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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: HARPER, MICHAEL S. Matches Found: 341 Harper, Michael S. Poet's Biography 341 poems available by this author 10'S & THINGS First Line: Fingerings,' she says, 'a nobody Last Line: Of their swing shifts 1962: VETERANS' DAY: UCLA STUDY REGIMEN: SOME INDIANA (HOOSIER KLAN REFLECTIONS) First Line: They are counting the names of the vietnam veterans names on the mall Subject(s): Lin, Maya (b. 1959); Vietnam Veterans Memorial (washington, D.c.); African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks 21 FEB '65, SAN FRANCISCO First Line: I was moving, kicked out of sf Last Line: Malcolm was a man; %the ladies wished for more from us, %a special prayer rug with our names on it%f 55: THE JOURNEY MOTIF IN MY SISTER'S BIRTHDAY SONG JUNE 6, 1998 First Line: I was once in bergen, norway Last Line: Our lovely brother jonathan at terminus A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN COLTRANE: PLAYED BY HIMSELF Poem Text First Line: I don't remember train whistles Last Line: I thought would bring me that sound. Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music & Musicians ABE First Line: When you came back after your heart Last Line: At the crossroads %of scarred hands ABORIGINES First Line: Delta fails us -- %even the business class Last Line: Nutritious highway in the globe ABORIGINES: ESTONIA First Line: In a special audience Last Line: Frostdriven on a map in siberia ACHEBE AT THE BRIDGE First Line: In the graveyards of the ancestors Last Line: By air land or sea ADVICE TO CLINTON (1) First Line: Reread a. Lincoln's 2nd inaugural Last Line: The old' substance masquerading anew Subject(s): Clinton, William Jefferson (b. 1946); Clinton, Bill ADVICE TO CLINTON (1) First Line: Reread a. Lincoln's 2nd inaugural Last Line: The old' substance masquerading anew Subject(s): Clinton, William Jefferson (b. 1946) ADVICE TO CLINTON (2) Poem Text First Line: Re race rituals look up elaine Subject(s): Clinton, William Jefferson (b. 1946); Clinton, Bill ADVICE TO CLINTON (2) First Line: Re race rituals look up elaine Last Line: Hear the nation scream Subject(s): Clinton, William Jefferson (b. 1946) AFTERWORD: A FILM First Line: Erect in the movies Last Line: Double-conscious brother in the veil ALICE First Line: You stand waist-high in snakes Last Line: Your name in hers, and in mine ALONE First Line: A friend told me Last Line: I leave him there AMERICAN HISTORY Poem Text First Line: Those four black girls blown up Subject(s): African Americans - Women AMERICAN HISTORY First Line: Those four black girls blown up Last Line: Can't find what you can't see %can you? Subject(s): African Americans - Women ANCIENT HISTORY, UNDYING LOVE First Line: You were a hidden treasure and loved to be known, beloved Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Innocence ANGOLA: LOUISIANA First Line: Three-fourths mississippi Last Line: Teach me to read, and write ARCHIVES: THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, I First Line: One was named for you Last Line: In aboriginal calm %an original blessing ARCHIVES; COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. Poem Text First Line: Photos and clippings fade; / no one can find a real signature Subject(s): Baseball; Sports ARCHIVES; COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. First Line: Photos and clippings fade; %no one can find a real signature Last Line: But endorsements, turnstyles. %'let's play two' Subject(s): Baseball; Sports ARPEGGIOS First Line: Hawks and pigeons first Last Line: Armageddon the village-veld ARRIVAL First Line: Some love to be lost, redford said so, in film Last Line: Into silence, cunning, postwarsyndromicpsychosis ARTHRITIS DANCE First Line: Downwind from the havana Last Line: As toothaches, applecores, panetellas AT THE CEMETERY First Line: Horton smith, %rose are the landmarks Last Line: Toward the artesian line %much much below AT THE MOMENT First Line: There is hurt and no balm gilead Last Line: In the mercy side of the new testament AUDIO First Line: In the buzzard's roost sonics Last Line: Ghosts with instruments 'always' playing BANDSTAND First Line: Monk's dissonant hat Last Line: Who could dance Subject(s): Jazz; Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music & Musicians BANDSTAND First Line: Monk's dissonant hat Last Line: For mother and dad %who could dance Subject(s): Jazz; Monk, Thelonious (1917-1982); Music And Musicians BARRICADES First Line: Barricades hammered into place Last Line: And the black christmas %in the halls of ivy: %the barricades come down BATTLE OF SARATOGA (SPRINGS) REVISITED First Line: Just when I think I've got you nailed Last Line: He went back to africa as a trader BATTLEGROUND First Line: Driving up the highway BEAUTY SHELL First Line: In the rinse %the straightening Last Line: And every hat from my own hand BIAFRA BLUES First Line: Another brother gone Last Line: Another brother gone BIGGER'S BLUES First Line: In this case Last Line: On, on, on BIRD LIVES': CHARLES PARKER IN ST. LOUIS First Line: Last on legs, last on sax Last Line: "bird lives! Bird lives! And you do: Subject(s): Jazz; Music & Musicians; Parker, Charlie ('bird') (1920-1955) BIRD LIVES': CHARLES PARKER IN ST. LOUIS First Line: Last on