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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Keyword: MARK STRAND Matches Found: 309 2032, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is evening in the town of x Last Line: And golden boa, blowing kisses to the trees A MORNING, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have carried it with me each day: that morning I took Last Line: The one clear place given to us when we are alone Subject(s): Boats; Solitude; Loneliness A SHORT PANEGYRIC, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Now that the vegetarian nightmare is over and we are back to Last Line: Again at the sacred center of the dining room table Subject(s): Food & Eating A.M., by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: ... And here the dark infinitive to feel Last Line: How well they shine upon the fatal sprawl / of everything on earth. How well they love us all Subject(s): Environment; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation A.M., by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: ... And here the dark infinitive to feel Last Line: How well they shine upon the fatal sprawl %of everything on earth. How well they love us all Subject(s): Environment ACCIDENT, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A train runs over me Last Line: The end of my life begins AFTER MARK STRAND, by MARYLISA WALKER Poem Source First Line: I've been eating love poems for days ALWAYS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Always so late in the day Last Line: No grass, no trees ... / the blase of promise everywhere Subject(s): Doubt; Skepticism ALWAYS; FOR CHARLES SIMIC, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Always so late in the day Last Line: Another yawned, another gazed at the window: %no grass, no trees ... %the blase of promise everywher ANOTHER PLACE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I walk / into what light Last Line: This is the country / nobody visits BABIES, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Let us save the babies Last Line: Let us try to save the babies Subject(s): Babies BEACH HOTEL, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh, look, the ship is sailing without us! And the wind Last Line: Had we not taken his place BLACK MAPS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Not the attendance of stones Last Line: Is holding up the black stars Subject(s): Self BLACK MAPS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Not the attendance of stones Last Line: Is holding up the black stars BLACK SEA, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: One clear night while the others slept, I climbed Last Line: That the world offers would you come only because I was here? Subject(s): Longing BLACK SEA, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: One clear night while the others slept, I climbed Last Line: That the world offers would you come only because I was here? BREATH, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When you see them Last Line: That breath is what I give them when I send my love CENTO VIRGILIANUS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And so, passing under the dome of the great sky Last Line: Chilled us to the bone. %we'd come to a place %where everything weeps for how the world goes CHEKHOV: A SESTINA, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Why him? He woke up and felt anxious. He was out of sorts Last Line: Have thought he was in love? How out of character! How very unlike him! COMING OF LIGHT, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Even this late it happens Last Line: Even this late the bones of the body shine %and tomorrow's dust flares into breath Subject(s): Love; Travel COMING TO THIS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We have done what we wanted. Last Line: No place to go, no reason to remain Subject(s): Togetherness COMING TO THIS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We have done what we wanted Last Line: No place to go, no reason to remain CONTINENTAL COLLEGE OF BEAUTY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The city was flooded with light CONTINENTAL COLLEGE OF BEAUTY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the continental college of beauty opened its doors Last Line: How quickly the great unfinished world came into view %when the continental college of beauty opened CONTINUOUS LIFE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What of the neighborhood homes awash Last Line: Small tremors of love through your brief, %undeniable selves, into your days, and beyond COURTSHIP, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a girl you like so you tell her Last Line: Taken by storm, she is the girl you will marry Subject(s): Desire COURTSHIP, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a girl you like so you tell her Last Line: Taken by storm, she is the girl you will marry Subject(s): Desire DANCE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The ghost of another comes to visit and we hold %communion Last Line: And who isn't borne again and again into heaven? DANSE D'HIVER, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We've seen them all: the torments of distance Last Line: Will anyone know us when we arrive? %will mother and father feed us or let us go? DARK HARBOR: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the night without end in the soaking dark Last Line: Of the body is worthless and goes only so far Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips DARK HARBOR: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In the night without end, in the soaking dark Last Line: Of the body is worthless and goes only so far DARK HARBOR: 10, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is a dreadful cry that rises up Last Line: As it lives in