05 - Aging
Tis the last rose of summer
101
06 - Aging
Wreck in the Woods
594
07 - Aging
Thanksgiving’s Done
484
08 - Aging
Silence and Dancing
475
09 - Aging
Gyroscope
459
10 - Aging
Fading into Background
653
11 - Aging
All the World’s a Stage
44
12 - Aging
Song from Charles the First
105
13 - Aging
Three Graces, The
400
14 - Aging
Miss July Grows Older
534
15 - Aging
Amaryllis
307
16 - Aging
Death
53
17 - Waiting for Death
I heard a fly buzz when I died
237
18 - Waiting for Death
Still Life
498
19 - Waiting for Death
Souvenir
313
20 - Waiting for Death
Place (“There’s a Way out”)
483
21 - Waiting for Death
Misgiving
344
22 - Waiting for Death
On His Seventy-Fifth Birthday
100
23 - Waiting for Death
From The Ship of Death
405
24 - Waiting for Death
Nature
151
25 - Waiting for Death
Mr. Flood’s Party
310
26 - Waiting for Death
Pity of the Leaves, The
317
27 - Mortal Illness
Junk Man, The
391
28 - Mortal Illness
Scholar, The
99
29 - Mortal Illness
Last Words of My English Grandmother, The
399
Poets Look at War and Peace
02 - Glory
To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars
60
03 - Glory
Charge of the Light Brigade,The
182
04 - Glory
Soldier, The
415
05 - Glory
Landlord’s Tale, The
155
06 - Glory
Soldier of Fortune, The
385
07 - Soldiers
Old Liberators, The
618
08 - Soldiers
Camouflaging the Chimera
608
09 - Soldiers
What Saves Us
620
10 - Soldiers
ReQuiem for the Croppies
540
11 - Casualties
Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, The
452
12 - Casualties
Facing It
609
13 - Casualties
Killed at the Ford
148
14 - Casualties
Dulce et Decorum Est
430
15 - Casualties
Nameless Grave, A
147
16 - Casualties
On the Wire
362
17 - Casualties
Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead
181
18 - Casualties
Vergissmeinnicht
458
19 - Futility
Channel firing
267
20 - Futility
How We Heard the Name
470
21 - Futility
By that fallen house
302
22 - Futility
After Blenheim
96
23 - Futility
There will come soft rains
404
24 - Futility
Politics
298
25 - Bystanders
Ishtar
31
26 - Bystanders
Patterns
353
27 - Bystanders
Luck in Sarajevo
499
28 - Bystanders
War Poetry
666
Poets Look at Writing, Art, and Poetry
02 - Language
Word is dead, A
233
03 - Language
Ceist na Teangan (The Language Issue)
632
04 - Reading
Reader
474
05 - Reading
Travels by the Fireside
165
06 - Reading
Reading in Place
520
07 - Reading
Eating Poetry
519
08 - Writing
from: Three Types of Loss, part 3
602
09 - Writing
Late Registration
573
10 - Writing
An Exchange of Gifts
508
11 - Writing
Pact, A
410
12 - Writing
Jugurtha
148
13 - Writing
Armadillo, The
446
14 - Writing
What He thought
610
15 - Writing
Zimmer’s Head Thudding Against the Blackboard
521
16 - Writing
Poet’s Fate, The
141
17 - Writing
Dilemma
542
18 - Writing
Fountain, a Bottle, a Donkey's Ears, and Some Books, A
322
19 - Poetry
Poetry
417
20 - Poetry
Rudimentary Explanation of an Ideal Poem, A
504
21 - Poetry
Terence, This is Stupid Stuff
288
22 - Poetry
Introduction to Poetry
563
23 - Poetry
Last Answers
391
24 - Poetry
Naif, The
506
25 - Poetry
Poem You Asked For, The
603
26 - Poetry
Selecting a Reader
540
27 - Poetry
Poetry Reading at West Point, A
583
28 - Ars Poetica
Poet, The
114
29 - Ars Poetica
Ars Poetica
427
30 - Ars Poetica
Detail
572
31 - Ars Poetica
Purity
567
32 - Ars Poetica
Of Time and the Line
624
33 - Ars Poetica
Nuns Fret Not At Their Convent’s Narrow Room
71
34 - Ars Poetica
What you should know to be a poet
501
35 - Art
From Fuses I - On Art
221
36 - Art
My Madonna
362
37 - Art
Imaginary Paintings
473
Acknowledgements
All poems in this book come from copyrighted sources and the original sources retain all rights to the poems in this book. No poems from this book may be reproduced in any manner. New material created for this book is copyright 2006 by Level 4 Press. The editor and publisher wish to thank the following for permission to reprint copyright material.
“The Dumka” from THE ART OF
THE LATHE. Copyright © 1998 by B.H. Fairchild. Reprinted with the permission of Alice James Books.