legs, last on sax Last Line: Bird lives! Bird lives! And you do: %dead Subject(s): Jazz; Music And Musicians; Parker, Charlie ("bird") (1920-1955) BIRTHDAY BOY First Line: The voice still cracks Last Line: A happy bird if he could sing his song: sing on BLACK ANGEL First Line: Childhood games Last Line: Leaves her footprints BLACK CRYPTOGRAM First Line: When god %created Last Line: He was %showing off BLACK SPRING First Line: We gave it life, mahogany hands Last Line: We took it back again BLACK STUDY First Line: No one's been told BLACKJACK First Line: 1913; %we march Last Line: Answered, still to come.' BLUE RUTH: AMERICA First Line: I am telling you this Last Line: I am telling you this: %history is your own heartbeat BLUES ALABAMA Poem Text First Line: She's blacker Last Line: A blessing of hatred Subject(s): African Americans - Song & Music; African Americans - Women BLUES ALABAMA First Line: She's blacker Last Line: A blessing of hatred BLUES FOR A COLORED SINGER: MILT JACKSON First Line: Church music never got over it Last Line: Homemade choruses nonsensical force made wholesome BODY POLITY First Line: A half-century ago the scottsboro boys Last Line: Thumbed eight-ball english, elegiac blues, on any continental shelf BORNING ROOM First Line: I stand in moonlight Last Line: The new old; we will not die here BR'ER STERLING AND THE ROCKER First Line: Any fool knows a br'er in a rocker Last Line: Hold on sweet mama; br'er sterling's rocker glows BREADED MEAT, BREADED HANDS First Line: The heat of the oven Last Line: In he hands, he meat in her marrow %and of her blood BROTHER JOHN First Line: Black man: %I'm a black man Last Line: I am; I'm a black man; %I am BUCK First Line: I owe him for pictures CAMP STORY First Line: I look over the old photos Last Line: Of his chances CANNON ARRESTED First Line: Somethin' else and / kind of blue Last Line: Wickered in vestibule, drifting away Subject(s): Adderly, Cannonball (1928-1975); Jazz; Music & Musicians CANNON ARRESTED First Line: Somethin' else and %kind of blue Last Line: A divided storehouse near a black %resort town, this sweet alto-man %wickered in vestibule, drifting Subject(s): Adderly, Cannonball (1928-1975); Jazz; Music And Musicians CHANGES ON COLEMAN BEAN HAWKIN'S BIRTHDAY First Line: Piano at four, cello at seven Last Line: Napoleon said 'the fifth element was mud.' CHANGING NAMES IN THE STREET First Line: You look over the map for directions Last Line: Upside down, looking for ribs, tasting compost CHARLOTTE AND NATHAN EXCHANGE: 50TH ANNIVERSARY First Line: As king and queen to epiphany Last Line: Still brisk and alive %in the singing CHARLOTTE TO NATHAN First Line: This is a genus nobel Last Line: That was the reservoir in which we strolled CHIEF First Line: In the year of the blizzard CHRONICLES First Line: Correspondences, colleagues, collages CINCO DE MAYO First Line: My mother's favorite holiday Last Line: Of border crossings infinitive CLAN MEETING: BIRTH AND NATIONS: A BLOOD SING Poem Text First Line: We reconstruct lives in the intensive Last Line: We take our bundle and go home Subject(s): African Americans; Klu Klux Klan; Negroes; American Blacks CLAN MEETING: BIRTH AND NATIONS: A BLOOD SONG First Line: We reconstruct lives in the intensive CLARK'S WAY WEST: ANOTHER VERSION First Line: The venereal moon Last Line: Down the falls to the basin below COLTRANE POEM: 9 23 98 First Line: On any highway in 'autumn leaves' Last Line: The chorus broken angel healed on bough COLTRANE POEM: SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 First Line: Autumn leaves' without a bandstand Last Line: But of the reed, and father of the reed COME BACK BLUES First Line: I count black-lipped Last Line: You've come back %to count bodies again %in your own backyard CONVERSATIONS WITH ROY DECARAVA First Line: You have to pay him for a rerun Last Line: Dancers where 'lester leaps in.' CORRECTED REVIEW: THEREISATREEMOREANCIENTTHANEDEN First Line: From the source comes the imagery and language Last Line: More ancient than eden COUSINS First Line: When he died on oxygen he died at home CROSSING LAKE MICHIGAN First Line: The amp light on the station Last Line: And what song to sing to vacationers returning to michigan CRYPT First Line: Back from the fingers of a twenty-%year old barnard rapunzel Last Line: Trained incapacity' as shadow: %blessed is the act DANCE OF THE ELEPHANTS First Line: The trains ran through the eleven %nights it took to vacate the town Last Line: And what love as the elephant chimes DAY ROOM: ST. ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL Poem Text First Line: Back on medication / he takes inventory Subject(s): Insanity; Madness; Mental Illness DAY ROOM: ST. ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL First Line: Back on medication %he takes inventory Last Line: I love the sun %in this room, %cold, cold, hot, hot Subject(s): Insanity DEAD OAKS First Line: I eat on all fours Last Line: Ceremonial hill, this oak DEAR JOHN, DEAR COLTRANE Poem Text First Line: Sex fingers toes / in the marketplace Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music & Musicians DEAR JOHN, DEAR COLTRANE First Line: Sex fingers toes %in the marketplace Last Line: A love supreme, a love supreme Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music And Musicians DEAR OLD STOCKHOLM First Line: I was at a tribute to a great poet DEAR ROMIE: ROCK FORMATION EPISTLES First Line: Thanks for the drawing of judith jamison Last Line: When you're playing.' thanks for you pace at the fair DEATHWATCH First Line: Twitching in the cactus Last Line: America needs a killing. %survivors will be human DEBRIDEMENT Poem Text First Line: Black men are oaks cut down. Last Line: Carried out our assignment / with procision Subject(s): African Americans - Military DEBRIDEMENT First Line: Black men are oaks cut down DEER First Line: He hangs on hind leg DEXTER LEAPS IN First Line: An ash, a maple %flowering near moody's Last Line: All the things you are.' DINING FROM A TREED CONDITION, AN HISTORICAL SURVEY First Line: At the dinner table where you sat with peabody Last Line: Was held on the burned ashes of this rainbow DIRTY SIDE OF THE HURRICANE First Line: The eye has passed over, the sun ashine DISCOVERY First Line: We lay together, darkness all around Last Line: The bulb was hot. It burned my hand DIXIE PEACH First Line: Andy' is what the curator Last Line: Kansas, with water of its own DOUBLE ELEGY Poem Text First Line: Whatever city or country road Last Line: Of ohio and michigan Subject(s): Death; Dead, The DOUBLE ELEGY First Line: Whatever city or country road Last Line: In the flowing rivers, in the public baths %of ohio and michigan DOUBLE SORBET First Line: This is sherbert but it is du boisian Last Line: Above the veil, inside it, dawn to dusk DOUGLASS POSITION, 1863 First Line: I was promised a commission Last Line: Because I chose to lead men and women DREAM: BICENTENNIAL, ROCHESTER, N.Y.: AFTER F.D. RESIDENCE FIRE First Line: Brazil: a continent of exhchanges: the quilt Last Line: Were all the documents we ever needed, preacher man DRIVE IN First Line: I drive west from the old dump Last Line: Sounds of driven, ruddered snow DRIVING THE BIG CHRYSLER ACROSS THE COUNTRY OF MY BIRTH First Line: I would wait for the tunnels Last Line: In this sunship from motown. Subject(s): Jazz; Music & Musicians DROWNING OF THE FACTS OF A LIFE First Line: Who knows why we talk of death Last Line: To the syncopated dance of his name E. J. M. AT 75 First Line: The senator remembers %waterloo, iowa Last Line: Maples, with deciduous fruit, %topple and glow EFFENDI First Line: The piano hums Last Line: Near the eyes %that record this lost, dogged data %and is pure, new, even lovely %and is you EGYPTOLOGY First Line: The guide announces himself Last Line: All the time I have in egypt Subject(s): Egyptology EGYPTOLOGY First Line: The guide announces himself Subject(s): Egyptology ELVIN'S BLUES First Line: Sniffed, dilating my nostrils Last Line: With only itself to love Subject(s): Drugs & Drug Abuse; Jazz; Music & Musicians; Sex; Jones, Elvin (1927-2004); Narcotics; Opium; Cocaine; Crack; Heroin ELVIN'S BLUES First Line: Sniffed, dilating my nostrils Last Line: With only itself to love Subject(s): Drugs And Drug Abuse; Jazz; Music And Musicians; Sex ENDS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY First Line: Our work location was outside of williamsburg. When I say ...' ENGAGEMENTS' First Line: To work steady you play the easy Last Line: Rage at the hottest tempos, %or play slow EVE (RACHEL) First Line: I have been waiting to speak to you Last Line: In these bodies of soiled, broken, mending hands Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters EVE (RACHEL) First Line: I have been waiting to speak to you Last Line: Where you will plant your own crafted shoes %in these bodies of soiled, broken, mending hands Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters FAMILIES ALBUM First Line: Goggled mother with her children Last Line: Where the fruit, vegetables, woodpile, lie FANNY'S KITCHEN First Line: Even you couldn't find space Last Line: You're stroking out to meet it FAULKNER'S CENTENNIAL POEM: SEPTEMBER 25, 1997 First Line: This is the woman of go down moses Last Line: In this empty-bed blues FIGMENTS First Line: The iowa river but tributary Last Line: He created characters such as me FILAMENT First Line: Remember when you staggered up the veiled FIXIT First Line: So tired of trains and buses Last Line: My people won't play %without you.' FOR BUD; FOR BUD POWELL Poem Text First Line: Could it be, bud Last Line: Enough for you Subject(s): Jazz; Music & Musicians; Powell, Bud (earl) (1924-1966) FOUNDING FATHERS IN PHILADELPHIA First Line: Meeting in secret, with my great Last Line: Took his house, his children, to brooklyn FREDERICK, IS GOD DEAD?' First Line: Two lions astray on the mission Last Line: Your forgiveness; all answers from isis gathering spent parts FREE ASSOCIATIONS: SOME PRACTICAL SYMBOLS First Line: Jitneys: -- soundings like chitterlings Last Line: The cap of the skull is clean FROM A TOWN IN MINNESOTA First Line: One side tight in the case Last Line: These skeletons I wear GALVESTON: 9 8 1900 First Line: No planes into the eye %slate and timber cut loose Last Line: The bodycount endless on the dark side of storm GHOST OF SOULMAKING: FOR RUTH OPPENHEIM First Line: The ghost appears in the dark of winter Last Line: Wafts over the trees at sunrise and forgives the dusk Subject(s): Ghosts; Jews; Supernatural GODFATHER First Line: Born off an alley %in the shaw district Last Line: One more colored regiment %in the soul of