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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: PLATH, SYLVIA Matches Found: 535 Plath, Sylvia Poet's Biography Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs. 535 poems available by this author 18-APR First Line: The slime of all my yesterdays A BETTER RESURRECTION Poem Text First Line: I have no wit, I have no words, no tears Last Line: O jesus, quicken me Subject(s): Loneliness A BIRTHDAY PRESENT Poem Text First Line: What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful? Last Line: And the universe slide from my side Subject(s): Death; Birthdays; Dead, The A LESSON IN VENGEANCE Poem Text First Line: In the dour ages Last Line: From grain of the marrow and the river-bed grains Subject(s): Evil A LIFE Poem Text First Line: Touch it: it won't shrink like an eyeball, Last Line: Crawls up out of the sea Subject(s): Life; Insanity; Madness; Mental Illness A SORCERER BIDS FAREWELL TO SEEM Poem Text First Line: I'm through with this grand looking-glass hotel Last Line: Cabbages are cabbages, kings : kings Subject(s): Metaphor; Similes A WINTER SHIP Poem Text First Line: At this wharf there are no grand landings to speak of Last Line: Each wave-tip glitters like a knife Subject(s): Ships & Shipping ABOVE THE OXBOW Poem Text First Line: Here in this valley of discreet academies Last Line: And never saw how coolly we might move. For once / a high hush quieteens the crickets' cry Subject(s): Nature ABOVE THE OXBOW First Line: Here in this valley of discreet academies Last Line: And never saw how coolly we might move. For once %a high hush quieteens the crickets' cry Subject(s): Nature ADMONITION Poem Text First Line: If you dissect a bird Last Line: That syncopates our love ADMONITIONS First Line: Oh never try to knock on rotten wood AERIALIST First Line: Each night, this adroit young lady AFTERMATH Poem Text First Line: Compelled by calamity's magnet Last Line: The crowd sucks her last tear and turns away Subject(s): Fire AFTERMATH First Line: Compelled by calamity's magnet ALICANTE LULLABY Poem Text First Line: In alicante they bowl the barrels Last Line: Lullayed by susurrous lyres and viols Subject(s): Spain ALICANTE LULLABY First Line: In alicante they bowl the barrels Last Line: Lullayed by susurrous lyres and viols ALL THE DEAD DEARS Poem Text First Line: Rigged poker-stiff on her back Last Line: Riddled with ghosts, to lie / deadlocked with them, taking roots as cradles rock Subject(s): Women ALL THE DEAD DEARS First Line: Rigged poker-stiff on her back Last Line: Riddled with ghosts, to lie %deadlocked with them, taking roots as cradles rock Subject(s): Women AMNESIAC Poem Text First Line: No use, no use, now, begging recognize! Last Line: I am never, never, never coming home! Subject(s): Amnesia AMNESIAC First Line: No use, no use, now, begging recognize! Last Line: I am never, never, never coming home! Subject(s): Amnesia AMONG THE NARCISSI Poem Text First Line: Spry, wry, and grey as these march sticks Last Line: The narcissi look up like children, quickly and whitely Subject(s): Convalescence AMONG THE NARCISSI First Line: Spry, wry, and grey as these march sticks Last Line: The narcissi look up like children, quickly and whitely Subject(s): Convalescence AN APPEARANCE Poem Text First Line: The smile of iceboxes annihilates me Last Line: Abc, her eyelids say Subject(s): Conduct Of Life APPEARANCE First Line: The smile of iceboxes annihilates me Last Line: Abc, her eyelids say APPLICANT First Line: First, are you our sort of a person? Last Line: Will you marry it, marry it, marry it Subject(s): Salespersons APPREHENSIONS Poem Text First Line: There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself Last Line: They move in a hurry Subject(s): Depression, Mental; Mentally Depressed; Mental Distress APPREHENSIONS First Line: There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself Subject(s): Depression, Mental APRIL 18 Poem Text First Line: The slime of all my yesterdays Last Line: As a tennis ball at twilight Subject(s): Death; Dead, The APRIL AUBADE Poem Text First Line: Worship this world of watercolor mood Last Line: That somehow we are younger than we were Subject(s): Spring APRIL AUBADE First Line: Worship this world of watercolor mood AQUATIC NOCTURNE Poem Text First Line: Deep in liquid / turquoise slivers Last Line: Of a sunken gong Subject(s): Sea; Ocean AQUATIC NOCTURNE First Line: Deep in liquid indigo ARIEL Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Stasis in darkness Last Line: Into the red / eye, the cauldron of morning Subject(s): Animals; Horses ARIEL First Line: Stasis in darkness Last Line: Into the red %eye, the cauldron of morning Subject(s): Animals; Horses ARRIVAL OF THE BEE BOX First Line: I ordered this, this clean wood box Last Line: The box is only temporary Subject(s): Bees; Insects BABYSITTERS First Line: It is ten years, now, since we rowed to children's island Last Line: And from opposite continents we wave and call. %everything has happened Subject(s): Child Care; Plath, Sylvia (1932-1963) BALLOONS First Line: Since christmas they have lived with us Last Line: Shred in his little fist BALOONS Poem Text First Line: Since christmas they have lived with us, Last Line: Shred in his little fist Subject(s): Baloons BARREN WOMAN Poem Text First Line: Empty, I echo to the least footfall, Last Line: Blank-faced and mum as a nurse Subject(s): Childlessness; Miscarriage BARREN WOMAN First Line: Empty, I echo to the least footfall Last Line: Blank-faced and mum as a nurse BATTLE-SCENE; FROM THE COMIC OPERATIC FANTASY THE SEAFARER First Line: It beguiles %this little odyssey BED BOOK, SELS. First Line: Most beds are beds Last Line: For the shooting stars Subject(s): Beds BEE MEETING First Line: Who are these people at the bridge to meet me? They are the Last Line: Whose is that long white box in the grove, what have they %acoomplished, why am I cold Subject(s): Bees; Fear; Insects BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER First Line: A garden of mouthings. Purple, scarlet-speckled, black Last Line: Under the coronal of sugar roses %the queen bee marries the winter of your year Subject(s): Bees; Fathers And Daughters; Insects BEGGARS First Line: Nightfall, cold eye - neither disheartens BERCK - PLAGE Poem Text First Line: This is the sea, then, this great abeyance. Last Line: There is no hope, it is given up Subject(s): Death; Dead, The BERCK-PLAGE First Line: This is the sea, then, this great abeyance BIRTHDAY PRESENT First Line: What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful? BITTER STRAWBERRIES Poem Text First Line: All morning in the strawberry field Last Line: Between thumb and forefinger Subject(s): Strawberries BITTER STRAWBERRIES First Line: All that morning in the strawberry field BLACK PINE TREE IN AN ORANGE LIGHT Poem Text First Line: Tell me what you see in it : Last Line: To make orange and black ambiguous Subject(s): Pine Trees; Orange (color); Black (color) BLACK PINE TREE IN AN ORANGE LIGHT First Line: Tell me what you see in it BLACK ROOK IN RAINY WEATHER Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: On the stiff twig up there Last Line: The long wait for the angel / for that rare, random descent Subject(s): Rooks BLACK ROOK IN RAINY WEATHER First Line: On the stiff twig up there Last Line: The long wait for the angel %for that rare, random descent Subject(s): Rooks BLACKBERRYING Poem Text First Line: Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries Last Line: Beating and beating at an intractable metal Subject(s): Blackberries BLACKBERRYING First Line: Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries Last Line: Of white and pewter lights, and a din like silversmiths %becting and beating at an intractable metal Subject(s): Blackberries BLUE MOLES Poem Text First Line: They're out of the dark's ragbag, these two / moles dead in the pebbled rut Last Line: Easy and often as each breath Subject(s): Animals; Moles BLUE MOLES First Line: They're out of the dark's ragbag, these two %moles dead in the pebbled rut Subject(s): Animals; Moles BLUEBEARD Poem Text First Line: I am sending back the key Last Line: That let me into bluebeard's study Subject(s): Pirates; Piracy; Buccaneers BLUEBEARD First Line: I am sending back the key Last Line: That let me into bluebeard's study BOCOLICS First Line: Mayday: two came to field in such wise BRASILIA Poem Text First Line: Will they occur, Last Line: The power, the glory Subject(s): Children; Childhood BRASILIA First Line: Will they occur BUCOLICS Poem Text First Line: Mayday : two came to field in such