Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser

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Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser Page 66

by Janet Kaufman


  The Sun-Artist, 547

  Sundays, They Sleep Late, 56

  “Surely it is time for the true grace of women”, 246

  The Surrounded, 58

  Target Practice, 156

  Te Hanh : Long-Ago Garden, 496

  Tenth Elegy. Elegy In Joy, 328

  Then, 561

  “Then full awake you will recognize the voice”, 396

  Then I Saw What the Calling Was, 267

  Theory of Flight, 47

  “They called us to a change of heart”, 240

  “They face us in sea-noon sun, just as he saw them waiting”, 367

  Third Elegy. The Fear of Form, 304

  This House, This Country, 20

  “This is the net of begetting and belief”, 389

  This Place in the Ways, 254

  Thousands of Days, 57

  Three Black Women, 122

  Three Nights I Dreamed, 369

  Three Sides of a Coin, 16

  Time Exposures, 123

  To a Lady Turning Middle-Aged, 578

  “To be a Jew in the twentieth century”, 243

  To Enter That Rhythm Where the Self Is Lost, 403

  Tradition of This Acre, 12

  Traditional Tune, 264

  The Transgress, 414

  Tree, 339

  Tree of Days, 164

  “A tree of rivers flowing through our lives”, 382

  “The tree of rivers seen and forgotten, 380

  The Trial, 29

  Trinity Churchyard, 556

  Trophies, 116

  Trout Fishing, 517

  A True Confession, 272

  The Tunnel, 31

  Two Bodies, 269

  The Two Illuminations, 342

  Two Years, 490

  An Unborn Poet, 591

  Unborn Song, 342

  The Victims, a Play for the Home, 175

  Voices, 475

  Voices of Waking, 357

  Waiting for Icarus, 476

  “Waiting to leave all day I hear the words”, 561

  Wake Island, 201

  Waking This Morning, 471

  “Walking the world to find the poet of these cries”, 562

  The War Comes into My Room, 425

  The Wards, 546

  The Watchers, 347

  Water Night, 253

  Waterlily Fire, 405

  The Burning, 405

  The Island, 406

  Journey Changes, 408

  Fragile, 409

  The Long Body, 409

  The Way Out, 454

  Wedding Presents, 15

  Welcome from War, 496

  West Virginia, 74

  “What did I see? What did I not see?”, 486

  What Do I Give You?, 413

  What Do We See?, 472

  What Have You Brought Home from the Wars?, 437

  What I See, 421

  “What kind of woman goes searching and searching?”, 480

  What They Said, 439

  Wherever, 498

  Who in One Lifetime, 228

  Willkie in The Gulliver, 396

  The Wiping Moss from the Ruins, 519

  The Witness, 459

  Woman and Bird, 131

  Woman and Emblems, 131

  Woman and Bird, 131

  The Birthday, 131

  Woman and Music, 132

  Woman and Music, 132

  “Woman as gates, saying”, 461

  Woman as Market, 441

  Forgetting and Remembering, 441

  “Women and poets see the truth arrive”, 239

  Wooden Spring, 13

  Word of Mouth, 442

  The Return, 442

  Word of Mouth, 443

  Word of Mouth, 443

  The Word-Fisher, 518

  Work, for the Day Is Coming, 551

  Wreath of Women, 217

  The Writer, 502

  “You grief woman you gave me a scarlet covelet”, 565

  The Young Girl of the Mississippi Valley, 334

  INDEX OF FIRST LINES

  First lines of poems appear in roman; first lines of subsections appear in italics. Alphabetical order disregards initial articles in titles and subtitles.