a man.' GOING' TO THE TERRITORY' First Line: Ethical schizophrenia you called it Last Line: The hunt in books for quail GRANDFATHER Poem Text First Line: In 1915 my grandfather's / neighbors surrounded his house Subject(s): African Americans; Grandparents; Negroes; American Blacks; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers GRANDFATHER First Line: In 1915 my grandfather's %neighbors surrounded his house Last Line: Played backwards on his grandson's eyes Subject(s): African Americans; Grandparents HAWK TRADITION First Line: This is not a poem about flying HEALING SONG First Line: He stoops down eating sunflowers Last Line: A love-filled shadow, congealed and clarified HEARTBLOW: MESSAGES First Line: I sit in cubbyhole Last Line: Some said you dealt your own heartblow HEAT First Line: The gold key hangs around the neck HERE WHERE COLTRANE IS Poem Text First Line: Soul and race Subject(s): African Americans - Song & Music; Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music & Musicians HERE WHERE COLTRANE IS First Line: Soul and race Last Line: In the eyes of my first son are the browns %of these men and their music Subject(s): African Americans - Song And Music; Coltrane, John (1926-1967); Jazz; Music And Musicians HIDDEN FRIENDS OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS First Line: On the maternal side of our family Last Line: Are these patterns of coloration, %this menagerie HIGH MODES: VISION AS RITUAL: CONFIRMATION First Line: Black man go back to the old country Last Line: Black man go back to the old country HINTON'S SILKSCREENS First Line: He goes after paint with soft palms Last Line: Which droop and glisten in the panic of winds, and daylight HISTORY AS APPLE TREE First Line: Cocumscussoc is my village Last Line: Black human photograph: apple tree HISTORY AS BANDAGES: POLKA DOTS AND MOONBEAMS First Line: One is an igloo Last Line: Of all shapes and disguises HISTORY AS DIABOLICAL MATERNALISM First Line: When I grind glass Last Line: Black mary in his cottonfield HOMAGE TO A MEAN MONKEY-MAN First Line: A student called you a cross HOMAGE TO MAMIE OWENS First Line: Only once did I see you Last Line: On st. Paddy's day HOMAGE TO THE BROWN BOMBER Poem Text First Line: Speed of the punch, / its dancing, rhythmic fluency Last Line: "bright lungs blanching tomorrows, Subject(s): Sports HOMAGE TO THE BROWN BOMBER First Line: Speed of the punch, %its dancing, rhythmic fluency Last Line: Bright lungs blanching tomorrows, %barrows at rest Subject(s): Sports HOMAGE TO THE NEW WORLD First Line: Surrounded by scientists in a faculty %house Last Line: If misery had %a voice, would be a rifle cocking HOOKING First Line: Just about ready for medicare Last Line: In the candelabra of your hair HORSE-TRADING First Line: He was accomplished on eight instruments Last Line: Your father did not die for nothing HOUSE ON MIRAMAR, SAN FRANCISCO First Line: Five years in the house Last Line: Broken and panting in the sun HOW TO FORGIVE THE FATHER WHO SCREAMS AT HIS SON First Line: Fear, and more than fear, how delicate the wings Last Line: When you sojourned at inner flight upon my breast I WAS BORN IN THE SAME HOUSE AS MY MOTHER, AND DELIVERED BY THE SAME Last Line: Around in the womb %to bring them back alive IF YOU DON'T FORCE IT First Line: He's talking about interpolations Last Line: Put the melody on your heart IMP First Line: Vistas, that is what he knows Last Line: Xmas time for him in pictures, %roses on the pedestal, banked snow IMPERTINENT CORRESPONDENCE First Line: As your publisher, in limited Last Line: Of the pit: %I accept his grace IN HAYDEN'S COLLAGE First Line: Van gogh would paint the landscape Last Line: Pieced together, never broken, never end INTENTIONAL SUFFERING First Line: The hat turned to match the trimmed mustache Last Line: Written in his mother's blood, is in capital letters IRISH SUIT First Line: He carries my irish tweed Last Line: To line his pants, homemade cloth of the wellhead IT TAKES A HELLEVA NERVE TO SELL WATER First Line: Frederick douglass never moved IT THE MAN/WOMAN OUTSIDE WHO JUDGES First Line: The blues ain't nothing' IT THE MAN/WOMAN OUTSIDE WHO JUDGES: PART II First Line: Tongues, the making of vowels JAZZ STATION Poem Text First Line: Above the freeway, over the music, Last Line: In squat pigeontoes, and this beach ball sings Subject(s): Music & Musicians JAZZ STATION First Line: Above the freeway, over the music JEST: A COLLECTION OF RECORDS First Line: Adrift on the porch, chain-smoking Last Line: Catching the mouse that left the house %of the empty bed bl JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN First Line: The orchid your banner Last Line: Negative arboretum %e pluribus unum JOSH GIBSON'S BAT First Line: Empty at the corners, %the crowd bunched up Last Line: For pancakes in the wrong country JOURNEY THROUGH THE INTERIOR First Line: The unity is actual placement Last Line: She, the word, in aquarium JUDICIAL ASSIGNMENT First Line: As far away as greenville Last Line: Is balanced %in your opinions KIN Poem Text First Line: When news cane that yiour mother'd Last Line: As your own birthmark of his scream Subject(s): Family Life; Death – Mothers; Relatives; Dead, The KIN First Line: When news came that your mother'd Last Line: As your own birthmark of his scream KNEADING First