Amiri Baraka, “Wise I” Reprinted by permission of SLL/Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Copyright © by Amiri Baraka
Tom Hennen, “The Life of a Day” and “Soaking Up Sun” from CRAWLING OUT THE WINDOW. Used with permission of Black Hat Press, Goodhue, MN.
Andrei Codrescu, extract from “Three Types of Loss” from ALIEN CANDOR: SELECTED POEMS 1970-1995 (Black Sparrow Press). Reprinted with the permission of the author.
Lucian Blaga, “I Will Not Crush the World’s Corolla of Wonders” used by permission of the translator.
“The Room” by Kevin Hart, from FLAME TREE: SELECTED POEMS, Bloodaxe Books, 2002. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Izet Sarajlic, “Luck in Sarajevo” from SCAR ON THE STONE: CONTEMPORARY POETRY OF BOSNIA (Bloodaxe Books). Reprinted with the permission of the translator.
Gwendolyn Brooks, “A Song in the Front Yard” from SELECTED POEMS, reprinted by permission of Brooks Permissions.
Gwendolyn Brooks, “The Boy Died in my Alley” from TO DISEMBARK, reprinted by permission of Brooks Permissions.
Patience Agbabi, “Transformatrix” from TRANSFORMATRIXi. First published in the UK by Canongate Books Ltd, 2000. Used with permission of Canongate Books.
Andrei Codrescu, “Defense of the Meek” from IT WAS TODAY, Coffeehouse Press. Used with permission of the author.
Mark Cox, “Geese” first appeared in “Smoulder,” David R. Godine, Publisher,
reprinted here by permission of the author.
Maura Stanton: “Living Apart” appeared in TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL (David R. Godine, 1988). Reprinted with permission of the author.
W.H. Davies, “Leisure” from COLLECTED POEMS OF W.H. DAVIES. Used with permission of Mrs H M Davies Will Trust.
Toi Derricotte, “Allen Ginsberg,” used by permission of the author. Copyright 1993 by Thomas M. Disch. “The Cardinal Detoxes” first appeared in The Hudson Review. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Stuart Dybek, “Maroon” and “Brass Knuckles” used by permission of the author.
Tanikawa Shuntaro, extract from “With Silence My Companion” from WITH SILENCE MY COMPANION, Prescot Street Press. Reprinted by permission of the translator.
Rutger Kopland, “Natzweiler” from A WORLD BEYOND MYSELF. Used with permission of Enitharmon Press.
Molly Fisk, “The Dry Tortugas,” “Intrigue,” “On the Disinclination to Scream” used with permission of the author.
“Vergissmeinnicht” from THE COMPLETE POEMS by Keith Douglas. Reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Inc., an affiliate of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 1978 by the Estate of Keith Douglas.
“Clearances: V,” “A Dream of Jealousy,” “The Haw Lantern,” “Punishment,” and “ReQuiem for the Croppies” from OPENED GROUND: SELECTED POEMS 1966-1996 by Seamus Heaney. Copyright © 1998 by Seamus Heaney. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
“Ode to the Maggot” from TALKING DIRTY TO THE GODS by Yusef Komunyakaa. Copyright © 2000 by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
“Party Piece” from LITTLE JOHNNY’S CONFESSION by Brian Patten. Copyright © 1967 by Brian Patten. Reprinted by permission of Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
“The Dance” from REPAIR by C.K. Williams. Copyright © 1999 by C.K. Williams. “My Fly” from THE VIGIL by C.K. Williams. Copyright © 1997 by C.K. Williams. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC: “The Armadillo,” “Filling Station,” “In the Waiting Room,” “One Art,” and “Sestina” from THE COMPLETE POEMS by Elizabeth Bishop. Copyright © 1979, 1983 by Alice Helen Methfessel. “Knowledge” from THE BLUE ESTUARIES by Louise Bogan. Copyright (c) 1968 by Louise Bogan. Copyright renewed 1996 by Ruth Limmer. “Ark” and “Assembly Line” from A SPLINTERED MIRROR, translated by Donald Finkel. Translation copyright (c) 1991 by Donald Finkel. “The Reassurance” and “Still Life” from COLLECTED POEMS by Thom Gunn. Copyright (c) 1994 by Thom Gunn. “Bats,” “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” and “Next Day” from THE COMPLETE POEMS by Randall Jarrell. Copyright (c) 1969, renewed 1997 by Mary von S. Jarrell. “An Arundel Tomb,” “Talking in Bed,” and “This Be the Verse” from COLLECTED POEMS by Philip Larkin. Copyright (c) 1988, 2003, by the Estate of Philip Larkin. “Reading Myself” from COLLECTED POEMS by Robert Lowell. Copyright 2003 by Harriet Lowell and Sheridan Lowell. “Landscapes” from LEGACIES: SELECTED POEMS by Heberto Padilla, translated by Alastair Reid and Andrew Hurley. Translation copyright (c) 1982 by Alastair Reid and Andrew Hurley. “Love after Love” from COLLECTED POEMS: 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott. Copyright (c) 1986 by Derek Walcott. “Electric Elegy” and “Moment” from WITHOUT END by Adam Zagajewski, translated by Clare Cavanagh, Renata Gorczynski, Benjamin Ivry and C.K. Williams. Copyright (c) 2002 by Adam Zagajewski. Translation copyright (c) 2002 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Nuala Ni Dhomhnail, “Ceist na Teangan” By kind permission of the author and The Gallery Press, Loughcrew, Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland from PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER (1990).
