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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: STONE, RUTH Matches Found: 512 Brin, Ruth Firestone 179 poems available by this author ABRAHAM AND ISAAC First Line: I dreamed that my first - born of sara Last Line: And I wonder what god will require of me Subject(s): Prayer ABRAHAM GOES FORTH First Line: Abraham left the city of his father Last Line: Toward the infinite promise of goodness in your world Subject(s): Prayer ACROSS EVERY RIVER First Line: Moses told the people of israel that as soon as they crossed Last Line: To make this torah distinct for ourselves and for jews %everywhere Subject(s): Prayer AL HET First Line: The capacity to sin is also the capacity to do good. We Last Line: With your universe, and with you Subject(s): Prayer ASSUMPTION OF FAITH First Line: This was the report of caleb and joshua Last Line: Sustain us, as you sustained our ancestors %in the wilderness Subject(s): Prayer ATONEMENT IN SPRING First Line: The earth turns, the seasons roll Last Line: That you have taught us atonement, %and offered us forgiveness Subject(s): Prayer ATTRIBUTES OF GOD First Line: Angry and afraid, unsure of himself, carrying the second Last Line: With love and kindness, grace and compassion, infinite care Subject(s): Prayer AVINU MALKENU: OUR FATHER, OUR KING First Line: Our father, our king, inscribe us in the book of life, our Last Line: So shall humankind and the world endure Subject(s): Prayer BALLAD FOR HOWARD First Line: Touching with stillness man and beast Last Line: We'll take our prize before we pay Subject(s): Prayer BINDING OF ISAAC First Line: God spoke to abraham, and abraham said, 'here am I.' Last Line: To speak the words of abraham: 'here am I' Subject(s): Prayer BLOODROOT BLOSSOMING First Line: Here where I knelt in stillness I kneel again Last Line: But I will pray to discover courage at moments of trial Subject(s): Prayer BOILING SPRINGS First Line: Water is essential to life everywhere, but nowhere more Last Line: I believe: these waters will never fail Subject(s): Prayer BOOK OF LEVITICUS First Line: The contemporary eye, %the cold and factual eye Last Line: Teach us to translate its spirit %into the language of our lives Subject(s): Prayer BUILDING First Line: Out of the cedars of the forests %the ores of the mountains Last Line: The creator of the earth. %the temple was a psalm of stone Subject(s): Prayer BURNING BUSH First Line: It was no bush, but moses' soul, touched Last Line: Burn us with your flame, %with faith in you, make us whole Subject(s): Prayer CELEBRATION: FOR THE 9TH OF AB First Line: Down the centuries the prophets warned us Last Line: Freedom to seek god alone, anew, to seek the holy %one for ourselves Subject(s): Prayer CEREMONY OF SPRING First Line: From the whispering past comes word of the ancient rites Last Line: You are our blessing and our hope, and we are your %possession Subject(s): Prayer CHAGALL WINDOWS IN JERUSALEM First Line: White light coming through stained glass Last Line: Dwell among them, looking to their holy light Subject(s): Prayer CHOICE First Line: See this day I set before you blessing and curse Last Line: Let us make each choice with wisdom. %let us choose blessing and peace Subject(s): Prayer CHOSEN PEOPLE' First Line: Why am I different from all others? Last Line: Let us pray for strength to accept our obligations Subject(s): Prayer CREATED IN THE IMAGE' First Line: I pray him bring me to repentance Last Line: And I, who cannot find, am found Subject(s): Prayer CREATION First Line: When the divine word ended chaos and nothingness Last Line: Quicken our delight in all that you create Subject(s): Prayer CURACAO First Line: In the oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere Last Line: Clinging to the fingers of god Subject(s): Prayer DEATH OF JACOB First Line: As jacob lay dying %he had strength to bless his sons Last Line: Help us now to build a world of peace Subject(s): Prayer DEDICATION First Line: You who hold in your hand life and earth and heaven Last Line: Freely, and because you have willed it Subject(s): Prayer DEDICATION OF A NEW TORAH First Line: Our torah is the great symbol of jewish life today Last Line: This is our torah. In it is the god - seeking of our people. %let us use it with wisdom Subject(s): Prayer DELIGHT First Line: Long after the temple was destroyed, and the sages Last Line: When we strive for our own human achievement Subject(s): Prayer DEMONS AND GHOSTS First Line: We smile at the tales that were told long ago Last Line: Oh give us your hand when we leap from the darkness Subject(s): Prayer DIRECTIONS First Line: Turn me to you,' I read, facing the orient Last Line: Turn me, I pray stubbornly: send me there Subject(s): Prayer DISCOVERY First Line: No one ever told me the coming of the messiah Last Line: That god created and laid before us Subject(s): Prayer DOE First Line: Like a dappled deer quietly %lying in the dappled shade Last Line: What will she give me? %her cold peace Subject(s): Prayer DURING AMIDAH IN A CROWDED SYNAGOGUE First Line: Though I close my eyes %my shoulder touches my husband's arm Last Line: Oh, you dear and distant god %accept my prayer and the prayers of all people Subject(s): Prayer ELIJAH First Line: Elijah the prophet, elijah the tishbite Last Line: Comfort him, elijah, strengthen him, elijah, %and bring him forth at last! Subject(s): Prayer FAMILY LAWS First Line: If, along the road, you chance upon a bird's nest, in any Last Line: With thought - filled kindness, with conscious consideration Subject(s): Prayer FAREWELL First Line: In falling snow, I say farewell. %the cold flakes fall upon my lips - Last Line: If snow were pall, if breath would freeze Subject(s): Prayer FINGERPRINTS First Line: Though you are the god of history Last Line: Courage and righteousness, laughter, gentleness and pity. %I seek your imprint, to cherish it Subject(s): Prayer FOOTNOTE TO A ROSH HASHANAH PRAYER First Line: Like the rays of the late afternoon sun Last Line: Reflects your great and golden light Subject(s): Prayer FOR KABBALAT SHABBAT First Line: Praise be you, eternal one our god, ruler of the universe Last Line: The command of love: god's unspoken word Subject(s): Prayer FOR MY DAUGHTER First Line: The children are playing %by the river in the snow Last Line: Learn from willows by the water - %life is to hallow Subject(s): Prayer FOR MY FATHER: HOME MOVIES First Line: My son, in color, swims prodigiously Last Line: And stretch my neck, and pull me deep %into the dark lake of memory Subject(s): Prayer FOR MY MOTHER First Line: Deep is the spring in wood and field Last Line: In the bitter green season of your death Subject(s): Prayer FOR THE BLESSINGS First Line: For the blessings which you lavish upon us Last Line: Dear god, hear our thanks and accept our gratitude Subject(s): Prayer FROM SINAI TO MOAB First Line: Then the lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him Last Line: To find the humility whose source is wisdom Subject(s): Prayer FUNNEL OF TIME First Line: I prayed to my ancient lord: %return me to sinai Last Line: Toward righteousness, toward compassion, and toward %you Subject(s): Prayer GEESE First Line: Overhead we heard the quavering cries of wild geese Last Line: Who is there to head our arrow, cold, alone? Subject(s): Prayer GENERATIONS OF ISAAC First Line: It is written that isaac loved esau because Last Line: Help us give all our children their share %in the heritage of our people Subject(s): Prayer GENESIS First Line: In the beginning, you made a simple world Last Line: In the cry of birth, in ourselves, even in ourselves Subject(s): Prayer GIFT OF SPEECH First Line: Almighty god, withdraw your ancient curse of babel Last Line: That we may once more speak together as a peaceful family Subject(s): Prayer GOD OF MEN AND MOUNTAINS First Line: God of men and mountains, %master of people and planets Last Line: There is no life, no light, no joy %but in you Subject(s): Prayer GOD OF RAIN AND WIND First Line: God of rain and wind, of growth and destruction Last Line: Continue us in life, create our worlds afresh Subject(s): Prayer GOD OF SKY AND SEA First Line: God of sky and sea, of vastness and silence Last Line: Help us to bear what we have seen and understood Subject(s): Prayer GOD'S TENDERNESS First Line: Rashi wrote that god bore israel Last Line: I would walk with the sure knowledge %of my parents' loving care Subject(s): Prayer GOD, YOU LISTEN First Line: God, you listen to prayer. %hear our prayers when they Last Line: To stretch with utmost love toward you Subject(s): Prayer GOLDEN CALF First Line: Aaron, the levite, of egypt, %was an accomplished magician Last Line: To discover and uphold the laws of righteousness %for our own times Subject(s): Prayer GRANDMOTHER First Line: Rocking gently in her chair %the grandmother holds the new baby Last Line: Knowing she holds a whole world in her hands Subject(s): Prayer HALUZIM First Line: They came to this dried - up old