Line: She kneads the kernels, grains Last Line: And their father's kneading, this meat LANDFILL First Line: Loads of trash and we light the match Last Line: And will be taken to the landfill, and filled, and filled LAST AFFAIR: BESSIE'S BLUES SONG Poem Text First Line: Disarticulated / arm torn out Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Blues (music); Singing & Singers; Smith, Bessie (1894-1937); Songs LAST AFFAIR: BESSIE'S BLUES SONG First Line: Disarticulated %arm torn out Last Line: I'm not the same as I used to be %this is my last affair Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Blues (music); Singing And Singers; Smith, Bessie (1894-1937) LATE SEPTEMBER REFRAIN First Line: Years have gone by without a single Last Line: I say the refrain: a love supreme LAUREATE NOTES First Line: Four papers a day, globe, times Last Line: Tomorrow: happened today LAWSON'S RETURN First Line: In colorado gully and far from the river LECTURING ON A THEME OF MOTHERHOOD First Line: The news is of camps, outpost, little progress Last Line: In the south bronx, just before it burned down LETTER OF ATHENAEUM COUPLETS IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM STRICKLAND First Line: There are golden fish in the waters of the temple Last Line: They are mutant joys of ornament, battle stations of space and song LINE: HOW TO STEP OUT OF IT First Line: A boy can now stand tall Last Line: In our memories of you, and in our book of names LOON First Line: The estate bird Last Line: Of secret soil layer %where we bury her LOVE LETTERS OF HELEN PITTS DOUGLASS First Line: When I stood behind his desk chair Last Line: In that mane it is to the saddle he will come LOVE MEDLEY: PATRICE CUCHULAIN First Line: Stirrups, leggings, a stainless Last Line: Machinery and love: our names LOVE POSTCARD WHILE LISTENING TO 'AUTUMN LEAVES' First Line: My grandpa and his father born on the same day Last Line: Too many stairs, stand for the losses, drosses, glosses MADAM TUTU First Line: Maria ramos -- 'tutu'; anya tutu Last Line: Is the wall of transcendence: %that is tutu's sacred place MADIMBA: GWENDOLYN BROOKS Poem Text First Line: Double-conscious sister in the veil Subject(s): Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-2000) MADIMBA: GWENDOLYN BROOKS First Line: Double-conscious sister in the veil Last Line: Double-conscious sister in the veil Subject(s): Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-2000) MAHALIA First Line: A voice like hers comes along once a milennium Last Line: Ans who is listening? %head-dressed high-pitches whole sister %in the choir-chariot down %who is lis MAKIN' JUMP SHOTS Poem Text First Line: He waltzes into the lane / 'cross the free-throw line Subject(s): Sports MAKIN' JUMP SHOTS First Line: He waltzes into the lane %'cross the free-throw line Last Line: To a silent beat, gliding %as he sinks two into the chains Subject(s): Sports MANONG: ANGOLA First Line: Oil and diamonds %afloat in black markets Last Line: All is paid in dollars MARGINALIA First Line: Planes overhead, snipers with their tijuana Last Line: Our mission accomplished in margins MARTIN'S BLUES First Line: He came apart in the open Last Line: We shall overcome %some day- %yes we did! %yes we did! MARY KINZIE'S TALK ON MILTON First Line: Paradise lost' was rimpau station Last Line: As only satan would know it penultimate to the king of every universe MATCHBOOK: THE SPINNAKER: SAUSALITO First Line: Adrift in your own spittle Last Line: For awhile %because of it MEANING OF PROTEST First Line: Between the world and me Last Line: Between the world, and me, and you MEDITATION FOR INESE First Line: Peacocks %three of them %under the birdfeeder %cardinals Last Line: For a cathedral, her flower fortress %and her lost acreage MEDITATION ON AUBURN PRISON: FOR HARRIET TUBMAN First Line: Invisible ink, and purple namesake Last Line: It was a sacred effort.' MEMORIAL MEETINGS First Line: Clearing your throat MESSAGES AS TRANSLATION Poem Text First Line: With all of sterling's poems in spanish Subject(s): Language; Spain; Translating & Interpreting; Words; Vocabulary MESSAGES AS TRANSLATION First Line: With all of sterling's poems in spanish Last Line: There's no hiding place down here.' Subject(s): Language; Spain; Translating And Interpreting MILITANCE OF A PHOTOGRAPH IN THE PASSBOOK OF A BANTU .. DETENTION First Line: The wrinkles on the brown face Last Line: And the back that wears it MODULATIONS ON A THEME: FOR JOSEPHUS LONG First Line: Not far from harvard square Last Line: Of a sunroff in the stars %as a shield is made from orion, %from big bear, from asia minor MOLASSES AND THE THREE WITCHES First Line: Inside out, the police announce Last Line: I will not go quietly MOTEL ROOM First Line: Extremes are what we need Last Line: This is the room number of change, %the self at bay with itself MOTHER SPEAKS: THE ALGIERS MOTEL INCIDENT, DETROIT First Line: It's too dark to see black Last Line: Officer, I broke your gun.' MOVIN' WES First Line: Gone from us Last Line: All alive: %movin' wes MR. KNOWLTON PREDICTS First Line: I line up all the books he has treated Last Line: In the root cellar of his art MR. P.C. First Line: Paul laurence dunbar chambers Last Line: And your namesakes, %in the chambers MR. P.C., 1942-98, BARD COLLEGE First Line: I am angry with your