what it could not be DARK HARBOR: 11, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A long time has passed and yet it seems Last Line: Its violence, its terrible omens of the end DARK HARBOR: 12, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: So it came of its own like the sun that covers Last Line: Which would end in either dismissal or doubt DARK HARBOR: 13, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The mist clears. The morning mountains Last Line: To take on a light of its own, green and piercing DARK HARBOR: 14, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The ship has been held in the harbor Last Line: Since the cloud behind the nearby mountain moved DARK HARBOR: 15, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What light is this that says the air is golden Last Line: And going under, becoming what no one remembers DARK HARBOR: 16, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is true, as someone has said, that in Last Line: In the wine as it waits in the glass Subject(s): Farewell; Parting DARK HARBOR: 16, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is true, as someone has said, that in Last Line: In the wine as it waits in the glass DARK HARBOR: 16, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is true, as someone has said, that in Last Line: In the wine as it waits in the glass DARK HARBOR: 17, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have just said goodbye to a friend Last Line: Of ice and snow, the straight pines, the frigid moon DARK HARBOR: 18, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I would like to step out of my heart's door and be Last Line: Of the dancing, of the inmost dancing DARK HARBOR: 19, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I go out and sit on my roof, hoping Last Line: Let's name him after our plant. Whoa DARK HARBOR: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I am writing from a place you have never been Last Line: And everyone staring, stunned into magnitude DARK HARBOR: 20, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Is it you standing among the olive trees Last Line: That whispers in my ear: alas, alas DARK HARBOR: 20, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Is it you standing among the olive trees Last Line: That whispers in my ear: alas, alas DARK HARBOR: 21, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Low shadows skim the earth, a few clouds bleed Last Line: So long as they are not left behind DARK HARBOR: 22, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It happened years ago and in somebody else's Last Line: Just come, take me away, and put me to bed DARK HARBOR: 23, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And suddenly we heard the explosion Last Line: The dangers of being invited to her house for dinner DARK HARBOR: 24, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Now think of the weather and how it is rarely the same Last Line: The new color of the sky, its random blue DARK HARBOR: 25, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Is what exists a souvenir of the time Last Line: That promises much, but settles for summer DARK HARBOR: 26, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have come from my cabin, from my place high Last Line: Of your wisdom as you have passed it on to me DARK HARBOR: 27, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Of this one I love how the beautiful echoed Last Line: And keeping him company all this time DARK HARBOR: 28, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a luminousness, a convergence of enchantments Last Line: The shapes and sounds of paradise are buried DARK HARBOR: 29, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The folded memory of our great and singular elevations Last Line: They cast their shadowy pomp wherever they wish Subject(s): Language; Self; Words; Vocabulary DARK HARBOR: 29, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The folded memory of our great and singular elevations Last Line: They cast their shadowy pomp wherever they wish DARK HARBOR: 3, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Go in any direction and you will return to the main drag Last Line: He's reading the paper, she's killing a fly DARK HARBOR: 30, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a road through the canyon Last Line: My face. Whenever I take a breath I hear cracking DARK HARBOR: 31, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Here we are in labrador. I've always Last Line: Happy in labrador, dancing into the wee hours DARK HARBOR: 32, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Out here, dwarfed by mountains and a sky of fires Last Line: Largely imperfect so long as it lasts DARK HARBOR: 33, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I was visiting the shabby villa of a friend Last Line: While a fair fire roared in the hearth DARK HARBOR: 34, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It's a pity that nature no longer means Last Line: To the life that gathers upon it DARK HARBOR: 35, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The sickness of angels is nothing new Last Line: Melting the moment they land DARK HARBOR: 36, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I cannot decide whether or not to stroll Last Line: Making rebuilding impossible, especially in winter DARK HARBOR: 37, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: On sunday she sits in a silver chair in an echoing hall Last Line: Of a distant will, a fatal music rising everywhere DARK HARBOR: 38, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And so he appears at the back of the hall Last Line: A fragment, a piece of a larger intention, that is all DARK HARBOR: 39, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When after a long silence one picks up the pen Last Line: Atg least