Collected poems : 1974--2004
Poems. Selections
In the old neighborhood. -- The yellow house on the corner
Museum The hill has something to say -- The fish in the stone -- The ants of Argos -- Pithos -- Nestor's bathtub -- The hill has something to say -- The copper beech -- Tou Wan speaks to her husband, Liu Sheng -- Catherine of Alexandria -- Catherine of Siena -- Receiving the stigmata -- Boccaccio : the plague years -- Fiammetta breaks her peace -- In the bulrush -- November for beginners -- Reading Hölderlin on the patio with the aid of a dictionary -- Shakespeare say -- Three days of forest, a river, free -- Banneker -- In the bulrush -- Delft -- Ike -- Agosta the Winged Man and Rasha the Black Dove -- At the German writers conference in Munich -- My father's telescope -- Grape sherbet -- Roses -- Sunday night at grandfather's -- Centipede -- My father's telescope -- Song. Summer -- Anti-father -- To bed -- A father out walking on the lawn -- Primer for the nuclear age -- The sailor in Africa -- Early morning on the Tel Aviv-Haifa Freeway -- Why I turned vegetarian -- Eastern European eclogues -- Flirtation -- Exeunt the viols -- The left-handed cellist -- Lines muttered in sleep -- Primer for the Nuclear Age -- Parsley.
Thomas and Beulah Mandolin -- The event -- Variation on pain -- Jiving -- Straw hat -- Courtship -- Refrain -- Variation on guilt -- Nothing down -- The Zeppelin Factory -- Under the viaduct, 1932 -- Lightnin' blues -- Compendium -- Definition in the face of unnamed fury -- Aircraft -- Aurora Borealis -- Variation on gaining a son -- One volume missing -- The charm -- Gospel -- Roast possum -- The stroke -- The Satisfaction Coal Company -- Thomas at the wheel -- Canary in bloom -- Taking in wash -- Magic -- Courtship, diligence -- Promises -- Dusting -- A hill of beans -- Weathering out -- Motherhood -- Anniversary -- The house on Bishop Street -- Daystar -- Obedience -- The great palaces of Versailles -- Pomade -- Headdress -- Sunday greens -- Recovery -- Nightmare -- Wingfoot Lake -- Company -- The Oriental ballerina -- Chronology.
Grace notes Summit Beach, 1921 -- Silos -- Fifth grade autobiography -- The buckeye -- Quaker oats -- Flash cards -- Crab-boil -- Hully gully -- Fantasy and science fiction -- Sisters -- Uncle Millet -- Poem in which I refuse contemplation -- Mississippi -- After storm -- Watching Last Year at Marienbad at Roger Haggerty's house in Auburn, Alabama -- Dog days, Jerusalem -- Ozone -- Turning thirty, I contemplate students bicycling home -- Particulars -- Your death -- The wake -- The other side of the house -- Pastoral -- Horse and tree -- The breathing, the endless news -- After reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the third time before bed -- Genetic expedition -- Backyard, 6 a.m. -- Dedication -- Ars poetica -- Arrow -- Stitches -- In the museum -- And counting -- Dialectical romance -- Medusa -- In a neutral city -- Saints -- Genie's prayer under the kitchen sink -- The gorge -- Canary -- The island women of Paris -- À l'Opéra -- Obbligato -- Lint -- The royal workshops -- On the road to Damascus -- Old folk's home, Jerusalem.
Mother love An intact world -- Heroes -- Primer -- Party dress for a first born -- Persephone, falling -- The search -- Protection -- The narcissus flower -- Persephone abducted -- Statistic : the witness -- Grief : the Council -- Mother love -- Breakfast of champions -- Golden oldie -- Persephone in hell -- Hades' pitch -- Wiederkehr -- Wiring home -- The Bistro Styx -- Blue days -- Nature's itinerary -- Sonnet in primary colors -- Demeter mourning -- Exit -- Afield -- Lost brilliance -- Political -- Demeter, waiting -- Lamentations -- Teotihuacán -- History -- Used -- Rusks -- Missing -- Demeter's prayer to Hades -- Her island.
On the bus with Rosa Parks Cameos -- July 1925 -- Night -- Birth -- Lake Erie skyline, 1930 -- Depression years -- Homework -- Graduation, grammar school -- Painting the town -- Easter Sunday, 1940 -- Nightwatch, the son -- Freedom : bird's eye view -- Singsong -- I cut my finger once on purpose -- Parlor -- The first book -- Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967 -- Freedom : birds' eye view -- Testimonial -- Dawn revisited -- Black on a Saturday night -- My mother enters the work force -- Black on a Saturday night -- The musician talks about "process" -- Sunday -- The camel comes to us from the barbarians -- The Venus of Willendorf -- Incarnation in Phoenix -- Revenant -- Best Western Motor Lodge, AAA Approved -- Revenant -- On Veronica -- There came a soul -- The peach orchard -- Against repose -- Against self-pity -- Götterdämmerung -- Ghost walk -- Lady Freedom among us -- For Sophie, who'll be in first grade in the year 2000 -- On the bus with Rosa Parks -- Sit back, relax -- "The situation is intolerable" -- Freedom Ride -- Climbing in -- Claudette Colvin goes to work -- The enactment -- Rosa -- QE2, transatlantic crossing, third day -- In the lobby of the Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C. -- The pond, porch-view : six p.m., early spring.
American smooth Fox trot Fridays -- All Souls' -- "I have been a stranger in a strange land" -- Fox trot Fridays -- Ta Ta Cha Cha -- Quick -- Brown -- Fox -- Heart to heart -- Cozy apología -- Soprano -- Two for the Montrose Drive-In -- Meditation at fifty yards, moving target -- American smooth -- Not welcome here -- The castle walk -- The passage -- Noble Sissle's horn -- Alfonzo prepares to go over the top -- La Chapelle, 92nd Division, Ted -- Variation on reclamation -- The return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe -- Ripont -- Twelve chairs -- Blues in half-tones, 3/4 time -- Chocolate -- Bolero -- Hattie McDaniel arrives at the Coconut Grove -- Samba summer -- Blues in half-tones, 3/4 time -- Describe yourself in three words or less -- The seven veils of Salomé -- From your valentine -- Rhumba -- The sisters : swansong -- Evening primrose -- Evening primrose -- Reverie in open air -- Sic itur ad astra -- Count to ten and we'll be there -- Eliza, age 10, Harlem -- Lullaby -- Driving through -- Desert backyard -- Desk dreams -- Now -- Against flight -- Looking up from the page, I am reminded of this mortal coil. --