passing Last Line: For what you were doing among us MULE Poem Text First Line: Whereas the donkey neighs its ardor Subject(s): Asses & Mules; Mules MULE First Line: Whereas the donkey neighs its ardor Last Line: Still afraid, in tenacity, for prayer Subject(s): Asses And Mules MY AUNT ELLA MAE Poem Text First Line: She was the first to tell me of juneteenth Subject(s): Aunts; African Americans; Family Life; Negroes; American Blacks; Relatives MY BOOK ON TRANE Poem Text First Line: Waiting in lineups Last Line: "the steam coming off his wet clothes Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967) MY BOOK ON TRANE (1) First Line: You lived or died on your instrument Last Line: For the war dead broken %at nagasaki Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967) MY BOOK ON TRANE (2) First Line: Waiting in lineups Last Line: The steam coming off his wet clothes %in droves Subject(s): Coltrane, John (1926-1967) MY FATHER AT 75 First Line: He makes his own soup from scratch Last Line: Penchant of a man who contends to stay home Subject(s): Fathers MY FATHER AT 75 First Line: He makes his own soup from scratch Last Line: Caress and afflict him %he has the neat %penchant of a man who contends to stay home Subject(s): Fathers MY FATHER'S FACE Recitation First Line: Over his fastidious hands Subject(s): Fathers MY FATHER'S FACE First Line: Over his fastidious hands Last Line: A sacred seat with the father Subject(s): Fathers MY MOTHER'S BIBLE First Line: No one wrote like her Last Line: On green dolphin' street %our favorite psalm MY STUDENTS WHO STAND IN SNOW First Line: Your tall, fresh faces stand up in the snow Last Line: Scenes of this music, in clumsy turf, folds, follows MYRDAL'S SACRED FLAME First Line: You greet me as 'brother' NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE First Line: A cross is a machine Last Line: And a sorrow song is a cross NEGATIVES First Line: She agitates %the quart developing tank Last Line: I know she dreams of the negatives NEW SEASON Poem Text First Line: My woman has picked up all the leaves Last Line: Her song is our new season Subject(s): Love NEW SEASON First Line: My woman has picked NEWS FROM FORT ANCIENT First Line: Don't ask me now, jim wright Last Line: To be washed away forever NEWSLETTER FROM MY MOTHER First Line: 1100 exposition Last Line: 10 a.M.: %the panthers are surrendering %1 at a time.' NIGHT LETTER, I First Line: I hear you curse your big sister, eve NIGHT LETTER, II First Line: Last night I thought of you in your mother's arms NIGHT OF FROST First Line: I walk out in the first Last Line: Stamp their footprints NIGHTMARE BEGINS RESPONSIBILITY Poem Text First Line: I place these numbed wrists to the pane Last Line: Nightmare begins responsibilit Subject(s): Death - Children; Racism; Death - Babies; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry NIGHTMARE BEGINS RESPONSIBILITY First Line: I place these numbed wrists to the pane Last Line: Nightmare begins responsibility NOTES ON MAKING: THE HEROIC PATTERN UPDATED: 1997 First Line: Proem: the hero's mother is a royal virgin Last Line: Estible category: it is the period of joseph; let us %merit the modalities OAK First Line: She lifts the two boys on Last Line: In the old way we cut dead oak OBSCURITY First Line: When he lost his leg Last Line: Housing the wooden leg ODD FACTS ABOUT THE PAINTER: ON CAUSALITY First Line: Because robust sense of humor Last Line: Ritual love: the other monotheism: radius lens ON BRODSKY'S COLLECTED Poem Text First Line: Signature in a paperback / arresting your copious Subject(s): Brodsky, Joseph (1940-1996) ON FIRST LISTENING TO NATIVE DANCER BY WAYNE SHORTER First Line: Brazil voices %are not like any other Last Line: Unwritten books %of the unseen PACEMAKER First Line: Pinned in dialysis PARABLE First Line: Black-stemmed ax Last Line: Cut off handle, %tree die PARADISE: GIHON RIVER, JOHNSON, VERMONT First Line: At saratoga you were in whites Last Line: As his letters say PARDONS (FROM A. LINCOLN) First Line: The christmas tribe, in the big city Last Line: Of the president's quill pen PARENTING First Line: Cutting class to make rehearsals Last Line: She speaks for him PATRICE LUMUMBA Poem Text First Line: Leopoldville / is the acid Subject(s): Lumumba, Patrice (1925-1961) PATRICE LUMUMBA First Line: Leopoldville %is the acid Last Line: Still %conrad's %intended Subject(s): Lumumba, Patrice (1925-1961) PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR: 1872-1906 Poem Text First Line: One hundred years of headrags, bandages Subject(s): Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906) PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR: 1872-1906 First Line: One hundred years of headrags, bandages Last Line: Double-conscious brother in the veil Subject(s): Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906) PAUL ROBESON First Line: I find nothing of your face Last Line: In a milky sky Subject(s): Robeson, Paul (1898-1976) PAUL ROBESON First Line: I find nothing of your face Subject(s): Robeson, Paul (1898-1976) PEACE ON EARTH First Line: Tunes come to me at morning Last Line: A love supreme: Subject(s): Jazz; Music & Musicians PEACE PLAN: MEDITATION ON THE NINE STAGES OF 'PEACEMAKING' AS A First Line: The trident, in nightmare Last Line: The conflict resolution by example %of