wise : Last Line: In wait for sharper smart to fade Subject(s): Loss BULL OF BENDYLAW First Line: The black bull bellowed before the sea Last Line: And the bull on the king's highway Subject(s): Bulls BURNING THE LETTERS First Line: I made a fire; being tired BURNNG THE LETTERS Poem Text First Line: I made a fire; being tired Last Line: What immortality is. That it is immortal Subject(s): Letters; Fire BURNT-OUT SPA First Line: An old beast ended in this place BY CANDELIGHT Poem Text First Line: This is winter, this is night, small love --- Last Line: To juggle with, my love, when the sky falls Subject(s): Babies; Candles; Night; Infants; Bedtime BY CANDLELIGHT First Line: This is winter, this is night, small love Last Line: To juggle with, my love, when the sky falls CANDLES Poem Text First Line: They are the last romantics, these candles Last Line: The shadows stoop over like guests at a christening Subject(s): Candles CANDLES First Line: They are the last romantics, these candles Last Line: The shadows stoop over like guests at a christening Subject(s): Candles CHANNEL CROSSING Poem Text First Line: On storm-struck deck, wind sirens caterwaul Last Line: Survives arrival, we walk the plank with strangers Subject(s): English Channel CHANNEL CROSSING First Line: On storm-struck deck, wind sirens caterwaul Subject(s): English Channel CHILD Poem Text First Line: Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing Last Line: Wringing of hands, this dark / ceiling without a star Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; Women CHILD First Line: Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing Last Line: Wringing of hands, this dark %ceiling without a star Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters; Women CHILD'S PARK STONES Poem Text First Line: In sunless air, under pines Last Line: No thirst disturbs a stone's bed Subject(s): Stones; Granite; Rocks CHILD'S PARK STONES First Line: In sunless air, under pines CHILDLESS WOMAN Poem Text First Line: The womb / rattles its pod, the moon Last Line: Gleaming with the mouths of corpses Subject(s): Childlessness CHILDLESS WOMAN First Line: The womb Last Line: Gleaming with the mouths of corpses CINDERELLA Poem Text First Line: The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels Last Line: She hears the caustic ticking of the clock Subject(s): Fairy Tales CINDERELLA First Line: The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels Subject(s): Fairy Tales CIRCUS IN THREE RINGS First Line: In the circus tent of a hurricane COLOSSUS First Line: I shall never get you put together entirely Last Line: No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel %on the blank stones of the landing Subject(s): Fathers COMPANIONABLE ILLS First Line: The nose-end that twitches, the old imperfections CONTUSION Poem Text First Line: Color floods to the spot, dull purple Last Line: The mirrors are sheeted Subject(s): Injuries CONTUSION First Line: Color floods to the spot, dull purple CONVERSATION AMONG RUINS First Line: Through portico of my elegant house you stalk CONVERSATION AMONG THE RUINS Poem Text First Line: Through portico of my elegant house you stalk Last Line: What ceremony of words can patch the havoc? Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary COURAGE OF SHUTTING-UP First Line: The courage of the shut mouth, in spite of artillery! COURIERS First Line: The word of a snail on the plate of a leaf? Last Line: Love, love, my season CROSSING THE WATER Poem Text First Line: Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people Last Line: Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens? / this is the silence of astounded souls CROSSING THE WATER First Line: Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people Last Line: Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens? %this is the silence of astounded souls CRYSTAL GAZER Poem Text First Line: Gerd sits spindle-shaped in her dark tent, Last Line: Earth's ever-green death's head Subject(s): Fortune Tellers; Palmistry CRYSTAL GAZER First Line: Gerd sits spindle-shanked in her dark tent CUT Poem Text First Line: What a thrill - / my thumb instead of an onion Last Line: Dirty girl / thumb stump Subject(s): Accidents CUT First Line: What a thrill - %my thumb instead of an onion Last Line: Dirty girl %thumb stump Subject(s): Accidents DADDY Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: You do not do, you do not do Last Line: They always knew it was you. / daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers & Daughters; Hate; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Nazis; Shoah; Judaism; National Socialism DADDY First Line: You do not do, you do not do Last Line: They always knew it was you. %daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through Subject(s): Fathers; Fathers And Daughters; Hate; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Nazis DANSE MACABRE First Line: Down among strict roots and rocks DARK HOUSE Poem Text First Line: This is a dark house, very big. Last Line: Here's a cuddly mother Subject(s): Houses DARK WOOD, DARK WATER Poem Text First Line: This wood burns a dark Last Line: Down boles of the fir Subject(s): Nature DARK WOOD, DARK WATER First Line: This wood burns a dark %incense DEAD First Line: Revolving in oval loops of solar speed DEATH & CO. Poem Text First Line: Two, of course there are two. Last Line: From their fond, final, infamous decay Subject(s): Death; Babies; Dead, The; Infants DEATH & CO. First Line: Two, of course there are two Last Line: The dead bell. %somebody's done for DEATH OF MYTH-MAKING First Line: Two virtues ride, by stallion, by nag DENOUEMENT Poem Text First Line: The telegram says you have gone away Last Line: There is nothing more for me to say Subject(s): Circus; Loss DENOUEMENT First Line: The telegram says you have gone away DEPARTURE Poem Text First Line: The figs on the fig tree in the yard are green; Last Line: To lick the sea-salt Subject(s): Farewell; Grief; Parting; Sorrow; Sadness DEPARTURE First Line: The figs on the fig tree in the yard are green DETECTIVE First Line: What was she doing when it blew in DIALOGUE BETWEEN GHOST AND PRIEST Poem Text First Line: In the rectory garden on his evening walk Last Line: Than man's red heart Subject(s): Ghosts; Justice DIALOGUE BETWEEN GHOST AND PRIEST First Line: In the rectory garden on his evening walk Last Line: Than man's red heart.' DIALOGUE EN ROUTE First Line: If only something would happen DIALOGUE OVER A OUIJA BOARD First Line: Go get the glass, then. But I know tonight will be DIRGE FOR A JOKER Poem Text First Line: Always in the middle of a kiss Last Line: And tolerate the humor of the worm Subject(s): Comedy; Death; Dead, The DIRGE FOR A JOKER First Line: Always in the middle of a kiss DISPOSSESSED First Line: The enormous mortgage must be paid somehow Subject(s): Mortgages DISQUIETING MUSES First Line: Mother, mother, what illbred aunt Last Line: Mother, mother. But no frown of mine %will betray the company I keep Subject(s): Women DOOM OF EXILES Poem Text First Line: Now we, returning from the vaulted domes Last Line: In which the riddle of our race is shut Subject(s): Exile DOOM OF EXILES First Line: Now we, returning from the vaulted domes DOOMSDAY Poem Text First Line: The idiot bird leaps out and drunken leans Last Line: The hour is crowed in lunatic thirteens Subject(s): Disasters DOOMSDAY First Line: The idiot bird leaps out and drunken leans DREAM First Line: Last night,' he said, 'I slept well.' DREAM WITH CLAM-DIGGERS Poem Text First Line: This dream budded bright with leaves round the edges Last Line: Now with stake and pitchfork they advance, flint eyes fixed on murder Subject(s): Dreams; Innocence; Nightmares DREAM WITH CLAM-DIGGERS First Line: This dream budded bright with leaves around the edges EAVESDROPPER Poem Text First Line: Your brother will trim my hedges! Last Line: Toad-stone! Sister-bitch! Sweet neighbor! Subject(s): Privacy EAVESDROPPER First Line: Your brother will trim my hedges! EDGE Poem Text First Line: The woman is perfected Last Line: She is used to this sort of thing. / her blacks crackle and drag Subject(s): Suicide EDGE First Line: The woman is perfected Last Line: She is used to this sort of thing. %her blacks crackle and drag Subject(s): Suicide ELECTRA ON AZALEA PATH Poem Text First Line: The day you died I went into the dirt Last Line: It was my love that did us both to death Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers & Daughters; Graveyards; Dead, The ELECTRA ON AZALEA PATH First Line: The day you died I went into the dirt Last Line: It was my love