  Across the country, iron hands push up chimneys, 49

  Act I, Sc. 4. She is lit, standing high, with the lit line of Anne's, 266

  After I am dead, darling, 439

  After the black ones!, 516

  After the last cold mountain, 132

  After the last freeze, in easy air, 428

  After the lifting of the mist, 465

  After the lights and after the rumba and after the bourbon, 263

  After the quarrel in the house I walked the grasses of the field, 338

  After the revolution came the Fuehrer, 264

  After this crisis, 485

  After you finish your work, 492

  Air fills with fear and the kinds of fear, 565

  All day the rain, 568

  All of the people of the play were there, 433

  All of the people of the play were there, 434

  All power is saved, having no end. Rises, 99

  All the voices of the wood called “Muriel!”, 267

  All this time, 438

  Along history, forever, 488

  Always I travelled farther, 20

  Am I in your light?, 16

  Among all the waste there are the intense stories, 244

  Among leaf-green, 426

  Among the days, 563

  And for the man with one nightmare, the student of clouds, the bitter, 178

  And if the cliffs themselves produced the major illusion, 171

  And if the curtain lifts, it is a window-shade, 175

  And the child sitting alone planning her hope, 307

  And turn and arise and give these wounds their song, 292

  Angel of declaring, you opened before us walls, 481

  Another day. I stand before the screen, 548

  Another day. No sun. The fog is down, 548

  Answer with me these certainties, 42

  Antaeus was once strong, when his feet, locked in earth, 586

  As I came out of the New York Public Library, 161

  As I went down the road to the water, the river to the sea, 174

  As I went down to Rotten Lake I remembered, 299

  As we climb to the church of Galilee, 564

  Asleep and awake, I wake, 349

  At daybreak go looking for your newborn name, 360

  At one shock, speechlessness, 452

  At the end of July, exile. We watched the gangplank go, 144

  A baroque night advances in its clouds, 302

  Battles whose names I do not know, 494

  Be bold, friend ; all your nymphs have disappeared, 16

  Be proud you people of these graves, 51

  Beat out continuance in the choking veins, 68

  Believing in those inexorable laws, 421

  Between between, 466

  Between the illuminations of great mornings, 431

  Big-boned man young and of my dream, 467

  A bird flew out of a cloud, 131

  Black parental mysteries, 536

  Bleeding of the mountains, 494

  Blue in the green trees, what are they climbing?, 541

  The body cannot lie, but its betrayals, 115

  Born of this river and this rock island, I relate, 406

  Boys of these men, 488

  Break of light! Sun in his colors, 548

  Breathe-in experience, breathe-out poetry, 3

  Brecht saying : Galileo talking astronomy, 482

  Bringing their life these young, 498

  The brown, dead leaves, 576

  The bubbles in the blood sprang free, 231

  But that was years ago. My child is grown, 536

  But these two figures are not the statues east and west, 535

  But this is our desire, and of its worth, 24

  By day white moths, th
e nightlong meteors, 433

  The cabinet minister speaks of liberation, 563

  Call himself unbegun, for the sea made him; assemblages of waters, 185

  The calling and the melody all night long, 233

  Came in my full youth to the midnight cave, 207

  Came to Ajanta cave, the painted space of the breast, 210

  Camera at the crossing sees the city, 77

  Care for love tenderly, it is deep in me, 273

  Carlos, your art is embryos, 404

  The cattle-trains edge along the river, bringing morning on a white vibration, 35