for the moment, the moment it passes into song DARK HARBOR: 4, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a certain triviality in living here Last Line: As timid, a sign of shallowness or worse DARK HARBOR: 40, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How can I sing when I haven't the heart, or the hope Last Line: Improve, that whatever I sing is a blank DARK HARBOR: 41, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sometimes after dinner when I wander out Last Line: You will be light-years away by the time I speak DARK HARBOR: 42, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Our friends who lumbered from room to room Last Line: A melancholy place of failed and fallen stars DARK HARBOR: 43, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: All afternoon I have thought how alike Last Line: Who have gone, and the leaves, and all that was just here DARK HARBOR: 44, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I recall that I stood before the breaking waves Last Line: Sending up stars of salt, loud clouds of spume DARK HARBOR: 45, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I am sure you would find it misty here Last Line: It was an angel, one of the good ones, about to sing DARK HARBOR: 5, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The soldiers are gone, and now the women are leaving Last Line: See how perfectly everything fits in its space DARK HARBOR: 6, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Where would it end and how would it matter Last Line: Will be all yours and will only increase DARK HARBOR: 7, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh you can make fun of the splendors of moonlight Last Line: Is covered and silent in the stoniness of its sleep DARK HARBOR: 7, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: O you can make fun of the splendors of moonlight Last Line: Is covered and silent in the stoniness of its sleep DARK HARBOR: 8, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If dawn breaks the heart, and the moon is a horror Last Line: Into change, that what I have said has not been said for me DARK HARBOR: 9, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Where is the experience that meant so much Last Line: And postures we had dismissed until now DEAD, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The graves grow deeper Last Line: Clearly enough. We never will DELIRIUM WALTZ, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I cannot remember when it began. The lights were low. We were Last Line: Figures of fallen light. I cannot remember, but I think you were there, whoever you were DOOR, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The door is before you again and the shrieking Last Line: Your hand is on the door. This is where you came in DREADFUL HAS ALREADY HAPPENED', by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The relatives are leaning over, staring expectantly Last Line: I find his feet. He is what is left of my life DREAM, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The top of my head opens Last Line: And lie down in the dark %and look at you DRESS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Lie down on the bright hill Last Line: Yourself making and remaking until it is perfect EATING POETRY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ink runs from the corners of my mouth Last Line: I romp with joy in the bookish dark Subject(s): Poetry & Poets EATING POETRY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ink runs from the corners of my mouth Last Line: I romp with joy in the bookish dark Subject(s): Poetry And Poets ELEGY 1969 (AFTER CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE), by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You slave away into your old age Last Line: Because you can't, all by yourself, blow up manhattan island ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 1. THE EMPTY BODY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The hands were yours, the arms were yours Last Line: But you were not there Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 1. THE EMPTY BODY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The hands were yours, the arms were yours Last Line: But you were not there Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 2. ANSWERS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Why did you travel? Last Line: Yes, I am tired and I want to lie down Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 2. ANSWERS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Why did you travel? Last Line: Yes, I am tired and I want to lie down Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 3. YOUR DYING, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Nothing could stop you Last Line: Not the life you had. / nothing could stop you Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 3. YOUR DYING, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Nothing could stop you Last Line: Not the life you had. %nothing could stop you Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 4. YOUR SHADOW, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You have your shadow Last Line: I have carried it with me too long. I give it back Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 4. YOUR SHADOW, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You have your shadow Last Line: I have carried it with me too long. I give it back Subject(s): Fathers ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 5. MOURNING, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They mourn for you / when you rise at midnight Last Line: They mourn for you the way they can Subject(s): Fathers; Mourning; Bereavement ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 5. MOURNING, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They mourn for you %when