that did us both to death Subject(s): Cemeteries; Death; Fathers And Daughters ELLA MASON AND HER ELEVEN CATS First Line: Old ella mason keeps her cats, eleven at last count ELLEN MASON AND HER ELEVEN CATS Poem Text First Line: Old ella mason keeps cats, eleven at last count Last Line: Accurst as wild-cats Subject(s): Cats; Spinsters; Old Maids ELM; FOR RUTH FAINLIGHT Poem Text First Line: I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root Last Line: It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults / that kill, that kill Variant Title(s): The Elm Speaks Subject(s): Elm Trees; Fear ELM; FOR RUTH FAINLIGHT First Line: I know the bottom, she says. I know it with my great tap root Last Line: It petrifies the will. These are the isolate, slow faults %that kill, that kill Variant Title(s): The Elm Speak Subject(s): Elm Trees; Fear EPITAPH FOR FIRE AND FLOWER First Line: You might as well haul up EPITAPH FOR FIRE AND POWER Poem Text First Line: You might as well haul up Last Line: Blackens flesh to bone and devours them Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives EPITAPH IN THREE PARTS: 1 First Line: Rocking across the lapis lazuli sea Last Line: There is more than one good way to drown EPITAPH IN THREE PARTS: 2 First Line: In the air above my island flies Last Line: There is more than one way to drown EPITAPH IN THREE PARTS: 3 First Line: Grasshopper goblins with green pointed ears Last Line: There is more than one way to drown EVENT Poem Text First Line: How the elements solidify! --- Last Line: The dark is melting. We touch like cripples Subject(s): Babies; Despair; Infants EVENT First Line: How the elements solidify! Last Line: The dark is melting. We touch like cripples EVERLASTING MONDAY First Line: The moon's man stands in his shell EYE-MOTE First Line: Blameless as daylight I stood looking FABLE OF THE RHODODENDRON STEALERS First Line: I walked the unwalked garden of rose-beds FACE LIFT Poem Text First Line: You bring me good news from the clinic Last Line: Mother to myself, I wake swaddled in gauze, / pink and smooth as a baby Subject(s): Hospitals FACE LIFT First Line: You bring me good news from the clinic Last Line: Mother to myself, I wake swaddled in gauze, %pink and smooth as a baby FAMILY REUNION Poem Text First Line: Outside in the street I hear Last Line: And make the fatal plunge Subject(s): Reunions; Family Life; Relatives FAMILY REUNION First Line: Outside in the street I hear FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST First Line: I havenot ever seen my father's grave FAUN First Line: Haunched like a faun, he hooed FEARFUL First Line: This man makes a pseudonym FEMALE AUTHOR Poem Text First Line: All day she plays at chess with the bones of the world: Last Line: From gray child faces crying in the streets Subject(s): Women - Writers FEMALE AUTHOR First Line: All day she plays at chess with the bones of the world FEVER 103 DEGREES Recitation by Author First Line: Pure? What does it mean? Subject(s): Fever; Sickness; Illness FEVER 103 DEGREES First Line: Pure? What does it mean? Last Line: My selves dissolving, old whore petticoats - %to paradise Subject(s): Fever; Sickness FIESTA MELONS Poem Text First Line: In benidorm there are melons Last Line: This market of melon-eating / fiesta-goers Subject(s): Melons FIESTA MELONS First Line: In benidorm there are melons FINISTERRE Poem Text First Line: This was the land's end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic, Last Line: These are our crępes. Eat them before they blow cold Subject(s): Cliffs; Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore FINISTERRE First Line: This was the land's end: the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic FIRESONG Poem Text First Line: Born green we were Last Line: Lean to my wound, burn on, burn on Subject(s): Fire FIRESONG First Line: Born green we were %to this flawed garden FLUTE NOTES FROM A REEDY POND Poem Text First Line: Now coldness comes sifting down, layer after layer Last Line: Shall unhusk himself and steer into the air Subject(s): Ponds FOR A FATHERLESS SON Poem Text First Line: You will be aware of an absence, presently, Last Line: Till then your smiles are found money Subject(s): Sons; Fathers FOR A FATHERLESS SON First Line: You will be aware of an absence, presently FROG AUTUMN Poem Text First Line: Summer grows old, cold-blooded mother Last Line: Houses himself elsewhere. Our folk thin / lamentably Subject(s): Swamps; Bogs; Fens; Marshes FROG AUTUMN First Line: Summer grows old, cold-blooded mother Last Line: Houses himself elsewhere. Our folk thin %lamentably Subject(s): Swamps FULL FATHOM FIVE Poem Text First Line: Old man, you surface seldom Last Line: I would breathe water Subject(s): Sea; Ocean FULL FATHOM FIVE First Line: Old man, you surface seldom Subject(s): Sea GETTING THERE Poem Text First Line: How far is it? Last Line: The train rolled in that night Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains GETTING THERE First Line: How far is it? Last Line: The train rolled in that night Subject(s): Railroads GHOST'S LEAVETAKING First Line: Enter the chilly no-man's land of about GIGOLO Poem Text First Line: Pocket watch, I tick well. Last Line: Lean and see me. Subject(s): Lust GIGOLO First Line: Pocket watch, I tick well GLUTTON First Line: He, hunger-struck, hard to slake Subject(s): Gluttony GO GET THE GOODLY SQUAB IN GOLD-LOBED CORN GOATSUCKER Poem Text First Line: Old goatherds swear how all night long they hear Last Line: Cockchafers and the wan, green luna moth Subject(s): Goats; Birds GOATSUCKER First Line: Old goatherds swear how all night long they hear GOLD MOUTHS CRY Poem Text First Line: Gold mouths cry with the green young Last Line: And his eyes gone blind with leaves Subject(s): Autumn; Fall GOLD MOUTHS CRY WITH THE GREEN YOUNG GORING First Line: Arena dust rusted by four bulls' blood to a dull redness Subject(s): Travel GREAT CARBUNCLE First Line: We came over the moor-top GREEN ROCK, WINTHROP BAY Poem Text First Line: No lame excuses can gloss over Last Line: For the rock's dwarfed lump, for the drabbled scum, / for a churlish welcome Subject(s): Nature GREEN ROCK, WINTHROP BAY First Line: No lame excuses can gloss over Last Line: For the rock's dwarfed lump, for the drabbled scum, %for a churlish welcome Subject(s): Nature GULLIVER Poem Text First Line: Over your body the clouds go Last Line: The shadow of this lip, an abyss Subject(s): Babies; Infants GULLIVER First Line: Over your body the clouds go Last Line: The shadow of this lip, an abyss HANGING MAN First Line: By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me Last Line: If he were I, he would do what I did HARDCASTLE CRAGS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Flintlike, her feet struck Variant Title(s): Night Walk Subject(s): Forests; Woods HARDCASTLE CRAGS First Line: Flintlike, her feet struck Last Line: Her down to mere quatrz grit in that stony light, %she turned back Variant Title(s): Night Wal Subject(s): Forests HEAVY WOMEN Poem Text First Line: Irrefutable, beautifully smug Last Line: The star, the wise grey men Subject(s): Pregnancy HEAVY WOMEN First Line: Irrefutable, beautifully smug HERMIT AT OUTERMOST HOUSE First Line: Sky and sea, horizon-hinged I AM VERTICAL Poem Text First Line: But I would rather be horizontal Last Line: Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me Subject(s): Depression, Mental; Mentally Depressed; Mental Distress I AM VERTICAL First Line: But I would rather be horizontal Subject(s): Depression, Mental I THOUGHT I COULD NOT BE HURT Poem Text Last Line: Of a sunken gong I WANT, I WANT Poem Text First Line: Open-mouthed, the baby god Last Line: Thorns on the bloody rose-stem I WANT, I WANT First Line: Open-mouthed, the baby god IN MIDAS' COUNTRY First Line: Meadows of god dust. The silver IN PLASTER Poem Text First Line: I shall never get out of this! There are two of me now Last Line: And she'll perish with emptiness then, and begin to miss me Subject(s): Hospitals; Plaster Casts IN PLASTER First Line: I shall never get out of this! There are two of me now Last Line: And she'll perish with emptiness then, and begin to miss me Subject(s): Hospitals; Plaster Casts INCOMMUNICADO Poem Text First Line: The groundhog on the mountain did not run Last Line: To canacee cries gibberish to coarsened ears Subject(s): Groundhogs; Language; Woodchucks; Words; Vocabulary INCOMMUNICADO First Line: The groundhog on the mountain did not run INSOLENT STORM STRIKES AT THE SKULL INSOMNIAC Poem Text First Line: The night is only a sort of carbon paper Last Line: Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed Subject(s): Insomnia; Sleeplessness INSOMNIAC First Line: The night sky is only a sort of carbon paper JAILER First Line: My night sweats grease his breakfast plate JILTED Poem Text First Line: My thoughts are crabbed and sallow Last Line: My lean, unripened heart Subject(s): Rejection JILTED First Line: My thoughts are crabbed and sallow KINDNESS Poem Text First Line: Kindness glides about my house. Last Line: You hand me two children, two roses Subject(s): Kindness; Family Life; Relatives KINDNESS First Line: Kindness glides about my house Last Line: You hand me two children, two roses LADY AND THE EARTHENWARE HEAD First Line: Fired in sanguine clay, the model head LADY LAZARUS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: I have done it again Last Line: I rise with my red hair / and I eat men like air Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Women; Shoah; Judaism LADY LAZARUS First Line: I have done it again Last Line: I rise with my red hair %and I eat men like air Subject(s): Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945); Jews; Women LAMENT Poem Text First Line: The sting of bees took away my father Last Line: Who scorned the tick of the falling weather Subject(s): Death; Fathers; Dead, The LAMENT; A VILLANELLE First Line: The sting of bees took away my father LANDOWNERS Poem Text First Line: From my rented attic with no earth Last Line: Life, its own vaporous wayfarings Subject(s): Houses LANDOWNERS First Line: From my rented attic with no earth LAST WORDS Poem Text First Line: I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus Last Line: It will be dark, / and the shine of these small things sweeter than the face of ishtar Subject(s): Death; Dead, The LAST WORDS First Line: I do not want a plain box, I want a sarcophagus Last Line: It will be dark, %and the shine of these small things sweeter than the face of ishtar LEAVING EARLY Poem Text First Line: Lady, your room is lousy with flowers. Last Line: With a lung full of dust and a tongue of wood, / knee-deep in the cold and swamped by flowers? Subject(s): Flowers LEAVING EARLY First Line: Lady, your room is lousy with flowers Last Line: With a lung full of dust and a tongue of wood, %knee-deep in the cold and swamped by flowers? LESBOS Poem Text First Line: Viciousness in the kitchen! Last Line: Even in your zen heaven we shan't meet Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Suicide; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men LESBOS First Line: Viciousness in the kitchen! LESSON IN VENGEANCE First Line: In the dour ages LETTER IN NOVEMBER Poem Text First Line: Love, the world Last Line: The irreplaceable / golds bleed and deepen, the mouths of the thermopylae Subject(s): Walking; Autumn; Fall LETTER IN NOVEMBER First Line: Love, the world suddenly turns, turns color. The streetlight Last Line: The irreplaceable %golds bleed and deepen, the mouths of the rmopylae LETTER TO A PURIST Poem Text First Line: That grandiose colossus who Last Line: Agawp at the impeccable moon Subject(s): Imagination; Idealism; Fancy LETTER TO A PURIST First Line: That grandiose colossus who LIFE First Line: Touch it: it won't shrink like an eyeball Last Line: Crawls out of the sea LITTLE FUGUE Poem Text First Line: The yew's black fingers wag Last Line: The clouds are a marriage dress, of that pallor Subject(s): Music & Musicians LITTLE FUGUE First Line: The yew's black fingers wag Last Line: The clouds are a marriage dress, of that pallor Subject(s): Music And Musicians LORELEI Poem Text First Line: It is no night to drown in Last Line: Stone, stone, ferry me down there Subject(s): Sirens LORELEI First Line: It is no night to drown in LOVE IS A PARALLAX First Line: Perspective betrays with its dichotomy LOVE LETTER Poem Text First Line: Not easy to state the change you made Last Line: Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift Subject(s): Letters; Habits; Change LOVE LETTER First Line: Not easy to state the change you made Last Line: Pure as a pane of ice. It's a gift LYONNESSE Poem Text First Line: No use whistling for lyonnesse ! Last Line: The white gape of his mind was the real tabula rasa Subject(s): Cornwall, England LYONNESSE First Line: No use whistling for lyonnesse! MAD GIRL'S LOVE SONG Poem Text First Line: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead Last Line: I think I made you up inside my head MAENAD Poem Text First Line: Once I was ordinary: Last Line: Tell me my name MAGI Poem Text First Line: The abstracts hover like dull angels: Last Line: What girl ever flourished in such company? Subject(s): Magi MAGI First Line: The abstracts hover like dull angels MAGNOLIA SHOALS Poem Text First Line: Up here among the gull cries Last Line: Wings drumming in the winter Subject(s): Winter MAGNOLIA SHOALS First Line: Up here among the gull cries MAN IN BLACK Poem Text First Line: Where the three magenta Last Line: All of it, together Subject(s): Sea; Ocean MAN IN BLACK First Line: Where the three magenta Last Line: All of it, together MANOR GARDEN First Line: The fountains are dry and the roses over Last Line: With their gifts to a difficult borning MARY'S SONG Poem Text First Line: The sunday lamb cracks in its fat Last Line: O golden child the world will kill and eat Subject(s): Bible; Religion; Theology MARY'S SONG First Line: The sunday lamb cracks in its fat Last Line: O golden child the world will kill and eat Subject(s): Bible; Religion MAUDLIN First Line: Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag MAULDLIN Poem Text First Line: Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag Last Line: Fish-tailed girls purchase each white leg Subject(s): Moon MAYFLOWER First Line: Throughout black winter the red haws withstood Last Line: They named their ship after the flower of may. MEDALLION Poem Text First Line: By the gate with star and moon Last Line: Flung brick perfected his laugh Subject(s): Snakes; Serpents; Vipers MEDALLION First Line: By the gate with star and moon MEDUSA Poem Text Recitation First Line: Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs Last Line: There is nothing between us Subject(s): Medusa; Mythology - Classical MEDUSA First Line: Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs Last Line: There is nothing between us Subject(s): Medusa; Mythology - Classical MEMOIRS OF A SPINACH-PICKER First Line: They called the place lookout farm METAMORPHOSES OF THE MOON First Line: Cold moons withdraw, refusing to come to terms METAMORPHOSIS Poem Text First Line: Haunched like a faun, he hooed Last Line: And galloped woodward in that guise METAPHORS Poem Text Recitation First Line: I'm a riddle in nine syllables Last Line: Boarded the train there's no getting off Subject(s): Pregnancy METAPHORS First Line: I'm a riddle in nine syllables Last Line: Boarded the train there's no getting off Subject(s): Pregnancy MIDSUMMER MOBILE First Line: Begin by dipping your brush in clear light MIRROR Poem Text First Line: I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions Last Line: Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish Subject(s): Aging; Self MIRROR First Line: I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions Last Line: Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish Subject(s): Aging; Self MISS DRAKE PROCEEDS TG SUPPER Poem Text First Line: No novice / in those elaborate rituals Last Line: Of the patients' dining room Subject(s): Insanity; Hospitals; Madness; Mental Illness MISS DRAKE PROCEEDS TO SUPPER First Line: No novice %in those elaborate rituals MONOLOGUE AT 3 A.M. First Line: Better that every fiber crack MONOLOGUE AT 3 AM Poem Text First Line: Better that every fiber crack Last Line: My one kingdom Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation MOON AND THE YEW TREE First Line: This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary Last Line: And the message of the yew tree is blackness - blackness and silence Subject(s): Moon; Yew Trees MOONRISE Poem Text First Line: Grub-white mulberries redden among leaves Last Line: And bleed. The white stomach may ripen yet Subject(s): Mulberry Trees; Night; Bedtime MOONRISE First Line: Grub-white mulberries redden among leaves MOONSONG AT MORNING First Line: O moon of illusion MORNING IN THE HOSPITAL SOLARIUM First Line: Sunlight strikes a glass of grapefruit juice MORNING SONG Poem Text First Line: Love set you going like a fat gold watch Last Line: The clear vowels rise like balloons Subject(s): Morning; Mothers; Time; Women MORNING SONG First Line: Love set you going like a fat gold watch Last Line: The clear vowels rise like balloons