woman of a land Last Line: Greeting the wonderful birth of isaac %with toothless laughter Subject(s): Prayer HANUKAH First Line: The light of freedom burns bright and hot Last Line: Let us remember the grave choices %freedom illuminates for us Subject(s): Prayer HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD' First Line: God wrote a record in rocks and stars Last Line: Add to our understanding the dimension of humility, %teach us your ways Subject(s): Prayer HOLY DAYS First Line: The lord has appointed a day of solemnity for us Last Line: In our lives, at his appointed seasons, %and not in our deaths Subject(s): Prayer HOW TO BUILD THE TABERNACLE First Line: What did they build first after they left egypt? Last Line: Be with us in the thousand beginnings of our lives Subject(s): Prayer ICICLE First Line: Great solid icicles hang from the roof, shining in the sun Last Line: Touch %them Subject(s): Prayer ILLUMINATIONS First Line: I can begin with a prayer of gratitude for all that is Last Line: Illumine all of us, %and to bring that vision to life Subject(s): Prayer IN PRAISE First Line: Hail the hand that scattered space with stars Last Line: To lavish on us light, love, life %this trembling glory Subject(s): Prayer IN THE FALL First Line: In the fall, in the fall %when the leaves are red as blood Last Line: And wisdom to worship our god %1950 Subject(s): Prayer IN THE WILDERNESS First Line: With the numbers of those who are here recounted Last Line: The breath of spirit, %the still waters of peace Subject(s): Prayer INVISIBLE, INTANGIBLE First Line: All the invisible things fill our days Last Line: You answer with a flaming sunset %and the touch of a baby's cheek Subject(s): Prayer JACOB First Line: I sent my family on across the river Last Line: They, too, will learn to know him Subject(s): Prayer JACOB BECOMES ISRAEL First Line: Who can say whether jacob wrestled with man or angel Last Line: The glad peace that jacob found Subject(s): Prayer JACOB'S DREAM First Line: The angels going up and down on the golden ladder Last Line: And for strength in the days of our dreams Subject(s): Prayer JEWISH BEGINNINGS First Line: When joshua led the tribes of israel Last Line: And see that we too made a new, %a great beginning Subject(s): Prayer JEWS CONFRONT HISTORY First Line: To cross the river into the land of canaan Last Line: Always preserving the deep center of judaism Subject(s): Prayer JOSEPH First Line: Joseph strutted before his brothers wearing Last Line: Send us your help when we recognize our helplessness Subject(s): Prayer JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS First Line: Joseph had learned to rule, %to please pharaoh, to command slaves Last Line: Pray god let every person be to you %like a lost brother Subject(s): Prayer JOSEPH AND PHARAOH First Line: The nakedness of joseph before pharaoh Last Line: But to accept, if it comes, as we have done %in every age Subject(s): Prayer KING JOSIAH First Line: In the second book of kings %we read this account of the reign of josiah Last Line: For our tradition demands moral behavior always Subject(s): Prayer KOL NIDRE First Line: Turning and returning %this melody flows Last Line: Turn us, as we sing this prayer, %and we shall return to you Subject(s): Prayer LAST DAYS OF MOSES First Line: He who had confronted the pharaoh of egypt Last Line: Without setting foot in the promised land Subject(s): Prayer LAST PLAGUES First Line: After a crater erupts, volcanic ash may blacken Last Line: To make a bright blaze of hope for our world Subject(s): Prayer LAWS OF PURIFICATION First Line: Though it was difficult, long ago, to heal Last Line: Make our souls pure, as they came from you Subject(s): Prayer LESSONS OF THE WILDERNESS First Line: And now, israel, what is it that the lord your god Last Line: You have exalted us with your commandment %to love you Subject(s): Prayer LETTER TO A HUMANIST First Line: Men and women are the messengers of god Last Line: When you accept and love another person, %the messiah draws near Subject(s): Prayer LIFE OF SARAH First Line: We have heard, as our ancestors heard Last Line: And the night - sounds of america Subject(s): Prayer LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR First Line: In the center of the torah is the book of leviticus Last Line: At the inmost center of our lives Subject(s): Prayer MASTER OF ALL WORLDS First Line: Master of all worlds, the world of realtiy Last Line: Be again our parent and lead us from our childish ways Subject(s): Prayer MEMORY First Line: Loaded with everything I have done Last Line: And you have returned me to life Subject(s): Prayer MIAMI BEACH First Line: And do you know the land where orange trees bloom? Last Line: Although his door is closed, his bed is narrow Subject(s): Prayer MONTH OF OUR FREEDOM First Line: The month of our freedom %shall be the beginning of all months for us Last Line: Of a free people, loving and serving god Subject(s): Prayer MOSES AND AARON First Line: Sometimes we have dwelt on the sufferings Last Line: To reduce our plagues to a flick of wine %on a white tablecloth? Subject(s): Prayer MOSES, MOSES First Line: In your tent in the wilderness Last Line: But left us with feet that have not entered Subject(s): Prayer MOTHER'S PRAYER AT HER SON'S CIRCUMCISION First Line: To carry a child in this threatening world takes faith Last Line: We and our children and, god helping us, our children's %children Subject(s): Prayer MOTHER'S PRAYER AT THE NAMING OF HER DAUGHTER First Line: To carry a child in this threatening world takes faith Last Line: We and our children, and, god helping us, our children's %children Subject(s): Prayer MUSIC First Line: The music begins, sparkles like diamonds Last Line: Rising in the shimmering air, %visions of ascending worlds Subject(s): Prayer MY DAUGHTER, MY SON First Line: My daughter %chattering, she pulls dresses off hangers Last Line: Is the tender thrust of the seedling %that cracks the rock Subject(s): Prayer MY TALIT First Line: You took me to your synagogue %for the first time on yom kippur, 1941 Last Line: I am part of the whiteness, %part of the silent prayer for purity Subject(s): Prayer NETWORK First Line: When we walk with nature as a friend Last Line: Keeps us in life and sustains us here and everywhere Subject(s): Prayer NEW MOON First Line: If god were the sun, then israel might be Last Line: The moonlight beauty of holiness Subject(s): Prayer NO SHELTERING PLACE First Line: The lord gave moses no sheltering place Last Line: In steadfast obedience to your teachings Subject(s): Prayer NOAH First Line: When the sun rises and the night falls Last Line: For god's blessings, bright as the rainbow %in the shining sky Subject(s): Prayer NOT THE LAST POEM FOR BETTY First Line: I loved you because we were both grotesque Last Line: Is a glow rubbed up by a rag of love Subject(s): Prayer NOVEMBER First Line: The dried leaves rattle against the stone wall Last Line: The soul may be warm in the radiance of god Subject(s): Prayer ODYSSEY AND THE EXODUS First Line: Ulysses sailed the wine - dark sea Last Line: On the journey which will bring peace to us all Subject(s): Prayer ON CEDAR LAKE, 1957 First Line: Before our skates had touched the pond that day Last Line: Take flight and dip and swerve %like gulls. We fly, we fly Subject(s): Prayer; Sports ONLY THE YOUNG First Line: Grief taints my ripening peach, guilt browns my pear Last Line: For perfect joy, long life disqualifies the soul Subject(s): Prayer OUT OF MY NEED First Line: Out of my need and my helplessness I cry to you Last Line: Therefore I beg of you: hear me, help me, teach me Subject(s): Prayer PARENTS' PRAYER First Line: You who have planted in the brain of every spider Last Line: The most beloved and delicate of all your creatures, %my children Subject(s): Prayer PASSAGE OF THE SEA OF REEDS First Line: Then moses and the israelites sang this song to the lord Last Line: Of freedom and responsibility to choose our own ways Subject(s): Prayer PENDULUM First Line: Like a pendulum I swing %from here, through center, to there Last Line: Shall I ever approach or recede %from the point of my suspension? Subject(s): Prayer POEM First Line: With words %I must make a poem Last Line: And create the sensation %as it flows down your throat Subject(s): Prayer POWER SAWS First Line: In the summer %the saws were buzzing and whining everywhere Last Line: In greeting and farewell, %like grandchildren Subject(s): Prayer PRAYER FOR THE CAPTIVES First Line: To israel and to the rabbis Last Line: And salvation from our father who is in heaven; %and let us say: amen Subject(s): Prayer PRIEST'S GARMENTS First Line: The garments of the high priest were of such beauty Last Line: How to devote our lives to our highest ideals Subject(s): Prayer PRIESTS BEGIN THEIR WORK First Line: Though many of the ways of our fathers have been burned Last Line: Holiness, and the worship of you Subject(s): Prayer PRIVATE RITUAL: A HASIDIC TALE RETOLD First Line: The place was