Charles Simic, “Fork,” “Prodigy,” “Detail” from SELECTED EARLY POEMS, George Braziller, Inc.. Used with permission of the author.
Lorna Goodison, “Birth Stone” reprinted with permission of the author.
Jorie Graham, “Salmon” used with permission of the author.
“Detail” copyright 2002 by Eamon Grennan. Reprinted from STILL LIFE WITH WATERFALL with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota. ’Detail’ by Eamon Grennan, reproduced in the UK by kind permission of the author and The Gallery Press, Loughcrw, Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland from STILL LIFE WITH WATERFALL (2001).
“Jake Addresses the World from his Garden,, from “As Long as You’re Happy,” Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, 1986, copyright © by Jack Myers, permission granted by the author.
“Traveling through the Dark” copyright 1962, 1998 by the Estate of William Stafford. Reprinted from THE WAY IT IS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
“Alley Violinist” from LOVE HAD A COMPASS copyright © 1996 by Robert Lax, used by permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
“To Know Silence Perfectly” from GOOD MORNING, AMERICA, copyright 1928 and renewed 1956 by Carl Sandburg, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.
“The Answering Machine” from THE HOLY WORM OF PRAISE, copyright © 2001 by Philip Schultz, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc. and the author.
“Country Fair” from HOTEL INSOMNIA, copyright © 1992 by Charles Simic, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc. and the author.
“The Old World” from HOTEL INSOMNIA, copyright © 1992 by Charles Simic, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc. and the author.
“Long Feud” from BURNING BUSH copyright 1928 by Harcourt, Inc., and renewed 1956 by Louis Untermeyer, reprinted by permission of the publisher.
“A Summer Morning” from ADVICE TO A PROPHET AND OTHER POEMS, copyright © 1960 and renewed 1988 by Richard Wilbur, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.
“The Swan at Edgewater Park,” Ruth L. Schwartz. Reprinted by permission of the author and Harper-Collins Publishers (Edgewater, 2002).
Jackleen Holton, “American History” and “Free” reprinted with permission of the author.
Robert Hedin, “The Old Liberators,” reprinted from THE OLD LIBERATORS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS, Holy Cow! Press, Ltd., reprinted by the permission of the author.
Louis Jenkins, “A Place for Everything” from JUST ABOVE WATER. Reprinted with permission of Holy Cow Press.
Joyce Sutphen, “Living in the Body” from STRAIGHT OUT OF VIEW. Reprinted with permission of Holy Cow Press and the author.
“Miss July Grows Older” and “Manet’s Olympia” from MORNING IN T
HE BURNED HOUSE by Margaret Atwood. Copyright © 1995 by Margaret Atwood. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“Variations on the Word Sleep,” from SELECTED POEMS II: Poems Selected and New, 1965-1975 by Margaret Atwood. Copyright © 1987 by Margaret Atwood. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“My Mother Said,” from THE OLD LIFE by Donald Hall. Copyright © 1996 by Donald Hall. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“Names of Horses” from OLD AND NEW POEMS by Donald Hall. Copyright © 1990 by Donald Hall. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“The Porcelain Couple” from WITHOUT: Poems by Donald Hall. Copyright © 1998 by Donald Hall. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“Saint Francis and the Sow” from MORTAL ACTS, MORTAL WORDS by Galway Kinnell. Copyright © 1980 by Galway Kinnell. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“Ars Poetica” and “Not Marble nor the gilded Monuments,” from COLLECTED POEMS, 1917-1982 by Archibald Macleish. Copyright © 1985 by The Estate of Archibald MacLeish. Reprinted by Permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“A Poetry Reading at West Point,” from AFTER ALL: Last Poems by William Matthews. Copyright © 1998 by the Estate of William Matthews. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
“Onions” from SEARCH PARTY: Collected Poems of William Matthews, edited by Sebastian Matthews and Stanley Plumly. Copyright © 2004 by Sebastian Matthews and Stanley Plumly. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The Giant Book of Poetry (2006) Page 68