  A child is in the dark room where the dim lights swim, 585

  A child riding the stormy mane of noon, 399

  the child, the poems, the child, the poems, the journeys, 424

  Child who within me gives me dreams and sleep, 282

  The childless years alone without a home, 280

  Children remembering sadness grieve, they grieve, 497

  The choice proposed : ascends, the nervy conductor, 116

  City, 579

  The city of the heart, 234

  The city of the past. The past as a city, 434

  Climbing the air, prophet beyond prophet, 483

  Clouds, airs, carried me away, 255

  The clouds are dark, 275

  Colors move on a screen. The doors open again, 548

  Come back to us, little grey sister, 576

  Come : you are the one chosen, by them, to serve them, 490

  Coming among the living, 159

  Coming to Spain on the first day of the fighting, 241

  The concert-hall was crowded the night of the crash, 172

  Configurations of time and singing, 238

  Consumed. Eaten away. And love across the street, 94

  Crucified child—is he crucified? he is tortured, 567

  Darkness, giving us dream's black unity, 318

  Dashing in glass we race, 55

  A day is lost, 361

  The day of life and death offers its flowers, 236

  The days are incestuous, each with its yesterday, 56

  The days grow and the stars cross over, 215

  Dear place, sweet home, 583

  Death flowing down past me, past me, death, 474

  Death is here, death is guarded by swords, 491

  Death's threat! Today I have known laughter, 282

  December steel done, flowers open color, 130

  Deeper than sleep but not so deep as death, 340

  The deepest blue, green, not the streams of the sea, 547

  Democritus laughed when he, 164

  Depth of petals, May iris, 491

  Do you know the name of the average animal?, 222

  Dream of the world, 552

  The dream-image fades, with its red pandanu keys, 271

  Driven, at midnight, to growth, the city's wistful turnings, 129

  The drowning young man lifted his face from the river, 119

  Early, before the huge explosions, 592

  Early, before the reservoir, 591

  Earth, bind us close, and time ; nor, sky, deride, 21

  Eating sleep, eating sunlight, eating meat, 281

  Emerge, city, from your evening : allay me, sleep, 33

  Ends of the earth join tonight, 466

  Error, disease, snow, sudden weather, 92

  Eve walked in the Garden of a Sunday morning, 575

  Even after the letters, there is work, 88

  Even during war, moments of delicate peace, 239

  Evening, bringing me out of the government building, 243

  Faced with furnace demands during its education, 112

  Faithful ever to thy brother, 573

  The far lands melt to orange and to grey, 582

  Father and I drove to the sand-quarry across the ruined marshlands, 15

  The father and mother sat, and the sister beside her, 19

  The fear of poetry is the, 155

  A feat of laughter and a coastwise dance, 377

  The fertile season ending in a glitter, 434

  Fields where we slept, 384

  The fire entire, 475

  Fire-thread in the valley. Bird-voice in darkness, 390

  Five brick panels, three small windows, six lions' heads, 445

  Flickering, 493

  Flood over ocean, 449

  Flower of time, and a plague of white trilling in sunlight, 434

  Flowers of air, 423

  Fly down, Death: Call me, 221

  For that I cannot name the names, 567

  For that I never knew you, I only learned to dread you, 533

  For that you never acknowledged me, I acknowledge, 474

  Forerunners of images, 418

  Frail it is and can be intercepted, 579

  From you I learned the dark potential, 483

  Frontier of Europe, the tideless sea, a field of power, 145

  Gauley Bridge is a good town for Negroes, they let us stand, 87

  Ghostly in my house, 376

  The girl being chosen stood in her naked room, 211

  Girl grown woman fire mother of fire, 405

  Give a dime to a beggar for I have seen a sight, 126

  Give them my regards when you go to the school reunion, 121

  “Goodbye!” called the stockholders as the ship pulled out, 133

  Great Alexander sailing was from his true course turned, 403

  Green going through the jungle of those years, 554

  Griefs, 15

  Guilt said the bony man, 404

  A habit leading to murder, smoky laughter, 210

  A hall at the National Pawnshop crowded with unsold bureaus, 439

  The hand of day opens, 359

  Have you heard about Mr. Bratuscha?, 435

  Having come to this place, 254

  He said he would be back and we'd drink wine together, 476

  He sang until his death, 268

  He speaks in a big voice through all the air, 484

  He stood against the stove, 82

  He turned the lights on and walked to the window, 18

  He walks toward me. A black man in the sun, 450

  Held among wars, watching, 462

  Held between wars, 460

  Here, again. A smell of dying in the milk-pale carton, 353

  Here are the long fields inviolate of thought, 11

  Here is a long and silent street, 269

  Here's the story, my darling, of the dancing flower, 274

  High above shores and times, 481

  High wind, and spring restless in the ground, 584

  His life is in the body of the living, 247

  His tears fell from his veins, 502

  History melts my houses, 222

  Home thoughts from home; we read you every day, 242

  Horizon of islands shifting, 448

  How can I speak to them today? What can I know, 370

  How horrible late spring is, with the full death of the frozen tight bulbs, 13

  How lovely it is to, 517

  How will you catch these clues at the moment of waking, 416

  However the voices rise, 455

  Hunger, 424

  Hurricane, skullface, the sky's size, 452

  I answer! I fly reborn from deep escape!, 278

  I braced the drum to my arm, a flat drum, and began to play, 534

  I come into the room The room stands waiting, 521

  I first discovered what was killing these men, 83

  I go a road, 503

  I hold a key in my hand, 214

  I know that behind these walls is the city, over these rooftops is the sun, 265

  I know what I want in my words, 518

  I lie in the bath and I contemplate the toilet-paper, 503

  I lived in the first century of world wars, 430

  I look across at the real, 466

  I Muriel stood at the altar-table, 495

  I recognize this little song, 515

&
nbsp; I stand in the strong sun before a bank of prisms, 547

  I think of the image brought into my room, 409

  I thought I was going to the poets, but I am, 508

  I told myself coming after a long time to my poem, 592

  I want to speak in my voice!, 216

  I was born in winter when, 164

  I wear a garland and take my beloved's hand, 274

  I will say what I mean here; in a book, 372

  I'd rather be Muriel, 554

  An Idea ran about the world, 341

  Idols of luxury, 581

  If I could write : Summer waits your coming, 14

  I'm here again, 513

  I'm not much good at any of this, 514

  In adolescence I knew travellers, 4

  In agony saying :“The last night of his life,” 417

  In all the cities of this year, 335

  In burning summer I saw a season of betrayal, 314

  In her splendor islanded, 362

  In our period, they say there is free speech, 417

  In the cave with a long-ago flare, 537

  In the full sun. In the fruitfall season, 261

  In the human cities, never again to, 471

  In the last bus last night that dead musician, 344

  In the last hour of night, a zebra racing dawn, 384

  In the night the sound woke us, 503

  In the water-cave, 491

  In the wine country, poverty, they drink no wine, 457

  In wet green midspring, midnight and the wind, 257

  In woods you know stands the wonderworking madonna, 542

  In your time, there have been those who spoke clearly, 397

  Inland, away, 512

  Inner greet. Greenberg said it, 523

  Invading nightmare, spinning up through sleep, 122

  Inverted torrents, fountains with strong trunks of water, 585

  is my concern. That's this moment, 420

  It is all much worse than I dreamed, 212

  It is the poem, yes, 551

  It seemed at the time like a slow road and late afternoon, 339

  It was like everything else, like everything, 558

  It was long before the national performance, 162

  It was much later in his life he rose, 182

  It was much stronger than they said. Noisier, 343

  It's still my little big “big brother,” isn't it?, 518

  Jefferson spoke of freedom but he held slaves, 497

  The jokes, the feuds, the puns, the punishments, 499

  Kitty Hawk is a Caesar among monuments, 38

  Knowing again, 425

  Knowing the shape of the country. Knowing the midway travels of, 310

  Knowing the voices of the country, gathering, 195

  Land; and only to stand on the ground, stand on the brick, 158

  Last night she died, 50

  Lately having escaped three-kinded death, 334

  Lattice of his back grows, the dolphin-arching, till, 338

 

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