a wood in wisconsin Last Line: When the white snow covers all the colors of the earth Subject(s): Prayer PROPHET AND PRIEST First Line: Moses, one hand on aaron's shoulder Last Line: Let the flames of our souls leap upward toward you Subject(s): Prayer PROUD WORM First Line: We people of the twentieth century are proud Last Line: Into the next period of history, %the period of human peace Subject(s): Prayer PURIFICATION First Line: We are enjoined to study this ancient ceremony of Last Line: That can turn every human element in us toward god Subject(s): Prayer RAM First Line: You were hiding. %I left the others to look in the mountains Last Line: He comes and in his eye %is the cold glint of murder Subject(s): Prayer REBELLION OF KORAH First Line: Moses, in his extremity at the rebellion of korah Last Line: That we may perceive your creation and your love Subject(s): Prayer REMEMBRANCE First Line: Remember, oh remember amalek and haman Last Line: Peace and good for all god's children Subject(s): Prayer RESPONSE TO 'AYSHET HAYIL' FOR SABBATH EVENING First Line: A good family is a special, a wonderful thing Last Line: With thanks in our hearts, we pray to find the ways %always to be a good family Subject(s): Prayer RETURN First Line: Return, o israel to the lord your god Last Line: Like a child to her mother, to love and peace Subject(s): Prayer RETURNING TO JERUSALEM, 1957 First Line: Though you have never entered jerusalem before Last Line: Travelers returning to jerusalem, %holy city...Human city Subject(s): Prayer REUBEN AND GAD First Line: And they stepped up to him and said: 'we will build here Last Line: Gardens of contemplation, and walls of love %to shelter the little ones Subject(s): Prayer RHYTHMS First Line: A cluster of lacquer - red berries falls Last Line: And order and hold this flowing complexity Subject(s): Prayer RICH SIGNS First Line: Yellow warblers flit through the garden Last Line: Seek vision, soaring higher and higher Subject(s): Prayer RIDDLE First Line: The storyteller is asking riddles: %'how is an egg like a cloud? Last Line: Of the people who learned how to recognize beginnings %and how to make them Subject(s): Prayer RINGED HAND First Line: Power was once the special poison of kings Last Line: Would rise, screeching, to blacken the sky forever Subject(s): Prayer RIVER First Line: The golden leaves are falling, falling in the sunlight Last Line: I reach and try to grasp it, but I break it in my fright Subject(s): Prayer RUAH First Line: Come, o breath, from the four winds, and breathe into Last Line: Giving us a new birth in our day. %hallelujah Subject(s): Prayer RULES FOR THE KING First Line: The king of israel was not to be a valiant horseman Last Line: We pray you set our faltering feet %on the path of peace Subject(s): Prayer SABBATH PRAYER First Line: Lord, help us now to make this a new shabbat Last Line: We reach toward one holy perfect moment of shabbat Subject(s): Prayer SAFED First Line: They built above the clouds who built safed Last Line: To dwell in a timeless city above the clouds Subject(s): Prayer SATURDAY MORNING IN THE COUNTRY OF OLD MEN: THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS IN ... First Line: The trees have been driven %from the valleys and the meadows Last Line: Rushing away from the old men %and the place of vision Subject(s): Prayer SELIHOT First Line: In darkening shade %lies city street Last Line: Breath of your presence %be felt in our souls Subject(s): Prayer SENSE OF YOUR PRESENCE First Line: Among our many appetites %there is a craving after god Last Line: We, too, will praise, glorify, and exalt your name Subject(s): Prayer SEPTEMBER First Line: Autumn will come. How shall I celebrate this solemn term? Last Line: Wrapped tight in threads of self - secreted prayer Subject(s): Prayer SH'MA KOLENU First Line: You created us, and you can destroy us with floods Last Line: I, too, have known people who are good Subject(s): Prayer SHEHEHIYANU First Line: We thank you, eternal god %for telling us Last Line: Have surely brought you %to this day.' Subject(s): Prayer SHOFAR CALLS First Line: The shofar calls: tekiah %arise! Awake! Come from your beds, your homes Last Line: Before the closing of the gates Subject(s): Prayer SILVER BOWL AND THE GOLDEN SPOON First Line: Here is the tale of nahshon, the young prince of judah Last Line: And with courage, humanity can leap forward Subject(s): Prayer SIMHAT TORAH First Line: We have finished the torah now Last Line: Speed us toward the bright morning of peace Subject(s): Prayer SNOW SCENE First Line: The snow was dazzling in the sun Last Line: Now let me pray with seeing, knowing heart Subject(s): Prayer SONG OF MOSES First Line: In the wilderness of midian and the deserts of sinai Last Line: And there was no strange god with them Subject(s): Prayer SONNET FOR A DESPERATE SOUL First Line: I saw a trout that swam a sluggish pool Last Line: Of their own worlds to light and freedom, fools? Subject(s): Prayer SOUTHERN JOURNEY First Line: Before the wind shakes the bronze leaves from the oaks Last Line: To praise you and bless you who are creator of all Subject(s): Prayer ST. CROIX RIVER First Line: Submerged in the orange murky water Last Line: The foam of the wake, %the dying exhaust fumes Subject(s): Prayer STARLIGHT: AFTER FINISHING THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS First Line: The words of our ancient tradition Last Line: Shining out like a pure point of starlight %in the gathering dusk Subject(s): Prayer STRANGE BIRD First Line: I woke at night and heard the falling rain Last Line: The incessant rains of time, %the deep and holy river of life Subject(s): Prayer STRANGERS First Line: You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him Last Line: Lord, make us forever strangers %to discrimination and injustice Subject(s): Prayer SUB SPECIE AETERNITAS First Line: Dream flight is bird flight, rising on beating wings Last Line: For the trumpet call and the voice Subject(s): Prayer SUKKOT First Line: On our tables are the harvests of the earth Last Line: For all your blessings, we give thanks to you Subject(s): Prayer SUN First Line: Astronomers write in books %how distant you are in light - years Last Line: In the slit of my nearly closed eye? Subject(s): Prayer SURGERY First Line: You go down into soft darkness, %down, down until Last Line: Doctors, nurses, researchers, %thank you, god Subject(s): Prayer SYLLOGISM First Line: All men are mortal, and socrates was a man Last Line: One whose mind and soul make moses' choice before he %dies Subject(s): Prayer TABERNACLE COMPLETED First Line: Babel was built to defy deity, %to declare the dominion of man Last Line: Righteousness and holiness %in the imitation of god Subject(s): Prayer TEN COMMANDMENTS First Line: And the words which were spoken to the people Last Line: When we make the difficult effort %to perform his commandments Subject(s): Prayer TESTAMENT OF FREEDOM First Line: The people of america read %about the sabbatical year Last Line: Help us bring freedom at last %to all the world Subject(s): Prayer THEY BUILD THE TABERNACLE First Line: To devotion god set no limits. %and to dedication of the spirit Last Line: For they find there the light to illumine %their lives Subject(s): Prayer THOUGH APRIL First Line: Though april is the month to rise, still you Last Line: Where will I find your green and fragrant tree? Subject(s): Prayer TIMOR TEMPORIS First Line: God of mercy and lovingkindness Last Line: Be with me now, %be with me at the hour of death Subject(s): Prayer TO BE REPEATED BY THE SEED OF ABRAHAM First Line: I will bestow my blessing upon you and make your Last Line: Rejecting zero, and with faith and vision, embracing infinity Subject(s): Prayer TO THE JORDAN RIVER First Line: There were generations of jews Last Line: As red poppies from the holy hills, %as we work to rebuild zion Subject(s): Prayer TREE TRIMMER First Line: Dangling from a leather sling in the oak Last Line: I pray you guide my hand, %I, the tree trimmer, I the tree Subject(s): Prayer TYRANNY OF TIME First Line: Are we to be slaves of time for all our days? Last Line: Help us to create our future according to your ways Subject(s): Prayer UNCOMPLETED JOURNEY First Line: Israel had gone to egypt in time of famine Last Line: To build a world of freedom and peace Subject(s): Prayer VARIATION ON THE KADDISH First Line: This is the hall, this the hush, this the hour Last Line: And bless his name %and say amen Subject(s): Prayer VERSE FOR A MYSTIC First Line: These are some things that sailors know Last Line: Toward the source of power they do not go Subject(s): Prayer WALL: THE POEM I COULDN'T WRITE First Line: When we went to israel in october, 1967, I had an ex - Last Line: Jew? In that hour I became a jewish feminist Subject(s): Prayer WATCHTOWER First Line: We are watchmen now %climbing the winding stairs Last Line: Shall come the messenger of the messiah Subject(s): Prayer WATERS OF MERIBAH First Line: And the lord spoke to