Subject(s): Morning; Mothers; Time; Women MUNICH MANNEQUINS First Line: Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children MUSHROOMS Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Overnight, very whitely, discreetly Last Line: Our foot's in the door Subject(s): Mushrooms; Morels MUSHROOMS First Line: Overnight, very whitely, discreetly Last Line: Our foot's in the door Subject(s): Mushrooms MUSSEL HUNTER AT ROCK HARBOR Poem Text First Line: I came before the water- / colorists came to get the Last Line: Element - this relic saved / face, to face the bald-faced man Subject(s): Mussels MUSSEL HUNTER AT ROCK HARBOR First Line: I came before the water- %colorists came to get the Last Line: Element - this relic saved %face, to face the bald-faced man Subject(s): Mussels MYSTIC Poem Text First Line: The air is a mill of hooks---- Last Line: The heart has not stopped Subject(s): Life MYSTIC First Line: The air is a mill of hooks Last Line: The heart has not stopped NATURAL HISTORY Poem Text First Line: That lofty monarch, monarch mind, Last Line: Of the base, barbarous prince ow Subject(s): Thought; Thinking NATURAL HISTORY First Line: That lofty monarch, monarch mind NET-MENDERS First Line: Halfway up from the little harbor of sardine boats NEVER TRY TO TRICK ME WITH A KISS Poem Text Last Line: The dying man will scoff and scorn at this Subject(s): Kisses NEVER TRY TO TRICK ME WITH A KISS NEW YEAR ON DARTMOOR Poem Text First Line: This is newness : every little tawdry Last Line: To want the world in a glass hat Subject(s): New Year; Babies; Infants NEW YEAR ON DARTMOOR First Line: This is newness: every little tawdry NICK AND THE CANDLESTICK Poem Text Recitation First Line: I am a miner. The light burns blue Last Line: You are the baby in the barn Subject(s): Children; Childhood NICK AND THE CANDLESTICK First Line: I am a miner. The light burns blue Last Line: You are the baby in the barn Subject(s): Children NIGHT DANCES First Line: A smile fell in the grass %irretrievable! Last Line: Touching and melting %nowhere NIGHT SHIFT Poem Text First Line: It was not a heart, beating. Last Line: Indefatigable fact Subject(s): Noises; Factories NIGHT SHIFT First Line: It was not a heart, beating NOTES TO A NEOPHYTE Poem Text First Line: Take the general mumble Last Line: To the hardest substance known Subject(s): Writing & Writers NOTES TO A NEOPHYTE First Line: Take the general mumble NOVEMBER GRAVEYARD Poem Text First Line: The scene stands stubborn: skinflint trees Last Line: Which peoples the bare room, the blank, untenanted air Subject(s): Imagination;graves; Fancy; Tombs; Tombstones NOVEMBER GRAVEYARD First Line: The scene stands stubborn: skinflint trees ODE FOR TED Poem Text First Line: From under the crunch of my man's boot Last Line: Leaps to laud such man's blood! Subject(s): Hughes, Ted (1930-1998); Hughes, Edward James ODE FOR TED First Line: From under crunch of my man's boot OLD LADIES' HOME Poem Text First Line: Sharded in black, like beetles Last Line: Shortens with each breath drawn Subject(s): Women - Old Age; Nursing Homes; Old Age Homes; Assisted Living OLD LADIES' HOME First Line: Sharded in black, like beetles ON DECK Poem Text First Line: Midnight in the mid-atlantic. On deck. Last Line: To be let loose at news of land Subject(s): Ships & Shipping ON DECK First Line: Midnight in the mid-atlantic. On deck ON LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF A DEMON LOVE Poem Text First Line: Here are two pupils Last Line: But found radiant venus / reflected there Subject(s): Eyes ON LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF A DEMON LOVER First Line: Here are two pupils ON THE DECLINE OF ORACLES Poem Text First Line: My father kept a vaulted conch Last Line: Saw evil break out of gte north Subject(s): Fathers ON THE DECLINE OF ORACLES First Line: My father kept a vaulted conch ON THE DIFFICULTY OF CONJURING UP A DRYAD Poem Text First Line: Ravening through the persistent bric-a -brac Last Line: Thieves what it has Subject(s): Imagination; Writing & Writers; Dryads; Fancy ON THE DIFFICULTY OF CONJURING UP A DRYAD First Line: Ravening through the persistent bric-a-brac ON THE PLETHORA OF DRYADS First Line: Hearing a white saint rave OTHER First Line: You come in late, wiping your lips Last Line: No, it is not fatal OTHER TWO First Line: All summer we moved in a villa brimful of echoes OUIJA Poem Text First Line: It is a chilly god, a god of shades, Last Line: But floridly, his amorous nostalgias Subject(s): Ouija Boards; Past OUIJA First Line: It is a chilly god, a god of shades Last Line: But floridly, his amorous nostalgias OWL Poem Text First Line: Clocks belled twelve. Main street showed otherwise Last Line: Shaken by owl cry Subject(s): Birds OWL First Line: Clocks belled twelve. Main street showed otherwise Last Line: Shaken by owl cry Subject(s): Birds PARALYTIC Poem Text First Line: It happens. Will it go on? Last Line: Drunk on its own scents, / asks nothing of life Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Pain; Estrangement; Outcasts; Suffering; Misery PARALYTIC First Line: It happens. Will it go on? Last Line: Drunk on its own scents, %asks nothing of life Subject(s): Alienation (social Psychology); Pain PARLIAMENT HILL FIELDS Poem Text First Line: On this bald hill the new year hones its edge. Last Line: I enter the lit house Subject(s): Absence; Mothers; Separation; Isolation PARLIAMENT HILL FIELDS First Line: On this bald hill the new year hones its edge Last Line: I enter the lit house PERSEUS Poem Text First Line: Head alone shows you in the prodigious act Last Line: Which weighs our madness with our sanity Subject(s): Perseus PERSEUS; THE TRIUMPH OF WIT OVER SUFFERING First Line: Head alone shows you in the prodigious act PHEASANT Poem Text First Line: You said you would kill it this morning Last Line: Trespass stupidly. Let be, let be Subject(s): Pheasants PHEASANT First Line: You said you would kill it this morning Last Line: I trespass stupidly. Let be, let be Subject(s): Pheasants POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 1. WHO First Line: The month of flowering's finished. The fruit's in Last Line: For weeks I can remember nothing at all POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 2. DARK HOUSE First Line: This is a dark house, very big Last Line: Here's a cuddly mother POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 3. MAENAD First Line: Once I was ordinary Last Line: Tell me my name POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 4. THE BEAST First Line: He was bullman earlier Last Line: Duchess of nothing, %hairtusk's bride POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 5. FLUTE NOTES FROM A REEDY POND First Line: Now coldness comes sifting down, layer after layer Last Line: Shall unhusk himself and steer into the air POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 6. WITCH BURNING First Line: In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks Last Line: I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light POEM FOR A BIRTHDAY: 7. THE STONES First Line: This is the city where men are mended Last Line: I shall be as good as new POEMS, POTATOES Poem Text First Line: The word, defining, muzzles; the drawn line Last Line: Superior page, the blunt stone also Subject(s): Potatoes; Poetry & Poets POEMS, POTATOES First Line: The word, defining, muzzles; the drawn line POINT SHIRLEY Poem Text First Line: From water-tower hill to the brick prison Last Line: Against both bar and tower the black sea runs Subject(s): Boston; Sea; Ocean POINT SHIRLEY First Line: From water-tower hill to the brick prison Last Line: Against both bar and tower the black sea runs Subject(s): Boston; Sea POLLY'S TREE Poem Text First Line: A dream tree, polly's tree Last Line: Blue larkspur star Subject(s): Trees POLLY'S TREE First Line: A dream tree, polly's tree POPPIES IN JULY Poem Text Recitation First Line: Little poppies, little hell flames Last Line: But colorless. Colorless Subject(s): Poppies POPPIES IN JULY First Line: Little poppies, little hell flames Last Line: But colorless. Colorless Subject(s): Poppies POPPIES IN OCTOBER Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts Last Line: That these late mouths should cry open / in a forest of frost, in a dawn of cornflowers Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening POPPIES IN OCTOBER First Line: Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts Last Line: That these late mouths should cry open %in a forest of frost, in a dawn of cornflowers Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens And Gardening PRINCESS AND THE GOBLINS