you rise at midnight Last Line: They mourn for you the way they can Subject(s): Fathers; Mourning ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 6. THE NEW YEAR, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is winter and the new year Last Line: Because it is winter and the new year Subject(s): Fathers; Holidays; New Year ELEGY FOR MY FATHER: 6. THE NEW YEAR, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is winter and the new year Last Line: Because it is winter and the new year Subject(s): Fathers; Holidays; New Year EMPIRE OF CHANCE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Its terrain is dry and spreads out so you glimpse only bits Last Line: It is the hard truth of what I do. %my shadow shudders in the morning air ET CETERA, ET CETERA, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It could be said, even here, that what remains of the self Last Line: And the future no more than et cetera, et cetera...But fast and forever Variant Title(s): In Memory Of Joseph Brodsk FAMOUS SCENE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The polished scarlets of sunset sink as failure Last Line: Talking aloud to ourselves, repeating the words %that have always been used to describe our fate FEAR OF THE NIGHT, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I'm telling you, melissus FICTION, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I think of the innocent lives Last Line: Not to despair, if the end is come, it too will pass Subject(s): Conduct Of Life; Novels & Novelists FICTION, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I think of the innocent lives FIRE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sometimes there would be a fire and I would walk into it Last Line: Of burning paper, the sound of words breathing their last Subject(s): Fire FIVE DOGS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I, the dog they call spot, was about to sing. Autumn Last Line: Into the world. And so, and so . . . Goodbye all, goodbye dog Subject(s): Dogs FOR HER, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Let it be anywhere Last Line: Of a village you turned from years ago. Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations FOR HER, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Let it be anywhere FOR JESSICA, MY DAUGHTER, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Tonight I walked Last Line: In the dark / when I am away Subject(s): Fathers & Daughters FOR JESSICA, MY DAUGHTER, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Tonight I walked Last Line: In the dark %when I am away Subject(s): Fathers And Daughters FROM A LITANY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Let the shark keep to the shelves and closets of coral Last Line: Let the earth suck at roots and discover the emblems of %weather FROM A LITANY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There in an open field I lie down in a hole I once dug Last Line: I praise the evening whose son I am FROM A LOST DIARY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had not begun the great journey I was to undertake. I did not Last Line: Though the sun continues to stand at my door Subject(s): Diaries; Conduct Of Life FROM A LOST DIARY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had not begun the great journey I was to undertake. I did not Last Line: Look at the night, the velvety, fragrant night, which has already %come, though the sun continues to Subject(s): Diaries FROM THE LONG SAD PARTY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: Someone was saying Last Line: Then someone said something about the planets, about the stars, / how small they were, how far away Subject(s): Parties FUTILITY IN KEY WEST, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: I was stretched out on the couch, about to doze off Last Line: How hard those burning eyes, that burning hair GARDEN, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It shines in the garden GHOST SHIP, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Through the crowded street Last Line: Do not %turn or close GIVING MYSELF UP, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I give up my eyes which are glass eggs Last Line: And you will have none of it because already I am beginning / again without anything Subject(s): Self GIVING MYSELF UP, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I give up my eyes which are glass eggs Last Line: Again without anything GOOD LIFE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You stand at the window Last Line: And you are there GREAT POET RETURNS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the light poured down through a hole in the clouds Last Line: Can anyone die without even a little GREAT SIBERIAN ROSE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The movie about the great siberian rose Last Line: The golden age of dust will now begin' GRETE SAMSA'S LETTER TO H., by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Dear h., we have been in the new house almost a year, and mother Last Line: Of course, of the work before me. %what sadness, what joy GROTESQUES: THE COUPLE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The scene is a midtown station Last Line: An empty downtown local %screams through the grimy air %a couple dies in the subway; %couples die ev GROTESQUES: THE HUNCHBACK, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It was the middle of the night Last Line: Beside the corpse and slept, unloved, untouched, %in the dull, moon-flooded garden air Variant Title(s): Fran GROTESQUES: THE KING, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Not far from the palace Last Line: He closed his eyes. There was nothing %in the ruins of the night that was not his Variant Title(s): Ruin GUARDIAN, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The sun setting. The