moses, saying, 'you and your Last Line: So the waters of faith %will flow from it again Subject(s): Prayer WHEN DEATH COMES First Line: When death comes to the person you love Last Line: To magnify and hallow the name of god Subject(s): Prayer WHEN WE STOOD AT SINAI First Line: When we stood at sinai we promised Last Line: At sinai: shema yisrael adonai eloheinu, adonai %ehad! Subject(s): Prayer WHO ARE THESE JEWS? First Line: There were women who sat in the market Last Line: Exploded in thunder and flame before us Subject(s): Prayer WIND SONG First Line: How shall I tame the wind? %with sails and rudder Last Line: In the rigging of the tall white ships Subject(s): Prayer WINGLESS First Line: Our past goes back to sinai, our future will be complete Last Line: When we love the lord our god %we will come to exultation Subject(s): Prayer WINTER First Line: Falling, deeply fallen; the snow Last Line: As we who are masking, always masking, %deeply masking ourselves Subject(s): Prayer WOMAN'S MEDITATION First Line: When men were children, they thought of god as a Last Line: God is far beyond what we can comprehend Subject(s): Prayer YA'ALEH First Line: Night and day follow one another Last Line: To release that spring: to soar upward! Subject(s): Prayer YIZKOR First Line: O lord of abraham and of jesus Last Line: Speaks and unites everyone who listens Subject(s): Prayer Stone, Ruth Poet's Biography 333 poems available by this author 1941 Poem Text First Line: I wore a large brim hat Last Line: In the arms of my total happiness Subject(s): Clothing & Dress; Memory; Relationships 1941 First Line: I wore a large brim hat Last Line: In the arms of my total happiness Subject(s): Clothing And Dress; Memory; Relationships A GOOD QUESTION Poem Text First Line: Look at these disparate shapes Last Line: How can I live like this? Subject(s): Cold A PAIR Poem Text First Line: The black and white cat / means to get off Last Line: Stroke his electric body. Subject(s): Widows & Widowers A WOODCHUCK LESSON Poem Text First Line: To reach the university, / you park your car on rapist hill Last Line: Who huddle near the fence, near the loading ramp. Subject(s): Environment; Teaching & Teachers; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation ABSENCE PROVES NOTHING Poem Text First Line: By noon I can't stop writing. Last Line: Only a lens for the one outside Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Fear; Conduct Of Life; Male-female Relations ACADEMIC LIFE First Line: The philosopher's red-haired voice ACCEPTING Poem Text First Line: Half-blind, it is always twilight Last Line: Given or what to make of them Subject(s): Conduct Of Life ACCEPTING First Line: Half-blind, it is always twilight Last Line: Given or what to make of them ADVICE Poem Text First Line: My hazard wouldn't be yours, not ever Last Line: Don't confuse hunger with greed, / and don't wait until you are dead Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; Women ADVICE First Line: My hazard wouldn't be yours, not ever Last Line: Don't confuse hunger with greed; %and don't wait until you are dead Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters; Women AGAIN I FIND YOU Poem Text First Line: A compulsive flasher, / the limp kelp rises up Last Line: Only the bird. Subject(s): Drowning; Imagination; Memory; Thought; Fancy; Thinking AGAIN-NOW Poem Text First Line: This vague surreal cityscape, / not get-at-able; neither clear Last Line: Even dreaded and unwanted quick. Subject(s): Breath; Summer AIR Poem Text First Line: Through the open window, a confusion Last Line: Is deeply inhaling, exhaling its doppelgänger breath. Subject(s): Air; Environment; Gasoline; Pollution; Sickness; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation; Illness ALBANY BUS STATION Poem Text First Line: The same fat man with the fluorescent vest Last Line: Pulls in to take me home to brandon. Subject(s): Bus Terminals; Travel; Vermont; Journeys; Trips ALL IN TIME First Line: Behind the glass door of the waiting room Last Line: You pull apart like velcro ALWAYS ON THE TRAIN Poem Text First Line: Writing poems about writing poems Last Line: And the black high flung patterns of flocking birds. Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Writing & Writers ALWAYS YOUR SHADOW Poem Text First Line: When I remember the cold mornings Last Line: As the metamorphosis of breath. Subject(s): Chopin, Frederic Francois (1810-1849); Memory; Thought; Thinking AMERICAN MILK First Line: Then the butter we put on our white bread Last Line: We gradually learned about our country AN EDUCATION IN THE EIGHTIES Poem Text First Line: I'm in the grandparent's program Last Line: Even if you wet your pants Subject(s): Women - Old Age; Social Classes; Caste AN IMPRINT OF THE ROARING TWENTIES Poem Text First Line: I have a weakness for grubbing at the salvation army's discard tables Last Line: And the cardtable-sized embroidered tablecloths Subject(s): Divorce; Childhood Memories; Tablecloths; Alcohol & Alcoholics; Women AND YET First Line: Today feels like forever, and yet ANOTHER DAY Poem Text First Line: The fleeting high that lifts you Last Line: Ball of twine, fractal of lost feathers Subject(s): Time; Conduct Of Life ANOTHER FEELING Poem Text First Line: Once you saw a drove of young pigs Last Line: Even at this moment, your heart Subject(s): Pigs; Diability; Regret; Boars; Hogs AS IT IS Poem Text First Line: In this squat body, / the most delicate things Last Line: Down like snow. Oh world, I said. Subject(s): Criticism & Critics; Old Age AS REAL AS LIFE Poem Text First Line: Say to the mild melancholy of regret Last Line: A clipping about mountaineers who froze Subject(s): Time; Grief; Sorrow; Sadness AT EIGHTY-THREE SHE LIVES ALONE Poem Text First Line: Enclosure, steam-heated; a trial casket Last Line: Oh, paper bird with folded wings. Subject(s): Old Age; Solitude; Loneliness AT THE CENTER First Line: The center is simple, they say AT THE MUSEUM, 1938 First Line: In the native bird exhibit, the whip-poor-will, stuffed with sawdust Last Line: Canopies; the continuous singing of birds among their breathing branches Subject(s): Birds; Museums AT THE READY Poem Text First Line: Under the aerial squadron, / wheat fields are ready Last Line: Repeating instructions to the already dead. Subject(s): Aviation & Aviators; Military; Missions & Missionaries; War BAZOOK First Line: My aunt from st. Louis BE SERIOUS First Line: Perhaps it will snow %oh do be serious Last Line: How the poor die in the streets Subject(s): Politics; War BECOMING VEGETARIAN Poem Text First Line: Slowly I am pulling my teeth Last Line: I push my cart of rags crying, “no carrion” Subject(s): Vegetarians BEFORE THE BLIGHT Poem Text First Line: The elms stretched themselves in indolent joy Last Line: Rocked in the sinewy arms of summer. Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Happiness; Joy; Delight BEHIND THE FASCADE First Line: My mother stayed in her small room BEING A WOMAN First Line: You can talk to yourself all you want to BEING HUMAN First Line: Though all the force to hold the parts together BETWEEN THE LINES First Line: Dear daughter: well, it's november so it begins to rain BIRDS Poem Text First Line: In peabody museum where phoebe lagged and marcia hid Last Line: Trying to answer, here, here, I am here Subject(s): Bird-watching; Museums BITS OF INFORMATION Poem Text First Line: While her minuscule fledglings, each slightly Last Line: Will cross the gulf of mexico, living on stored up fat. Subject(s): Single Parents; Parents Without Partners BODY AMONG TREES First Line: Attaches to trunks, mimicking shadows BOOM First Line: And the rock and rollers on the beach Last Line: Ate it like manna in the wilderness BREAD Poem Text First Line: If you make a connection between this table and that table Subject(s): Bread; Grandparents; Memory; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers BREAD First Line: If you make a connection between this table and that table Last Line: For the rest of your life these cast-out bodies of lepers Subject(s): Bread; Grandparents; Memory BREATHING Poem Text First Line: By day the brook is subsumed Last Line: Sucked down in its liquid mouth. Subject(s): Children; Collective Behavior; Noises; Childhood; Mobs; Crowds BURNED BRIDGE First Line: Sister was wedged beside the wicker basket Subject(s): Streetcars CHEAP First Line: Not knowing I wasn't free COCKS AND MARES Poem Text First Line: Every man wants to be a stud Subject(s): Men COCKS AND MARES First Line: Every man wants to be a stud Subject(s): Men CODICIL First Line: I am still bitter about the last place we stayed COFFEE AND SWEET ROLLS First Line: When I remember the dingy hotels Last Line: As you pull down the dark window shade COLUMBUS, OHIO First Line: Practicing some silent under-water drift Last Line: As if nothing is impossible, %as if it is an ordinary day COMMENTS OF THE MILD First Line: The cabinet squats trembling on its carved legs COMMUNION First Line: Birds circle above the