First Line: From fabrication springs the spiral stair PRIVATE GROUND Poem Text First Line: First frost, and I walk among the rose-fruit, the marble toes Last Line: Opens and shuts, accepting them among its reflections Subject(s): Lakes; Winter; Pools; Ponds PRIVATE GROUND First Line: First frost, and I walk among the rose-fruit, the marble toes PROLOGUE TO SPRING Poem Text First Line: The winter landscape hangs in balance now Last Line: Green-singing birds explore from all the rocks Subject(s): Spring PROLOGUE TO SPRING First Line: The winter landscape hangs in balance now PROSPECT Poem Text First Line: Among orange-tile rooftops Last Line: Cocked on the lone, late, / passer-by Subject(s): Fog; Rooks; Haze PROSPECT First Line: Among orange-tile rooftops PURDAH Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: Jade / stone of the side Last Line: The cloak of holes Subject(s): Women - Secluding PURDAH First Line: Jade %stone of the side Last Line: The cloak of holes Subject(s): Women - Secluding PURSUIT Poem Text First Line: There is a panther stalks me down: Last Line: Coming up and up the stairs Subject(s): Fear PURSUIT First Line: There is a panther stalks me down QUEEN MARY'S ROSE GARDEN First Line: In this day before the day nobody is about QUEEN'S COMPLAINT First Line: In ruck and quibble of courtfolk RABBIT CATCHER First Line: It was a place of force Last Line: Sliding shut on some quick thing, %the constriction killing me also RAVAGED FACE First Line: Outlandish as a circus, the ravaged face RECANTATION Poem Text First Line: Tea leaves I've given up, Last Line: With your white hands Subject(s): Lchemy & Alchemists RECANTATION First Line: Tea leaves I've given up RESOLVE Poem Text First Line: Day of mist: day of tarnish Last Line: In the wind's sneer Subject(s): Colleges & Universities RESOLVE First Line: Day of mist: day of tarnish RHYME Poem Text First Line: I've got a stubborn goose whose gut's Last Line: Her ruby dregs Subject(s): Geese RHYME First Line: I've got a stubborn goose whose gut's RIVAL First Line: If the moon smiled, she would resemble you SCULPTOR Poem Text First Line: To his house the bodiless Last Line: A solider repose than death's Subject(s): Baskin, Leonard (1922-2000) SCULPTOR (FOR LEONARD BASKIN) First Line: To his his house the bodiless SECRET! A SECRET! / HOW SUPERIOR SHEEP IN FOG Poem Text Recitation First Line: The hills step off into whiteness Last Line: To let me through to a heaven / starless and fatherless, a dark water Subject(s): Fog; Horseback Riding; Sheep; Haze SHEEP IN FOG First Line: The hills step off into whiteness Last Line: To let me through to a heaven %starless and fatherless, a dark water Subject(s): Fog; Horseback Riding; Sheep SHRIKE First Line: When night comes black SLEEP IN THE MOJAVE DESERT Poem Text First Line: Out here there are no hearthstones Last Line: And the crickets come creeping into our hair / to fiddle the short night away Subject(s): Mohave Desert; Mojave Desert SLEEP IN THE MOJAVE DESERT First Line: Out here there are no hearthstones Last Line: And the crickets come creeping into our hair %to fiddle the short night away Subject(s): Mohave Desert SLEEPERS First Line: No map traces the street SNAKECHARMER Poem Text First Line: As the gods began one world, and man another, Last Line: Puts up his pipe, and lids his moony eye Subject(s): Eden; Snakes; Music & Musicians; Serpents; Vipers SNAKECHARMER First Line: As the gods began one world, and man another SNOWMAN ON THE MOOR First Line: Stalemated their armies stood, with tottering banners SOLILOQUY OF THE SOLIPIST First Line: I? %I walk alone SOLILOQUY OF THE SOLIPSIST Poem Text First Line: I walk alone; Last Line: All you beauty, all your wit, is a gift, my dear, / from me Subject(s): Solipsism SONG FOR A REVOLUTIONARY LOVE First Line: O throw it away, throw it all away on the wind SONG FOR A SUMMER'S DAY Poem Text First Line: Through fen and farmland walking Last Line: Till the night mists came rising Subject(s): Country Life; Walking SONG FOR A SUMMER'S DAY First Line: Through fen and farmland walking SONNET TO SATAN Poem Text First Line: In darkroom of your eye the moonly mind Last Line: Obscure the scalding sun till no clocks move Subject(s): Devil; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub SONNET TO SATAN First Line: In darkroom of your eye the moonly mind SONNET TO TIME First Line: Today we move in jade and cease with garnet SONNET: TO EVA Poem Text First Line: All right, let's say you could take a skull and break it Last Line: To chirp the hour in lunatic thirteens Subject(s): Despair SONNET: TO EVA First Line: All right, let's say you could take a skull and break it SORCERER BIDS FAREWELL TO SEEM First Line: I'm through with this grand looking-glass hotel SOUTHERN SUNRISE First Line: Color of lemon, mango, peach SOUTHERN SURPRISE Poem Text First Line: Color of lemon, mango, peach, Last Line: Rises the round red watermelon sun Subject(s): Dawn; Sunrise SOW Poem Text First Line: God knows how our neighbor managed to breed Last Line: The seven troughed seas and every earthquaking continents Subject(s): Pigs; Boars; Hogs SOW First Line: God knows how our neighbor managed to breed %his great sow SPIDER Poem Text First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales Last Line: Ex machina. Nor did they seem deterred by this Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders; Allegories; Bugs SPIDER First Line: Anansi, black busybody of the folktales Last Line: Ex machina. Nor did they seem deterred by this Subject(s): Africa; Fables; Insects; Spiders SPINSTER Poem Text First Line: Now this particular girl Last Line: With curse, fist, threat / or love, either Subject(s): Spinsters; Old Maids SPINSTER First Line: Now this particular girl Last Line: With curse, fist, threat %or love, either Subject(s): Spinsters STARS OVER THE DORDOGNE Poem Text First Line: Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy Last Line: And drink the small night chill like news of home Subject(s): Stars STARS OVER THE DORDOGNE First Line: Stars are dropping thick as stones into the twiggy STILLBORN Poem Text First Line: These poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis. Last Line: And they stupidly stare, and do not speak of her Subject(s): Writing & Writers STILLBORN First Line: These poems do not live: it's a sad diagnosis Last Line: And they stupidly stare, and do not speak of her STINGS Poem Text Recitation First Line: Bare-handed, I hand the combs Last Line: The mausoleum, the wax house Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs STINGS First Line: Bare-handed, I hand the combs Last Line: The mausoleum, the wax house Subject(s): Bees; Insects STOPPED DEAD First Line: A squeal of brakes STREET SONG Poem Text First Line: By a mad miracle I go intact Last Line: This cracked world's incessant gabble and hiss Subject(s): Music & Musicians STREET SONG First Line: By a mad miracle I go intact Subject(s): Music And Musicians STRUMPET SONG Poem Text First Line: With white frost gone Last Line: Into my chaste own eyes / looks up Subject(s): Prostitution; Harlots; Whores; Brothels STRUMPET SONG First Line: With white frost gone SUICIDE OFF EGG ROCK Poem Text First Line: Behind him the hotdogs split and drizzled Last Line: The forgetful surf creaming on those ledges Subject(s): Suicide SUICIDE OFF EGG ROCK First Line: Behind him the hotdogs split and drizzled Last Line: The forgetful surf creaming on those ledges SURGEON AT 2 A.M. First Line: The white light is artificial, and hygienic as heaven SWARM First Line: Somebody is shooting at something in our town Last Line: Napoleon is pleased, he is pleased with everything. %o europe! O ton of honey! Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Napoleon I (1769-1821) TALE OF A TUB Poem Text First Line: The photographic chamber of the eye Last Line: Shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real Subject(s): Baths & Bathing; Imagination; Showers & Showering; Fancy TALE OF A TUB First Line: The photographic chamber of the eye TEMPER OF TIME First Line: An ill wind is stalking TERMINAL Poem Text First Line: Riding home from credulous blue domes, Last Line: Waiting for his grace to consecrate Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares TERMINAL First Line: Riding home from credulous blue domes THALIDOMIDE Poem Text First Line: O half moon--- Last Line: Flees and aborts like dropped mercury Subject(s): Moon THALIDOMIDE First Line: O half moon %half-brain, luminosity THE APPLICANT Poem Text Recitation by Author First Line: First, are you our sort of a person? Last Line: Will you marry it, marry it, marry it Subject(s): Salespersons; Selling THE ARRIVAL OF THE BEE BOX Poem Text First Line: I ordered this, this clean wood box Last Line: The box is only temporary Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs THE BABYSITTERS Poem Text First Line: It is ten years, now, since we rowed to children's island Last Line: Everything has happened Subject(s): Child Care; Plath, Sylvia (1932-1963); Baby Sitters; Governesses THE BEAST Poem Text First Line: He was the bullman earlierm Last Line: Hairtusk's bride THE BEE MEETING Poem Text Recitation First Line: Who are these people at the bridge to meet me? They are the Last Line: Whose is that long white box in the grove, what have they accomplished, why am I cold Subject(s): Bees; Fear; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs THE BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER Poem Text First Line: A garden of mouthings. Purple, scarlet-speckled, black Last Line: The queen bee marries the winter of your year Subject(s): Bees; Fathers & Daughters; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs THE BULL OF BENDYLAW Poem Text First Line: The black bull bellowed before the sea Last Line: And the bull on the king's highway. Subject(s): Bulls THE BURNT-OUT SPA Poem Text First Line: An old beast ended in this place: Last Line: Neither nourishes nor heals Subject(s): Decay; Rot; Decadence THE COLOSSUS Poem Text Recitation First Line: I shall never get you put together entirely Last Line: On the blank stones of the landing Subject(s): Fathers THE COMPANIONABLE ILLS Poem Text First Line: The nose-end that twitches, the old imperfections--- Last Line: Bedfellows of the spirit's debauch, fond masters. Subject(s): Tolerance THE COURIERS Poem Text First Line: The word of a snail on the plate of a leaf? Last Line: Love, love, my season Subject(s): Seasons THE DEAD Poem Text First Line: Revolving in oval loops of solar speed, Last Line: The dead bell. / somebody's done for Subject(s): Death; Dead, The THE DEATH OF MYTH-MAKING Poem Text First Line: Two virtues ride, by stallion, by nag Last Line: The housewife's desultory Subject(s): Mythology; Reason; Intellect; Rationalism; Brain; Mind; Intellectuals THE DISPOSSESSED Poem Text First Line: The enormous mortgage must be paid somehow Last Line: Tell me quick, darling, tell me now! Subject(s): Mortgages THE DISQUIETING MUSES Poem Text First Line: Mother, mother, what illbred aunt Last Line: Will betray the company I keep Subject(s): Women THE EVERLASTING MONDAY Poem Text First Line: Thou shalt have an everlasting Last Line: Fireless, seven chill seas chained to his ankle Subject(s): Moon THE EYE-MOTE Poem Text First Line: Blameless as daylight I stood looking Last Line: A place, a time gone out of mind Subject(s): Nostalgia; Eyes THE FEARFUL Poem Text First Line: This man makes a pseudonym Last Line: Where there is only him and him THE GHOST'S LEAVETAKING Poem Text First Line: Enter the chilly no-man's land of about Last Line: Of the profane grail, the dreaming skull Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares THE GLUTTON Poem Text First Line: He, hunger-struck, hard to slake Last Line: Sacked larder's gone bone-bare Subject(s): Gluttony THE GORING Poem Text First Line: Arena dust rusted by four bulls' blood to a dull redness Last Line: Blood faultlessly broached redeemed the sullied air, the earth's grossness Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips THE GREAT CARBUNCLE Poem Text First Line: We came over the moor-top Last Line: Down: the body weighs like stone Subject(s): Light THE HANGING MAN Poem Text First Line: By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me Last Line: If he were I, he would do what I did Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Torture; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty THE HERMIT AT OUTERMOST HOUSE Poem Text First Line: Sky and sea, horizon-hinged Last Line: Gulls mulled in the greenest light Subject(s): Hermits THE MANOR GARDEN Poem Text First Line: The fountains are dry and the roses over Last Line: With their gifts to a difficult borning Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening THE MOON AND THE YEW TREE Poem Text Recitation First Line: This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary Last Line: And the message of the yew tree is blackness – blackness and silence. Subject(s): Moon; Yew Trees THE MUNICH MANNEQUINS Poem Text First Line: Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children. Last Line: Voicelessness. The snow has no voice Subject(s): Silence; Language; Munich, Germany; Words; Vocabulary THE NIGHT DANCES Poem Text First Line: A smile fell in the grass. Last Line: Touching and melting. / nowhere Subject(s): Babies; Infants THE OTHER Poem Text First Line: You come in late, wiping your lips Last Line: No, it is not fatal Subject(s): Adultery THE OTHER TWO Poem Text First Line: All summer we moved in a villa brimful of echos, Last Line: The heaven those two dreamed of, in despair Subject(s): Self-deceit THE QUEEN'S COMPLAINT Poem Text First Line: In ruck and quibble of courtfolk Last Line: To see my people shrunk so small, so small Subject(s): Giants THE RAVAGED FACE Poem Text First Line: Outlandish as a circus, the ravaged face Last Line: O oedipus. O christ. You use me ill Subject(s): Self; Despair THE RIVAL Poem Text First Line: If the moon smiled, she would resemble you. Last Line: Walking about in africa maybe, but thinking of me Subject(s): Absence; Moon; Separation; Isolation THE SHRIKE Poem Text First Line: When night comes black Last Line: Last blood-drop of that truant heart Subject(s): Revenge; Jealousy THE SLEEPERS Poem Text First Line: No map traces the street Last Line: Into another time Subject(s): Sleep; Dreams; Nightmares THE SNOWMAN ON THE MOOR Poem Text First Line: Stalemated their armies stood, with tottering banners Last Line: And mild obeying Subject(s): Quarrels' THE STONES Poem Text First Line: This is the city where men are mended. Last Line: I shall be good as new Subject(s): Illness; Hospitals THE SURGEON AT 2 A.M. Poem Text First Line: The white light is artificial, and hygienic as heaven. Last Line: Grey faces, shuttered by drugs, follow me like flowers Subject(s): Surgery; Hospitals THE SWARM Poem Text First Line: Somebody is shooting at something in our town Last Line: O europe! O ton of honey! Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Napoleon I (1769-1821); Beekeeping; Bugs THE THIN PEOP;E Poem Text First Line: They are always with us, the thin people Last Line: And grayer, not even moving their bones Subject(s): Slenderness; Thinness THE TIMES ARE TIDY Poem Text First Line: Unlucky the hero born Last Line: The cow milks cream an inch thick Subject(s): Time; Heroism; Heroes; Heroines THE TRIAL OF MAN Poem Text First Line: The ordinary milkman brought that dawn Last Line: The future an electrode in your skull Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty THIN PEOPLE First Line: They are always with us, the thin people THREE WOMEN Poem Text First Line: I am slow as the world. I am very patient, Last Line: Crack through stone, and they are green with life Subject(s): Women THREE WOMEN; A POEM FOR THREE VOICES First Line: I am slow as the world. I am very patient Last Line: Crack through stone, and they are green with life TIMES ARE TIDY First Line: Unlucky the hero born TINKER JACK AND THE TIDY WIVES First Line: Come lady, bring that pot TO A JILTED LOVER Poem Text First Line: Cold on my narrow Last Line: Blazing in my golden hell Subject(s): Rejection TO A JILTED LOVER First Line: Cold on my narrow cot I lie TO EVA DESCENDING THE STAIR Poem Text First Line: Clocks cry: stillness is a lie, my dear; Last Line: To chirp the hour in lunatic thirteens TO EVA DESCENDING THE STAIR; A VILLANELLE First Line: Clocks cry: stillness is a lie, my dear TOTEM Poem Text First Line: The engine is killing the track the track is silver, Last Line: Death with its many sticks TOTEM First Line: The engine is killing the track, the track is silver Last Line: Death with its many sticks TOUCH-AND-GO Poem Text First Line: Sing praise for statuary: Last Line: Safe-socketed in rock Subject(s): Statues TOUCH-AND-GO First Line: Sing praise for statuary TOUR First Line: O maiden aunt, you have come to call TRIAL OF MAN First Line: The ordinary milkman brought that dawn TRIO OF LOVE SONGS: 1 First Line: Major faults in granite Last Line: Moves to our minor love TRIO OF LOVE SONGS: 2 First Line: My love for you is more Last Line: Link to his lyric action %a periodic goal TRIO OF LOVE SONGS: 3 First Line: If you dissect a bird Last Line: You'll halt the