lawns on fire Last Line: Preserve my absence. I am alive HARMONY IN THE BOUDOIR, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: After years of marriage, he stands at the foot of the bed and Last Line: That you barely exist as you are couldn't please me more Subject(s): Marriage; Nothingness; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Nihilism; Voids HERE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The sun that silvers all the buildings here Last Line: Curled up before its cave in saurian repose, / and about how good it is to be survived Subject(s): Nature HERE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The sun that silvers all the buildings here Last Line: Curled up before its cave in saurian repose, %and about how good it is to be survived Subject(s): Nature HILL, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have come this far on my own legs Last Line: That is the way I do it HISTORY OF POETRY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Our masters are gone and if they returned Last Line: Than now, for hasn't the enemy always existed, %and wasn't the church of the world already in ruins? HOUR, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The extra hour given back to eternity Last Line: The hour of moonlight upon her body I HAD BEEN A POLAR EXPLORER, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had been a polar explorer in my youth Last Line: As longing fades until nothing is left of it. Subject(s): Writing & Writers; Imagination; Fancy I WILL LOVE THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Dinner was getting cold. The guests, hoping for quick Last Line: Oh, I said, putting my hat on, 'oh IDEA, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: For us, too there was a wish to possess Last Line: But that it was ours by not being ours, %and shoud remain empty. That was the idea IN CELEBRATION, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You sit in a chair, touched by nothing, feeling Last Line: And the miraculous hours of childhood wander in darkness Subject(s): Transience; Impermanence IN CELEBRATION, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You sit in a chair, touched by nothing, feeling IN MEMORIAM, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We never found the last lines he had written Last Line: It does not matter. The fact that he died %is reason enough to believe there were reasons IN THE PRIVACY OF THE HOME, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You want to get a good look at yourself. You stand before a mirror Last Line: You examine the mirror. There you are, you are not there ITSELF NOW, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They will sayn it is feeling or mood, or the world, or the Last Line: One word after another erasing the world and leaving instead%the invisible lines of its calling: out KEEPING THINGS WHOLE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In a field / I am the absence Last Line: I move / to keep things whole Subject(s): Self KEEPING THINGS WHOLE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In a field %I am the absence Last Line: I move %to keep things whole KITE (FOR BILL AND SANDY BAILEY), by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It rises over the lake, the farms Last Line: And the man turns in his chair, %slowly beginning to wake Subject(s): Kites LAST BUS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is dark Last Line: And I shall never come back LATE HOUR, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A man walks towards town Last Line: The lonely and the feckless end LEOPARDI, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The night is warm and clear and without wind Last Line: Dying little by little into the distance, / wounded me, as this does now Subject(s): Leopardi, Giacomo (1798-1837) LEOPARDI, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The night is warm and clear and without wind Last Line: Dying little by little into the distance, %wounded me, as this does now Subject(s): Leopardi, Giacomo (1798-1837) LETTER, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Men are running across a field Last Line: It is all I have. I give it all to you. Yours, LIFE IN THE VALLEY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Always so late in the day Last Line: And far away, huge banks of cloud motionless as lead Subject(s): Valleys LIFE IN THE VALLEY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Like many brilliant notions - easy to understand LIKE THE MOON DEPARTING, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is all in the mind, you say, and has Last Line: Like the moon departing after a night with us LINES FOR WINTER, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation Poet's Biography First Line: Tell yourself / as it gets cold and gray falls from the air Last Line: In that final flowing of cold through your limbs / that you love what you are Subject(s): Winter; Self-love LOST DIARY, SELS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had not begun the great journey I was to undertake. I did not feel like Last Line: Already come, though the sun continues to stand at my door LUMINISM, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And though it was brief, and slight, and nothing MAILMAN, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is midnight Last Line: You shall forgive Subject(s): Forgiveness; Postal Service MAN AND CAMEL, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ometimes there would be a fire and I would walk into it Last Line: You ruined it. You ruined it forever Subject(s): Middle Age; Camels MAN IN BLACK, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I was walking downtown Last Line: Swung back and forth in the sultry air like chandeliers MAN IN THE MIRROR, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I