hay barn CONFESSION Poem Text First Line: Exquisite sir, what blame rests in the wrinkles Last Line: The geese and my neighbors bear me company Subject(s): Aging COUSIN FRANCIS SPEAKS OUT Poem Text First Line: Buddy's uncle hiram felt bad about his sister, mable Last Line: Is to pull the teeth. Subject(s): Nursing Homes; Old Age; Old Age Homes; Assisted Living CURRENTS First Line: Something about a flock of birds toward evening Last Line: That gathers itself into the one, %summer after summer CURTAINS Poem Text First Line: Putting up new curtains, Last Line: See what you miss by being dead? Subject(s): Landlord & Tenants; Death; Grief; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness CURTAINS First Line: Putting up new curtains Last Line: See what you miss by being dead? DARK CONCLUSIONS First Line: Like cutting the dry rot out of a potato Last Line: And a little milky juice. How awful to slice it open %and find the center fustating, malevolent DENOUEMENT First Line: You intimidated me. I was thrown into hell without a trial DISAPPEARED CHILD First Line: If only I could wrest you out of nothing DON'T MISS IT Poem Text First Line: If you're looking for a heron on one leg Last Line: Battered bodies, the good old boys left behind. Subject(s): Heroism; Heroes; Heroines DREAM OF LIGHT IN THE SHADE Poem Text First Line: Now that I am married I spend Last Line: And fades as the shade trees bend Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives DREAM OF LIGHT IN THE SHADE First Line: Now that I am married I spend DREAM OF WILD BIRDS First Line: Sweat curls off the lake the color of ochre DROUGHT IN THE LOWER FIELDS First Line: Steers are dumb like angels Last Line: Blue stars of chicory EARTHQUAKE Poem Text First Line: The moon rises as shizu rises from her couch Last Line: A fan opening and closing Subject(s): Disasters; Earthquakes EARTHQUAKE First Line: The moon rises as shizu rises from her couch Last Line: A fan opening and closing Subject(s): Disasters; Earthquakes ECLAT First Line: Mrs. Tory shaves her boarders' whiskers EDEN, THEN AND NOW Poem Text First Line: In '29 before the dust storms Last Line: In fact, the same eden. Subject(s): Corporate Downsizing; Depressions, Economic; Hunger; Recessions EMILY First Line: Emily playing on the deck, poplar bending along the rail END OF SUMMER ... 1969 First Line: Dear phoebe, wherever you are ENTERING THE STUDENT'S POEM Poem Text First Line: The most beautiful videos / come from reading poetry Last Line: The blood rushing to her forehead. Subject(s): Exchange Students; Language Poetry; Poetry Readings; Foreign Exchange Programs EVE, ALSO Poem Text First Line: Holding in my left hand an apple; Last Line: In this careless moment of life Subject(s): Apples EXCUSE First Line: Do they write poems when they have something to say EXPERIENCE Poem Text First Line: Satan, I come across the iris bed Last Line: Light up the diamond brightness of the dead FADING First Line: As though approaching a mirror FAMILY First Line: We left, repeating, 'love ... Care' FATHER'S DAY First Line: When I was eight you put me Last Line: At any moment I can breathe in the burned powder of %your body, %the bitter taste, the residue FINDING MYSELF First Line: Thursday, the 20th of july, %came to me and said Last Line: Letting itself down %on a string of spittle FOR A POSTCARD OF MY MOTHER AT THE BEACH Poem Text First Line: My oyster weeps the pearls of denouement Last Line: The meaness of pearls, and wasted as ocean weirs Subject(s): Seashore; Women - Old Age; Beach; Coast; Shore FOR SEVEN WOMEN First Line: Gender loyalty, alien to the pits and ducts of ouselves Last Line: I am a stranger crossing the bone bridge to meet the other. %our skulls shine like calligraphy in a FORECAST Poem Text First Line: Isabel, I could vainly map a happy vale Last Line: In all the crying she will bring to bear Subject(s): Children; Childhood FROM THE ARBORETUM First Line: The bunya-bunya is a great louse that sucks Last Line: To them it is only an old armchair, a brothel, the front porch FROM THE OTHER SIDE First Line: Maurice, had I known about salvation in art FULL MOON Poem Text First Line: My problem is not enough Last Line: To another nightjar Subject(s): Sleep; Moon GENESIS Poem Text First Line: Cylinder sacks of water filling the oceans, / endless bullets of water Last Line: It was one drop of salt water against another. Subject(s): Memory GETTING TO KNOW YOU Poem Text First Line: We slept into one another Last Line: We were relative strangers. Subject(s): Marriage; Retrospection; Widows & Widowers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives GOOD ADVICE Poem Text First Line: Here is not exactly here Last Line: Here', says the devil, / 'eat. It's paradise.' Subject(s): Advice GOOD ADVICE First Line: Here is not exactly here Last Line: Here', says the devil, %'eat. It's paradise.' Subject(s): Advice GREEN APPLES Poem Text First Line: In august we carried the old horsehair mattress Last Line: Saying, this is the moment, / here, now Subject(s): Apples; Summer; Family Life; Relatives GREEN APPLES First Line: In august we carried the old horsehair mattress Last Line: Saying, this is the moment, %here, now GUS First Line: It would usually happen at dinner Subject(s): Child Molesting; Child Abuse GUS First Line: It would usually happen at dinner Last Line: Wet like the cum of a father Subject(s): Child Molesting HABIT First Line: Every day I dig you up HABITAT First Line: The wolverine, whose numbers remain somewhat constant HAPPINESS First Line: We were married near the base Last Line: Its tiny skeleton, its skull %that searched ahead of you like radar HAYING First Line: Mr. Wanzer is cutting his silage HOME MOVIE Poem Text First Line: At the other end of a telescope, a long way Last Line: And sounds of wind shuttering leaves wherein our dead bodies mourn Subject(s): Motion Pictures; Family Life; Movies; Cinema; Relatives HOW AUNT MAUD TOOK TO BEING A WOMAN Poem Text First Line: A long hill sloped down to aunt maud's brick house Last Line: Uncle cal spent a lot of time on the back porch / waiting to be let in Subject(s): Women; Conduct Of Life HOW AUNT MAUD TOOK TO BEING A WOMAN First Line: A long hill sloped down to aunt maud's brick house HOW THEY GOT HER TO QUIET DOWN Poem Text First Line: When the ceiling plaster fell in aunt mable's kitchen Last Line: Under a pieced quilt. "quiet as a little bird," he said Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Conduct Of Life; Male-female Relations HOW THEY GOT HER TO QUIET DOWN First Line: When the ceiling plaster fell in aunt mable's kitchen Last Line: Under a pieced quilt. 'quiet as a little bird,' he said HOW TO CATCH AUNT HARRIETTE Poem Text First Line: Mary cassatt has her in a striped dress with a Last Line: That I planned my entire life from its indications Subject(s): Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926); Paintings And Painters HOW TO CATCH AUNT HARRIETTE First Line: Mary cassatt has her in a striped dress with a Last Line: Yet so bizarre, so beyond me, %that I planned my entire life from its indications Subject(s): Cassatt, Mary (1844-1926); Paintings And Painters HUNGER First Line: I have been up and down the town I HAVE THREE DAUGHTERS Last Line: And lordy, give us our share ICONS FROM INDIANAPOLIS First Line: The fountain around the soldiers' and sailors' monument ILLINOIS First Line: Close up, shaved hay fields IN AN IRIDESCENT TIME Poem Text First Line: My mother, when young, scrubbed laundry in a tub Last Line: Brown gingham, pink, and skirts of alice blue Subject(s): Laundry & Laundering; Women IN AN IRIDESCENT TIME First Line: My mother, when young, scrubbed laundry in a tub Last Line: Between the lilac bushes and the yew: %brown gingham, pink, and skirts of alice blue Subject(s): Laundry And Laundering; Women IN THE MADNESS OF AGE Poem Text First Line: In the drapery of shadow I forgive Last Line: And leaped with your leaps and sang in my own tongue? Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations IN THE NEXT GALAXY Poem Text First Line: Things will be different Last Line: Blue skies and drinking water. Subject(s): Future Life; Retribution; Eternity; After Life INCARNATION Poem Text First Line: Every day a woman stands in her kitchen Last Line: For the house to fall down. Subject(s): Grief; Memory; Sorrow; Sadness INCREDIBLE BUYS IN First Line: Houston, fourth largest city in the country Last Line: Deep in the soft ooze of my cortex INFANT First Line: The sky is a fat belly IT First Line: Oh the pretty tinsel of it IT FOLLOWS Poem Text First Line: If you had a lot of money Last Line: You could still die young Subject(s): Money; Surgery, Plastic; Life Choices; Cosmetic Sugery; Face Lifts IT FOLLOWS First Line: If you had a lot of money Last Line: That they've taken from the dead babies' gums %and frozen for this sort of thing. %you could still d JUVENILES Poem Text First Line: The dragons, the scale-tailed dragons have gone away Last Line: Come, shake his hand Subject(s): Children; Childhood LAGUNA BEACH First Line: The shingle roofs burgeon moss, green as tender acacia LAST CLOUD First Line: Under the ozone the remnant swims LATEST HOTEL GUEST WALKS OVER PARTICLES THAT REVOLVE First Line: It is an old established hotel Last Line: Counting from ten to zero Subject(s): Hotels LEAP FROM A FOOTNOTE Poem Text First Line: Miss rae huffman of the american mission Last Line: The leopard men in cattle camps, accepting their drug-coated cheese Subject(s): Anthropology LEAVING MY ROOMMATES IN NEW YORK Poem Text First Line: Snow falls upon snow fastening its delicate hooks Last Line: To the subliminal sounds of ermines living in the lath. Subject(s): Homeless; New York City; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple LEAVING NEW YORK WITH HARRY First Line: He's in another seat of the bus Last Line: As if we lay inside one another %as in a klein bottle, %the stamp of extermination on our foreheads LIBERATION First Line: We ladies sense it is the cuckoo builds no nest; Last Line: Morning after morning slips %the spider with her web across our lips LIESBESLIED First Line: The landlord's child LIGHT Poem Text First Line: The house across the way / facing east, light clips it Last Line: And the body stirs and remembers. Subject(s): Widows & Widowers LIGHT CONCLUSIONS First Line: Seven light bulbs burned for seven hours Last Line: It's marine world for me' grandma says LIMBO First Line: Since landing in hell, I sleep Last Line: A vapor, a breath of what was, %always nowhere LINEAR ILLUSIONS First Line: Some days seem significant Last Line: Relentlessly horizontal. Subject(s): Imagination; Fancy LINES Poem Text First Line: Voice, perhaps you are the universe Last Line: In a spasm of loneliness. Subject(s): Solitude; Loneliness LOOK TO THE FUTURE Poem Text First Line: To you born into violence Last Line: When the sun dies we will become one Subject(s): War; Future; Conduct Of Life LOOK TO THE FUTURE First Line: To you born into violence Last Line: When the sun dies we will become one LOOKING AT YOUR HAND Poem Text First Line: This shadow passing over your hand Last Line: For a moment it can shape itself into a cup of water. Subject(s): Hands; Mankind; Shadows; Human Race LOSS First Line: I hid sometimes in the closet among my own clothes LOST WORLD First Line: The plastic is waiting in rolls Last Line: The hardware department coils in snakes of garden hoses, %and indispensable rubber washers wink at t LOVE Poem Text First Line: This part of myself devoted to you Last Line: The glass hearts, the transparent bodies. Subject(s): Hearts; Love LOVE'S RELATIVE First Line: The couple who remain bed MADISON IN THE MID-SIXTIES Poem Text First Line: Names, can you talk without their mirage? Last Line: That fails in language after language Subject(s): Automobiles; Driving; Social Classes; Cars; Caste MADISON IN THE MID-SIXTIES First Line: Names, can you talk without their mirage Last Line: That fails in language after language MAGNET First Line: I loved my lord, my black-haired lord, my young love MALE GORILLAS Poem Text First Line: At the doughnut shop / twenty-three silverbacks Subject(s): Masculinity (psychology) MALE GORILLAS First Line: At the doughnut shop %twenty-three silverbacks Last Line: Confused library, the female mind Subject(s): Masculinity (psychology) MANTRA Poem Text First Line: When I am sad / I sing, remembering Last Line: When I forget. Subject(s): Forgetfulness; Grief; Sorrow; Sadness MARCH 15, 1998 Poem Text First Line: Let me forget / when the hanged man Last Line: A fractal glitch, a gift from zero. Subject(s): Students, Foreign MEDIUM FOR STASIS First Line: She is in the center of the picture Last Line: Stops at the moment of what will happen MEMORY OF KNOWLEDGE AND DEATH AT THE MOTHER OF SCHOLARS First Line: Why do we meet at the backs, you and I MESSAGE FROM YOUR TOES First Line: Even in the absence of light MESSAGES First Line: Instead of grazing cattle, / this range is heavy with tires Subject(s): Space & Space Travel; Outer Space; Fourth Dimension MESSAGES First Line: Space flattens to a photograph Last Line: A painting by a man named whistler Subject(s): Space And Space Travel METAMOPHOSIS Poem Text First Line: Now I am old, all I want to do is try; Last Line: The dancers who cannot sleep, and the sleepers who cannot dance Subject(s): Old Age METAMORPHOSIS First Line: Now I am old, all I want to do is try METAMORPHOSIS First Line: One day you wake up and you have a new face Last Line: It was never good enough METAPHORS OF THE TREE Poem Text First Line: The play yard with its automobile tire Last Line: Where the wind does not pause. Subject(s): Leaves; Parks; Trees MINE First Line: Sick at heart MIRACLE First Line: Come to the window aunt bess said MOLD First Line: As you swing the door your passage through air MOTHER LOOKS AT HER CHILD First Line: Why are you beautiful MOTHER'S PICTURE First Line: From a photograph on the bedroon wall MOTHERS First Line: Working out of mind, the wind says Last Line: I am the mother of sorrow MOVING RIGHT ALONG (1) First Line: Advanced systems Last Line: The sludge of hypothesis, %the word become flesh Subject(s): Time MOVING RIGHT ALONG (2) First Line: At the molecular level MUSIC First Line: Even here on the upthrust rocks Last Line: Erased across the parking lot NAMES Poem Text First Line: My grandmother's name was nora swan Last Line: Bedstraw, toadflax - from whom I did descend in perpetuity Subject(s): Ancestry & Ancestors; Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers NAMES First Line: My grandmother's name was nora swan Last Line: Bedstraw, toadflax - from whom I did descend in perpetuity Subject(s): Ancestors And Ancestry; Grandparents NAPPING ON THE GREYHOUND Poem Text First Line: It's christmas eve in texas Last Line: "from planet zizz. ""very tasteful antennae." Subject(s): Buses; Greyhounds; Texas; Travel; Journeys; Trips NEVER First Line: Don't forget that henry james Last Line: The immortal flesh NEWS First Line: What have you to say to that Last Line: That single body casting itself into the future Subject(s): News NOSE First Line: Everyone complains about the nose NOT EXPECTING AN ANSWER Poem Text First Line: This tedious letter to you Last Line: Calligraphy, feathery asparagus. Subject(s): Letters OF HEROES Poem Text First Line: Hero, fast in your dark monument Last Line: Cast as the dappling shadows in our pale monument Subject(s): Heroism; Heroes; Heroines OLD SONG First Line: When I was young I knew that I would die ON THE MOUNTAIN First Line: Still in october, the woodchuck Last Line: And I search among the signs %for the flare, polestar, pulley toward the edge ON THE OUTER BANKS First Line: Dark over the sound Last Line: Upward lifted, %still downward smashed ON THE SLOW TRAIN PASSING THROUGH Poem Text First Line: Here's moody furniture and the town of moody. Also the display Last Line: The conductor hitched up the trolley and they went on with their regular day Subject(s): Disasters; Fire; Railroads; Travel; Railways; Trains; Journeys; Trips ON THE STREET First Line: Each day you pass this woman Last Line: To all you have hidden from yourself Subject(s): Streets; Women ONCE MORE First Line: O my crows, %when you return in april Last Line: To rocks smash downstream %in the snowmelt ORANGE POEM PRAISING BROWN First Line: The quick brown poem jumped over the lazy woman ORCHARD Poem Text First Line: The mare roamed soft about the slope Last Line: And shook the hills with trumpeting Subject(s): Horses ORCHARD First Line: The mare roamed soft about the slope OTHERWISE First Line: Under other conditions, the dinner napkin Last Line: And we understand that it is our %collective desire to understand OUT OF LOS ANGELES First Line: Coming into st. Louis, our heads still garbled OVERLAPPING EDGES First Line: Starlings flock to roost across rubble of shocked corn OVERNIGHT GUEST Poem Text First Line: Waiting for your ride in front of the house Last Line: From poetry Subject(s): Guests; Visiting PATIENCE First Line: You hacked the firewood out of the stiffened snow Last Line: Always comes with a little touch of death PERHAPS First Line: This woman sits in the kitchen Last Line: That lies on the old bones like a silk mask, %like a skein of ice PERIPHERIES Poem Text First Line: This circle holding the afternoon sky is a lake Last Line: Recede to artifact as her vision blurs Subject(s): Mythology PERIPHERY First Line: You are not wanted Last Line: It listened to all the jokes and it laughed PINE CONES First Line: Flat against the sky PLAN First Line: I said to myself, do you have a plan? Last Line: And it came to me, the blind will be leading the blind POEMS Poem Text First Line: When you come back to me / it will be crow time Last Line: The madness of my tongue. Subject(s): Language; Poetry & Poets; Words; Vocabulary POETRY First Line: I sit with my cup POINTS OF VISION Poem Text First Line: In february the hills of niguel flush green Last Line: Shizu prepares her watercolors. Subject(s): Colors; Paintings