clock %that syncopates our love TULIPS Poem Text First Line: The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here Last Line: The water I taste is warm and salt, like the sea, / and comes from a country far away as health Subject(s): Tulips TULIPS First Line: The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here Last Line: The water I taste is warm and salt, like the sea, %and comes from a country far away as health Subject(s): Tulips TWO CAMPERS IN CLOUD COUNTRY Poem Text First Line: In this country there is neither measure nor balance Last Line: We'll wake blank-brained as water in the dawn Subject(s): Canada; Nature; Canadians TWO CAMPERS IN CLOUD COUNTRY First Line: In this country there is neither measure nor balance Last Line: We'll wake blank-brained as water in the dawn Subject(s): Canada; Nature TWO LOVERS AND A BEACHCMBER BY THE RED SEA Poem Text First Line: Cold and final, the imagination Last Line: And that is that, is that, is that Subject(s): Seashore; Beach; Coast; Shore TWO LOVERS AND A BEACHCOMBER BY THE REAL SEA First Line: Cold and final, the imagination TWO SISTERS OF PERSEPHONE Poem Text First Line: Two girls there are: within the house Last Line: Be but this black outcrop of stones Subject(s): Women TWO SISTERS OF PERSEPHONE First Line: Two girls there are: within the house TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 1 Poem Text First Line: The day she visited the dissecting room Last Line: He hands her the cut-out heart like a cracked heirloom Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter; Cadavers TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 1 First Line: The day she visited the dissecting room Last Line: In their jars the snail-nosed babies moon and glow. %he hands her the cut-out heart like a cracked h Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 2 Poem Text First Line: In brueghel's panorama of smoke and slaughter Last Line: Foolish, delicate, in the lower right hand corner Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses; Brueghel The Elder, Pieter; Bruegel The Elder, Pieter; Cadavers TWO VIEWS OF A CADAVER ROOM: 2 First Line: In brueghel's panorama of smoke and slaughter Last Line: Yet desolation, stalled in paint, spares the little country %foolish, delicate, in the lower right-h Subject(s): Breughel The Elder, Pieter (1530-1569); Corpses VANITY FAIR Poem Text First Line: Through frost-thick weather Last Line: Staked in pride's coven Subject(s): Witchcraft & Witches VANITY FAIR First Line: Through frost-thick weather VERBAL CALISTHENICS Poem Text First Line: My love for you is more Last Line: A periodic goal Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary VIRGIN IN A TREE Poem Text First Line: How this tart fable instructs Last Line: Till irony's bough break Subject(s): Environment; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation VIRGIN IN A TREE First Line: How this tart fable instructs Last Line: Easy and often as each breath Subject(s): Environment; Trees WAKNG IN WINTER Poem Text First Line: I can taste the tin of the sky --- the real tin thing. Last Line: Or the sea, hushing their peeled sense like old mother morphia Subject(s): Winter WALKING IN WINTER First Line: I can taste the tin of the sky - the real tin thing WATERCOLOR OF GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS Poem Text First Line: There, spring lambs jam the sheepfold. In air Last Line: The owl shall stoop from his turret, the rat cry out Subject(s): Cambridge, England; Environment; Fields; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Pastures; Meadows; Leas WATERCOLOR OF GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS First Line: There, spring lambs jam the sheepfold. In air Last Line: The owl shall stoop from his turret, the rat cry out Subject(s): Cambridge, England; Environment; Fields WHITENESS I REMEMBER Poem Text First Line: Whiteness being what I remember Last Line: Thrown: fear, wisdom, at one: all colors / spinning to still in his own whiteness Subject(s): Horseback Riding WHITENESS I REMEMBER First Line: Whiteness being what I remember Last Line: Thrown: fear, wisdom, at one: all colors %spinning to still in his own whiteness Subject(s): Horseback Riding WHITSUN Poem Text First Line: This is not what I meant: Last Line: Sea-sick and fever-dry Subject(s): Picnics; Seashore; Barbecues; Beach; Coast; Shore WHITSUN First Line: This is not what I meant WHO Poem Text First Line: The month of flowering's finished. The fruit's in, Last Line: For weeks I can remember nothing at all WIDOW' Poem Text First Line: Widow. The word consumes itself Last Line: It looks in on, and must go on looking in on Subject(s): Widows & Widowers WIDOW. THE WORD CONCUMES ITSELF WINTER LANDSCAPE, WITH ROOKS Poem Text First Line: Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone Last Line: Grow green again? Who'd walk in this bleak place? Subject(s): Despair WINTER LANDSCAPE, WITH ROOKS First Line: Water in the millrace, through a sluice of stone WINTER SHIP First Line: At this wharf there are no grand landings to speak of WINTER TREES Poem Text First Line: The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve Last Line: The shadows of ringdoves chanting, but easing nothing Subject(s): Environment; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation WINTER TREES First Line: The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve Last Line: The shadows of ringdoves chanting, but easing nothing Subject(s): Environment; Trees WINTER'S TALE First Line: On boston common a red star WINTERING Poem Text First Line: This is the easy time, there is nothing doing Last Line: The bees are flying. They taste the spring Subject(s): Bees; Insects; Beekeeping; Bugs WINTERING First Line: This is the easy time, there is nothing doing Last Line: The bees are flying. They taste the spring Subject(s): Bees; Insects WITCH BURNING Poem Text First Line: In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks. Last Line: I am lost, I am lost, in the roves of all this light Subject(s): Witchcraft & Witches; Insanity; Madness; Mental Illness WORDS Poem Text First Line: Axes / after whose stroke the wood rings Last Line: Rom the bottom of the pool, fixed stars / govern a life Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary WORDS First Line: Axes %after whose stroke the wood rings Last Line: From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars %govern a life Subject(s): Language WORDS FOR A NURSERY First Line: Rosebud, knot of worms WORDS HEARD, BY ACCIDENT, OVER THE PHONE Poem Text First Line: O mud, mud, how fluid! --- Last Line: You are too big. They must take you back! Subject(s): Telephones WORDS HEARD, BY ACCIDENT, OVER THE PHONE First Line: O mud, mud, how fluid! WREATH FOR A BRIDAL Poem Text First Line: What though green leaves only witness Last Line: Let flesh be knit, and each step hence go famous Subject(s): Love - Marital; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love WREATH FOR A BRIDAL First Line: What though green leaves only witness Last Line: Let flesh be knit, and each step hence go famous Subject(s): Love - Marital WUTHERIN HEIGHTS Poem Text First Line: The horizons ring me like faggots, Last Line: Gleam like small change Subject(s): Bronte, Emily (1818-1848); Solitude; Nature; Loneliness WUTHERING HEIGHTS First Line: The horizons ring me like faggots YADDO: THE GRAND MANOR Poem Text First Line: Woodsmoke and a distant loudspeaker Last Line: Zinc-white snow. Subject(s): Parties YADDO: THE GRAND MANOR First Line: Woodsmoke and a distant loudspeaker YADWIGHA, ON A RED COUCH, AMONG LILLIES Poem Text First Line: Yadwigha, the literalists once wondered how you Last Line: In the midst of all that green and those great lilies! Subject(s): Rousseau, Henri (1844-1910) YADWIGHA, ON A RED COUCH, AMONG LILLIES; A SESTINA First Line: Yadwigha, the literalists once wondered how you YEARS Poem Text First Line: They enter as animals from the outer Last Line: In blue distance the pistons hiss Subject(s): Motion YEARS First Line: They enter as animals from the outer YOU'RE Poem Text First Line: Clownlike, happiest on your hands, Last Line: A clean slate, with your own face on Subject(s): Babies; Infants YOU'RE First Line: Clownlike, happiest on your hands Last Line: A clean slate, with your own face on ZOO KEEPER'S WIFE First Line: I can stay awake all night, if need be ZOO-KEEPER'S WIFE Poem Text First Line: I can stay awake all night, if need be --- Last Line: Over their iron stile. And still don't sleep Subject(s): Marriage; Animals; Weddings; Husbands; Wives |
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