claiborne pell PEN First Line: The big e. Is still making up Last Line: Unwritten; and when it comes to rite, jokes bad! PHOTOGRAPHS First Line: Felt negatives work the pores Last Line: As skin on my arm PHOTOGRAPHS: A VISION OF MASSACRE First Line: We thought the grass Last Line: Their private parts, oiled, %now slightly pink, %and never to be used PHOTOGRAPHS: NEGATIVES First Line: The indian is the root of an apple tree Last Line: Are not lost on us, or them POCAHONTAS: TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA First Line: Shacks and palaces %or the copies of them Last Line: As you leave the stadium POET'S VOICE First Line: Too much made of birth in topeka Last Line: For those unsung in service evermore POLLS First Line: Some bloods can't count and won't vote Last Line: Black and white on paper, %in the ground PORTRAIT (JAY SAUNDERS REDDING AT SAYLES HALL): 5 26 97 First Line: Portrait from a photograph Last Line: This is a day of triumph for you: %this is the frame PORTRAIT OF JAMES WELDON JOHNSON First Line: The rolled cigar: nicaragua politics Last Line: The stock is paper or it's meat PORTRAIT OF LYNN First Line: Immaculate taste Last Line: We will bless the water %so the child will grow %upstream PRAISESONG FOR B B (2 18 97) First Line: In the movie 'the postman' pablo neruda Last Line: (watching the whales in pip's company) PRAYER: MT. HOOD AND ENVIRONS First Line: The windows of america Last Line: Without indian blood %or red roses PREACHING AT THE FUNERAL: SONGS OF THE CHOIR IN SILENT PRAYER First Line: My father was a quartermaster in the british Last Line: Everlastingly. Power concedes nothing without demand PRESIDENTIAL QUOTES First Line: The job was up for grabs PRESTIGE First Line: Label in a period Last Line: He never said a mumbling word PROLOGUE OF AN ARKANSAS TRAVELER First Line: Most men lied about new york city Last Line: Elaine race riot; state-owned bridges made toll free: quilt PROTEGE: 1962 First Line: In the front row %and a big as a house Last Line: To any selves but horses PSYCHOPHOTOS OF HAMPTON First Line: Dining at 8 and 6:30 Last Line: Rainbowed swamp from the vision of the black tower PULLMAN PASS First Line: He was eighty-seven Last Line: Wouldn't let no white people work there PULP NOTES First Line: Too small a boy to play up front Last Line: Forgetting how to keep myself alive QUERIES TO ALICE ELIZABETH: AN OBITUARY, PALM SUNDAY, 1998 First Line: You have not lost your grip on the back nine Last Line: And in the channels, as vespers, where you rested QUILTING BEE: MECKLENBURG COUNTY First Line: Re plummer alexander, born in august, 1853 Last Line: The diamonds and gold of musicians humming without voice RAT FEVER: HISTORY AS HALLUCINATION First Line: A man's a man Last Line: And leave no tracks READING ISHERWOOD'S LETTER CIRCA 1959-63 First Line: In a crammed postcard, during the bicentary Last Line: In jail, out of jail, or no damn jail at all READING JEAN TOOMER'S CANE AGAIN First Line: Your lemon face delicious Last Line: But on the body' %words deeper than tears RELAXING WITH R.B.S. OVER TUNES First Line: Too many ferry rides in my past to make book Last Line: Except the ink of protection: let us pass RELEASE: KIND OF BLUE First Line: Miles (being ahead) %came in early Last Line: Miles asked %we answered REMEMBER MEXICO Poem Text First Line: Villages of high quality Subject(s): Mexico REMEMBER MEXICO First Line: Villages of high quality Last Line: Farther up the mountainside Subject(s): Mexico REUBEN, REUBEN First Line: I reach from pain Last Line: The music, jazz, comes in REVOLUTIONARY GARDEN First Line: Hieroglyphics of the mace Last Line: Kissing the direct, crucible in the ark; %this revolutionary RHODE ISLAND (SSBNT740): A TOAST First Line: Majestic, sullied, sultry Last Line: This is the zone of freedom RHYTHMIC ARRANGEMENTS: ON PROSODY First Line: I was forced to memorize and recite Last Line: Handmade librarians of the heart and ids RICHARD YARDE'S BLUES First Line: Just off the platform, in populist invention ROSE: MAY 17, 1998 First Line: With no thorn discernible Last Line: Witnessing the prosecution of the admiralty: church ROYCE HALL First Line: Coltrane played here; miles, never! Last Line: The padre disguising little she can't feel RUMORS First Line: When miles smacked your face Last Line: You died or lived on your instrument SAINT DOLORES First Line: Abyssinian Last Line: This is their christening %to all memory, %every song she sings SAINT SASSY DIVING First Line: So many facelifts in the middle Last Line: The child walks on water %in the sign of pisces, %uncontested god's trombone SANCTITY OF THE UNWRITTEN First Line: Taught to be glib Last Line: Nothing for the mandible %of the page SANDRA: AT THE BEAVER TRAP Poem Text First Line: Nose only above water Subject(s): Animals; Dogs SANDRA: AT THE BEAVER TRAP First Line: Nose only above water Last Line: Last of her line Subject(s): Animals; Dogs SAVAGE Poem Text First Line: The savage broke the walls out Last Line: The experiment not yet done Subject(s): Racism SHAHARAZAD First Line: A tale within a tale Last Line: Which is the lie: embroidered truth SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS: 1944-1999 First Line: Worshiped %in the fields Last Line: Ancestors weeping SINATRA': 1915-98 Poem Text First Line: My father, born