And Painters POKEBERRIES First Line: I started out in the virginia mountains Last Line: Or my aunt maud; or my mama, who didn't just bite an apple %with he big white teeth. She split it in POLES First Line: In the summer under the light ease of laundry fluttering PRINCIPLE OF MIRRORS First Line: The wind turns a windmill in australia PRIVATE PANTOMIME Poem Text First Line: I will reach into the grab-bag of unconscious things Last Line: And I thrust both my hands into a pair of gloves, tight Subject(s): Birds PROCEDURE First Line: Here is old bessie laid out on a metal slab READING Poem Text First Line: It is spring when the storks return Last Line: Are stamping their heavy boots / along the pages Subject(s): Books; Reading READING First Line: It is spring when the storks return Last Line: Are stamping their heavy boots %along the pages READING THE RUSSIANS First Line: Of course they are gloomy; / they drink a lot of vodka Last Line: Chernobyl, and gogol's nose. Subject(s): Books; Russia; Translating & Interpreting; Reading; Soviet Union; Russians REALITY Poem Text First Line: As a fish, gutted for trade Last Line: So beautiful; come to this. Subject(s): Reality RELATIVES Poem Text First Line: Grandma lives in this town; Last Line: It's marine world for me' grandma says Subject(s): Grandparents; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers REPETITION First Line: It's unbearable and yet, every day Last Line: Holding her red flag %at the end of the line Subject(s): Decay REPETITION OF WORDS AND WEATHER Poem Text First Line: A basket of dirty clothes Last Line: And I think, what's done is done. / it won't be changed with words Subject(s): Words; Weather; Washerwomen; Poetry & Poets REPETITION OF WORDS AND WEATHER First Line: A basket of dirty clothes Last Line: And I think, what's done is done. %it won't be changed with words RESONANCE First Line: The universe is sad Last Line: A sad trick of the neural pathways, resonating flesh %and my old body remembers the way you touched RISING Poem Text First Line: In the government offices the rules and regulations Last Line: That the house is going out with the tide. Subject(s): Birds; Erosion; Gulls; Seashore; Waves; Seagulls; Beach; Coast; Shore ROMANCE Poem Text First Line: I went back, as to my relatives. Last Line: Of my desperate and embittered life Subject(s): Homecoming; Love - Complaints ROMANCE First Line: I went back, as to my relatives Last Line: Of my desperate and embittered life ROOM First Line: Someone in the next apartment Last Line: And I listen %with my ear against the plaster ROOM First Line: The room is the belly of the house SALT First Line: In the bell toll of a clang SCARS First Line: Sometimes I am on a train SEASON First Line: I know what calls the devil from the pits SEAT BELT FASTENED First Line: Old bill pheasant won't trim his beard SECOND-HAND COAT Poem Text First Line: I feel / in her pockets; she wore nice cotton gloves, Last Line: Get your purse, have you got your keys? Subject(s): Identity SECOND-HAND COAT First Line: I feel Last Line: Get your purse, have you got your keys? Subject(s): Identity SEED Poem Text First Line: Corn is universal, / so like a roman senator Last Line: Oh my daughters. Subject(s): Children; Corn; Indian Summer; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood SEPARATE First Line: I want to tell you something with my hands SETTING TYPE Poem Text First Line: From a long way, the semicolon begins to wave Last Line: I think they ought to get edited and settle down Subject(s): Language SHADOWS First Line: I receive a card that says you have a walled garden SHAPES Poem Text First Line: In the longer view it doesn't matter Last Line: At the farthest edge; accepting that blur. Subject(s): Grief; Homeless; Loss; Sympathy; Sorrow; Sadness; Empathy SHOTGUN WEDDING First Line: The bride is not yet married to the groom SIESTA Poem Text First Line: In an aftermath of lying, lying Last Line: The clock at her appointed time trips to its crying Subject(s): Balloons SNOW First Line: Plentiful snow deepens the path to the woods Last Line: In the well of the wind, and feathers fly from the rip Subject(s): Snow SNOW TRIVIA First Line: In secret molecules SO BE IT First Line: Look, this string of words Last Line: Leaping from level to level SO WHAT Poem Text First Line: For me the great truths are laced with hysteria. Last Line: Last lines to poems I will write immediately SO WHAT First Line: For me the great truths are laced with hysteria Last Line: Last lines to poems I will write immediately SO WHAT'S WRONG? Poem Text First Line: Here it is, a green world, / and all of these millions Last Line: The strange reflected light / of a dead moon Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; Life SO WHAT'S WRONG? First Line: Here it is, a green world, %and all of these millions Last Line: The strange reflected light %of a dead moon Subject(s): Animals; Dogs; Life SOME THINGS YOU'LL NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU JOIN THE UNION First Line: At the poetry factory Last Line: Become an alcoholic, %consider suicide.' SOMETHING First Line: In a room upstairs, under the hot roof SOMETHING DEEPER First Line: I am still at the same subject SONG OF ABSINTHE GRANNY First Line: Among some hills there dwelt in parody Last Line: And with what's lefy I'm chary SORROW Poem Text First Line: Living alone the feet turn voluptuous Last Line: But the other foot. Subject(s): Solitude; Loneliness SORROW AND NO SORROW Poem Text First Line: We eat through tubes of time Last Line: On its indifferent tongue. Subject(s): Grief; Hunger; Sorrow; Sadness SORTING IT OUT First Line: Falsely soft, infinitely far Last Line: The turrets with guns in position SPECULATION Poem Text First Line: A girl we didn't actually know Last Line: Always made her feel glamorous Subject(s): Death; Depressions, Economic; Girls; Sisters; Dead, The; Recessions SPECULATION First Line: A girl we didn't actually know Last Line: Always made her feel glamorous Subject(s): Death; Depressions, Economic; Girls; Sisters SPERM AND THE EGG First Line: The sperm hate the egg Last Line: To be or not to be!' Subject(s): Masculinity (psychology) SPLINTER First Line: I had a little silver manikin SPRING BEAUTIES Poem Text First Line: The abandoned campus, / empty brick buildings and early june Last Line: By some unknown impressionist. Subject(s): Typewriters; Universities & Colleges; Writing & Writers STORY OF THE CHURN First Line: I am so rich and poor, cried the widow STRANDS Poem Text First Line: This uprooted grass from the edge of the marsh-lake Last Line: The snail among the strands like myself, clinging Subject(s): Aging SUBMISSION First Line: The poem was hanging around in the locker room Last Line: E is for effort,' %he said SUNDAY First Line: The masons spent sundays visiting the hospital SURVIVING IN EARLYSVILLE WITH A BROKEN WINDOW First Line: Mr. Garvey tells me old window glass is frail SYSTEM First Line: As shade preserves, for a moment Last Line: With bristly hairs, %thousands of lenses, %suction cups of intractable feet, %as they labor in the b TALKING FISH First Line: My love's eyes are red as the sargasso TELL ME First Line: Tell me ruth, how is your vision?' Last Line: Oom, ah, swept away' TENACITY First Line: Can it be over so soon TENDRILS Poem Text First Line: While leaves are popping bullets of air Last Line: Of violent / untranslatable language Subject(s): Love; Language THAT DAY First Line: Since then we've gone around the sun fifty times THAT OTHER WAR Poem Text First Line: A bird sings in the tree you planted Last Line: Handing out coupons and samples. Subject(s): Death; Heroism; War; Dead, The; Heroes; Heroines THAT WINTER First Line: In chicago, near the lake, on the north shore Last Line: Isn't much to live for %except to spite hitler-- %the war is so lurid %that everything else is dull THE ALIEN Poem Text First Line: Like myself, the body gets in bed Last Line: It does not care what is hanging in my head Subject(s): Self THE BURNED BRIDGE Poem Text First Line: Sister was wedged beside the wicker basket Subject(s): Streetcars THE CABBAGE Poem Text First Line: You have rented an apartment Last Line: You can live with this. Subject(s): Children; Paintings And Painters; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood THE ELECTRIC FAN AND THE DEAD MAN ... Poem Text First Line: She remembers his covert sleeves, / the sadness of his quiet Last Line: Ready for, at least mechanically, fin de siècle, à rebours. Subject(s): Memory; Widows & Widowers THE FIG TREE Poem Text First Line: Old as the world, Last Line: She sways while a thousand beating wings deflower her Subject(s): Fig Trees THE FLEET Poem Text First Line: Each night upon the bed's dry sea Last Line: Guideless and starless, mast to mast Subject(s): Love - Erotic; Boats THE ILLUSION Poem Text First Line: I am not the genes and the genes are not me Last Line: I am the simple sieve that drinks the universe. Subject(s): Self-criticism; Twins THE LATEST