bonsai [or bonzai] %in the attractive pot Last Line: The bound feet, %the crippled brain %the hair in curlers, %the hands you %love to touch Subject(s): Bonsai; Poetry And Poets WORLD COMES BACK LIKE AN OLD CAT First Line: Slowly the topography emerges, a pile WORLD FROM BELOW First Line: To a young child, all grown-ups are tall Last Line: Decoding the world secretly, and wrong WORLD UNBANDAGED First Line: Slowly after the pain my vision came Last Line: Bubbled with inner and outer light WORLDS WITHOUT END First Line: Whenever you touch my mind unexpectedly Last Line: As I proceed there is more of you to know WRITING BAG First Line: Succubus despair WRONG MONDAY First Line: First the alarm is mute. Forgot the plunger Last Line: Stalled in traffic, my period starts YAHRTZEIT First Line: Everything I have written about Last Line: And you stab straight for my heart %and it stops Subject(s): Jewish Families YEARNING TO REPOSSESS THE BODY First Line: Fever makes me luminous, a firefly Last Line: Soundly, dance with my heavy feet. %enough of flying on the white wind of fever! YELLOW LIGHT First Line: When I see -- obsolete, forgotten Last Line: Than uncles and aunts understand YELLOW, RED, BLUE First Line: The sun melts through the body and turns it to joy Last Line: Otherwise I'm empty as a perfect whelk shell YOU ASK WHY SOMETIMES I SAY STOP Poem Text Subject(s): Sex YOU ASK WHY SOMETIMES I SAY STOP Subject(s): Sex YOUR EYES RECALL OLD FANTASIES First Line: The aegean of your eyes -- remembered Last Line: In a language I could not yet read YOUR FATHER'S FOURTH HEART ATTACK Poem Text First Line: The phone cord is the umbilicus Subject(s): Jewish Families YOUR FATHER'S FOURTH HEART ATTACK First Line: The phone cord is the umbilicus Last Line: While he calls till hoarseness, for himself Subject(s): Jewish Families YOUR STANDARD MID LIFE CRISIS First Line: A friend is destroying his life Last Line: Him like a votive candle, doomed %to drip itself out ZEROAH: LAMB SHANK Poem Text First Line: It grosses out many of my friends Subject(s): Jewish Families ZEROAH: LAMB SHANK First Line: It grosses out many of my friends Last Line: Meat that thinks and sings Subject(s): Jewish Families |
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