in the same year Last Line: Of how to win when up against the wall, always Subject(s): Sinatra, Frank (1915-1998) SINATRA': 1915-98 First Line: My father, born in the same year Last Line: Of how to win when up against the wall, always Subject(s): Sinatra, Frank (1915-1998) SLED First Line: If we were in minnesota in winter Last Line: No derisive, not pretty, sometimes reliable SOLO First Line: Only sweet in the middle registers Last Line: The iron body %with strings %solo SONG: I WANT A WITNESS First Line: Blacks in frame houses Last Line: As they wave their tongues SONGLINES FROM A TESSERA (E) JOURNAL: ROMARE BEARDEN, 1912-88 First Line: A style is achieved by an artist through his introduction of personal Last Line: Forms into the grand style of his period.' SORBET First Line: Morsel or ton exquisite, the power Last Line: (bring some to get some) %homemade is the best SPIRITUAL First Line: Grandma's picket fence Last Line: Bloody moon on your black ribcage STEPTO'S VEILS First Line: I'm not blaming anyone either Last Line: With the sansei boys just out of camp STRANDS First Line: Upstairs in the high perch Last Line: Memories are old identities STUDS First Line: Off-color eyes that shine through lobes Last Line: To hear his song: to hear his name %come alive in her ears STUDY WINDOWS First Line: The two germans, %both in their seventies Last Line: The hammering of nails %so one can see STUDY WINDOWS First Line: The two germans STUTTERER Poem Text First Line: No matter where he looks Subject(s): Speech Disorders; Stuttering; Muteness STUTTERER First Line: No matter where he looks Last Line: Says 'all americans are non- %european in soweto.' Subject(s): Speech Disorders SUGARLOAF First Line: Up-tempo ruined his style Last Line: Paychecks for the bills long past due TAGORE First Line: From the sanskrit only jingles %if the west would tell it straight Last Line: Of mozart's high e or f %beyond the range %of any soprano TCAT SERENADE: 4 4 98 (NEW HAVEN) First Line: 30th anniversary of mlk, jr.'s killing; %the cure to come Last Line: And let the other %speak TEACHING INSTITUTES First Line: We have this on video Last Line: You are homeless here; %you will pay with the life of the book TESTIFYING First Line: As in any sanctified church, menagerie Last Line: You could take orders from this woman; you would like it THE GHOST OF SOULMAKING: FOR RUTH OPPENHEIM First Line: The ghost appears in the dark of winter Subject(s): Ghosts; Jews; Supernatural; Judaism THIMBLE First Line: My mother loved philadelphia Last Line: From the other world THIS IS MY SON'S SONG: 'UNGIE, HI UNGIE' First Line: A two-year-old boy Last Line: Ungie, hi ungie'; you are saved THISTLES First Line: Pigtails, to hide the scarred Last Line: Natchez trace to find the thistles, %pearls in your luminescent river, %at low tide, in flood stages TO AN OLD MAN TWIDDLIN' THUMBS First Line: You sit twiddlin' thumbs Last Line: Old man, the strong men must come on TONGUE-TIED IN BLACK AND WHITE Poem Text First Line: In los angeles / while the mountains cleared of smog Subject(s): African Americans; Negroes; American Blacks TONGUE-TIED IN BLACK AND WHITE First Line: In los angeles %while the mountains cleared of smog Last Line: On the outskirts of your tongue, tied still Subject(s): African Americans TRAYS: A PORTFOLIO First Line: At the tray %she looks in the heart Last Line: Each laugh bedded with blood TREE FEVER First Line: Skin of trees cut down Last Line: Our skin of scars TRIPLE SORBET First Line: Not nero's flavor Last Line: Fruit-of-the-vine elegant gwen scoops ULYSSES S. GRANT: HIS PROSE First Line: With twain's check and the clock stopped Last Line: Into hapless slaughter, shining blank pages ULYSSES S. GRANT: HIS PROSE First Line: With twain's check and the clock stopped UMBRELLA OF MAPLE LEAVES First Line: We park up off lincoln st Last Line: Cleophus always comes to be heard UMBRELLA OF MAPLE LEAVES First Line: We park up off lincoln st Last Line: Cleophus always comes %to be heard UPLIFT FROM A DARK TOWER First Line: Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are Last Line: Former owners might be present to hear me speak.' UTILITY ROOM First Line: She shades the prints bathed Last Line: Cramps from her developing tank VIEW FROM MOUNT SAINT HELENS First Line: We picknicked on the columbia river gorge VILLAGE BLUES First Line: The birds flit Last Line: And he staggers slowly, coming VOICE First Line: Philadelphia tonics and tonalities Last Line: Sassy leading everybody uptempo ala hemp WE ASSUME: ON THE DEATH OF OUR SON, REUBEN MASAI HARPER Poem Text First Line: We assume / that in 28 hours Last Line: You did not know we loved you. Subject(s): Death - Children; Death - Babies WHAT I MEAN BY PUBLIC PARLANCE; FOR MARILYN CHIN First Line: You are naked of course Subject(s): Chin, Marilyn WIZARDRY: THE POETIC SAGA IN SONG OF GWENDOLYN BROOKS First Line: When you wrote you were my clear winner Last Line: The prizes in our hands were your words WRITER'S DESK First Line: For a human being Last Line: On the gondolas ZEN First Line: We know you parsed your best and worst thoughts Last Line: Zen gwen key to the zone of understanding as universe the poet contemplate ZOCALO First Line: We stand pinned Last Line: Then give us back our land.' |
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