HOTEL GUEST WALKS OVER PARTICLES THAT REVOLVE First Line: It is an old established hotel Subject(s): Hotels; Inns; Innskeepers; Motels; Boarding Houses THE MAGNET Poem Text First Line: I loved my lord, my black-haired lord, my young love Last Line: I bid my days turn back , I broke my windows, I unsealed my locks Subject(s): Hunting; Love; Hunters THE MOTHER Poem Text First Line: Here where the rooms are dryly still Last Line: And rain is unpredictable Subject(s): Mothers; Death; Dead, The THE NEWS Poem Text First Line: What have you to say to that Subject(s): News THE OLD STORY Poem Text First Line: Although he didn't / love me, I loved him Last Line: She wept for him Subject(s): Love – Unrequited; Family Life THE PEAR Poem Text First Line: There hangs this bellied pear, let no rake doubt, Last Line: But husbandman will dry her for the pits Subject(s): Pears THE QUESTION Poem Text First Line: While needles of the evergreen Last Line: How exquisite. Is this love Subject(s): Love - Nature Of; Trees THE REAL TRAVELERS Poem Text First Line: It was supposed to snow, but it rained Last Line: The real travelers etting out for mars Subject(s): Space & Space Travel; Neighbors; Journeys; Trips THE SPERM AND THE EGG Poem Text First Line: The sperm hate the egg Last Line: To be or not to be! Subject(s): Masculinity (psychology) THE TRADE-OFF Poem Text First Line: Is locked out from the secret Subject(s): Language; Knowledge; Words; Vocabulary THE WAYS OF DAUGHTERS Poem Text First Line: My daughters are getting on. Last Line: They lie in the sun with henna packs on their hair Subject(s): Daughters; Coming Of Age THE WIND FIRE Poem Text First Line: Sadly I may suppose how motion wears, and to dust Last Line: Gathers, burn like faggots in my years Subject(s): Tears THE WOUND Poem Text First Line: The shock comes slowly Last Line: It reminds you every day of how it came to be Subject(s): Love - Loss Of THEN First Line: That summer, from the back porch Last Line: Of the storm swelling up through the undergrowth, %pounding toward us THINGS I SAY TO MYSELF WHILE HANGING LAUNDRY Poem Text First Line: If an ant, crossing on the clothesline Last Line: Along an imaginary line from here to there Subject(s): Einstein, Albert (1879-1955); Laundry & Laundering THINGS I SAY TO MYSELF WHILE HANGING LAUNDRY First Line: If an ant, crossing on the clothesline Last Line: Along an imaginary line from here to there Subject(s): Einstein, Albert (1879-1955); Laundry And Laundering THIS First Line: Shadow of too much knowing, days wasted in light Last Line: Dark photograph of the penumbra THIS SPACE First Line: Rushing past us Last Line: Within the irresistible vector %of the ocean's pull Subject(s): Earth; Sea; Waves THIS STRANGENESS IN MY LIFE Poem Text First Line: It is so hard to see where it is Last Line: As someone else, not ever remembered. Subject(s): Emptiness; Solitude; Loneliness THREE AM Poem Text First Line: You wake in the night. I know you do Last Line: The drawn blinds; the surface of indifference. Subject(s): Eyes; Insomnia; Light; Sleeplessness TO TRY AGAIN Poem Text First Line: Tremble,' says the sword-grass, leaning over the water Last Line: "look,"" says the void. ""what meaning? Be thou me." Subject(s): Children; Parents; Childhood; Parenthood TONGUES Poem Text First Line: To mortify the spirit I once attended Last Line: The stuttering leaves on the insensible pavement. Subject(s): Class Struggle; French Language; Tongues TOPOGRAPHY First Line: Do I dare to think that I alone am TRADE-OFF First Line: Words make the thoughts Last Line: Is locked out from the secret TRAIN RIDE Poem Text First Line: All things come to an end; / small calves in arkansas Last Line: No, they go on forever. Subject(s): Arkansas; Fate; Railroads; Travel; Destiny; Railways; Trains; Journeys; Trips TRANSLATIONS First Line: Forty-five years ago, alexander mehielovitch touritzen TREE First Line: I was a child when you married me TRINITY First Line: The mother listens to the dreams of the daughter Last Line: Rushing toward the dark love who is always beyond her Subject(s): Mothers And Daughters TURN YOUR EYES AWAY First Line: The gendarme came Last Line: We repeated everything %over and over and over TURNING First Line: The habit of you lying next to me U OF MY First Line: When my dog barks and we go for a walk UNCLE CAL ON FASHIONS First Line: Troy new york! Where they made celluloid collars Last Line: He's a turkey,' came from. Then some feller invented starch. %but 'twasn't the same UNION Poem Text First Line: Hirsute, his highness' beetle-browed defense Last Line: She never caught the tiger in his lair Subject(s): Marriage; Weddings; Husbands; Wives UP THERE Poem Text First Line: Belshazzar saw this blue Subject(s): Landscape UP THERE First Line: Belshazzar saw this blue Last Line: Have looked up and seen within the cowl %this tenuous wavelength USUAL First Line: On the morning of the reading Last Line: Hung yourself in the closet. They will fumigate VEERY WHO SANG IN THE WOODS First Line: Oh then, the children were young Last Line: We will sleep in the breath %of new leaves VEGETABLES I First Line: In the vegetable department VEGETABLES II First Line: Saturated in the room VENTRILOQUIST First Line: This other woman in my body Last Line: Only yours, my poor %handful of dust Subject(s): Ventriloquists VERNAL EQUINOX Poem Text First Line: Daughters, in the wind's boisterous roughing Last Line: Observe the tremble of of the weeping willows Subject(s): Daughters; Spring VERNAL EQUINOX First Line: Daughters, in the wind's boisterous roughing VERY STRETCHED SENNET First Line: Some things like the fat policeman and the black prostitute Last Line: Now he's center front, rubbing his hands, smiling. Then she's %back inside %and he's chasing her aga VISIONS FROM MY OFFICE WINDOW First Line: Among the students between the buildings Last Line: Her eyes deep-set and dark as olives. Subject(s): Mothers & Daughters; Schools; Students WANTING Poem Text First Line: Wanting and dissatisfaction / are the main ingredients Last Line: To procreate is the essence of decay. Subject(s): Desire; Happiness; Joy; Delight WATCHER First Line: The dog who knew the winter felt no spleen Last Line: And snuffed the nighttime out around the bed WHAT CAN YOU DO First Line: Mrs. Dubosky pulls a handful WHAT THE TEACHER LEARNS Poem Text First Line: The student from taiwan, Last Line: Moons, the bone sculpture, / the equivalent of conversation Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary WHAT THE TEACHER LEARNS First Line: The student from taiwan, %his father is a doctor in taipei Last Line: Moons, the bone sculpture, %the equivalent of conversation WHAT WE DON'T KNOW Poem Text First Line: It is wednesday. My day off Last Line: Of two soundless fighter jets. Subject(s): Books; Insomnia; Silence; Reading; Sleeplessness WHAT WE HAVE Poem Text First Line: On the mountain / the neighbor's dog, put out in the cold Last Line: That I think, when looking back, was happiness. Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Family Life; Happiness; Poverty; Retrospection; Relatives; Joy; Delight WHEN I WAS THIRTY-FIVE YOU TOOK MY PHOTOGRAPH Poem Text First Line: I am lying full length on the grass Last Line: By modigliani's nudes. Subject(s): Memory; Photography & Photographers; Youth WHEN THE FURNACE GOES ON IN A CALIFORNIAN TRACT HOUSE First Line: If the blower is on WHERE I CAME FROM First Line: My father put me in my mother Last Line: Collapsed and wrinkled, they floated %like huge used condoms WHITE ON WHITE Poem Text First Line: A white cobra lily, / oyster-white plaster walls, / a glass of chablis Last Line: White parasites, white peacocks, white amanitas. Subject(s): Old Age WHOSE SCENE? First Line: I crawl up the couch leg feeling Last Line: I go behind the baseboard to fornicate and spread %myself, ancient as the ovulum and sperm WHY KID YOURSELF First Line: Snow, that white anesthesia, evaporates WINTER First Line: The ten o'clock train to new york WOMEN LAUGHING First Line: Laughter from women gathers like reeds in the river WORD THOUGH AS A COUPLER First Line: Though is a thick syllable Last Line: On their flyways against the steel %lines of communication towers Subject(s): Grammar WORDS Poem Text First Line: Wallace stevens says Last Line: As a woman looks at a man Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations WORDS First Line: Wallace stevens says Last Line: As a woman looks at a man WORK Poem Text First Line: The voice of the laundry says, hang me Last Line: Eating, always eating, in order to waste away Subject(s): Laundry & Laundering; Activities; Shrews (animals) YEARS LATER MY EYES CLEAR UP Last Line: Plateaus of ice, their delicate mouse-like tread %printed in tracks of snow over my mind YES, THINK First Line: Mother, said a small tomato caterpillar to a wasp Last Line: In the great chain of being. Think how lucky it is to be born YOU MAY ASK First Line: It is spring on the coast |
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