walk down the narrow Last Line: I stand here scared %that you will disappear, %sacred that you will stay MAN IN THE TREE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I sat in the cold limbs of a tree Last Line: May not be this poem MAP, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Composed, generally defined Last Line: Of how the world might look could we %maintain a lasting, %perfect distance from what is Subject(s): Maps MARK STRAND, by SONJA JAMES Poem Source First Line: Filled with didactic energy Last Line: The song is of unconditional beauty, %simple and free MARK STRAND, by NAOMI RACHEL Poem Source First Line: The first time %it is safer Last Line: Over %the rails Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Strand, Mark (b. 1934); Women's Rights MARRIAGE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The wind comes from opposite poles Last Line: The wind is everything to them Subject(s): Labor And Laborers; Love - Marital MIDNIGHT CLUB, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The gifted have told us for years that they want to be loved Last Line: But mainly they sit, hunched in the dark, feet on the floor,%hands on the table, shirts with bloodst MIRROR, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A white room and a party going on Last Line: Only to discover too late / that she is not there Subject(s): Mirrors; Disappointment MOONTAN, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The bluish, pale Last Line: Invisible / as anyone Subject(s): Solitude; Loneliness MOONTAN, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The bluish, pale Last Line: Invisible %as anyone MORNING, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have carried it with each day: that morning I took Last Line: The one clear place given to us when we are alone MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And the morning green, and the build-up of weather, and my brows Last Line: Hoping it would pass. What might have been still waited for its chance MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Whatever the starcharts told us to watch for or the maps Last Line: Was to be no nearer the end, no farther from where we began MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT: 3, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: These nights of pinks and purples vanishing, of freakish heat Last Line: To prove, to no one in particular, how false his life had been MY DEATH, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sadness, of course, and confusion Last Line: To write or to die, I did not have to do either MY LIFE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The huge doll of my body Last Line: And getting smaller. The world is green / nothing is all Subject(s): Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations MY LIFE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The huge doll of my body Last Line: And getting smaller. The world is green %nothing is all MY LIFE BY SOMEBODY ELSE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have done what I could but you avoid me. Last Line: Somebody else has arrived. Somebody else is writing Subject(s): Biography; Biographers MY LIFE BY SOMEBODY ELSE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have done what I could but you avoid me Last Line: Somebody else has arrived. Somebody else is writing MY MOTHER ON AN EVENING IN LATE FALL, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the moon appears Last Line: It is much too late Subject(s): Mothers MY NAME, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Once when the lawn was a golden green Last Line: From which it had come and to which it would go Subject(s): Self MY SON, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My son / my only son Last Line: Wants to be born Subject(s): Sons MYSTERIOUS MAPS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is a certain triviality in living here Last Line: Erased all signs of the sorrow that had been, %its violence,its terrible omens of the end? MYSTERY AND SOLITUDE IN TOPEKA, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Afternoon darkens into evening. A man falls deeper and deeper into the slow spiral of Last Line: That he will confess to again and again, until it means nothing Subject(s): Sleep NARRATIVE POETRY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Yesterday at the supermarket I overheard a man and a woman Last Line: You're absolutely right,' said my mother. 'there's no other way %to think of it.' and she hung up NEW POETRY HANDBOOK, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If a man understands a poem Last Line: And be kissed by white paper NEXT TIME: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Nobody sees it happening, but the architecture of our time Last Line: How long the ruins would last we would never complain NEXT TIME: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Perfection is out of the question for people like us Last Line: The silent, haze-filled sleep of the farmer and his wife NEXT TIME: 3, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It could have been another story, the one that was meant Last Line: And start again, the sun's compassion as it disappears NO PARTICULAR DAY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Items of no %particular day %swarm down Last Line: Upon us %particular %ideas of light NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE IT, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How those fires burned that are no longer, how the weather worsened Last Line: Wishes more than anything to be wishes more than anything to be Subject(s): Languagel Time NOCTURNE OF THE POET WHO LOVED THE MOON, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I have grown tired of the moon, tired of its look Last Line: Plainness like the table on which nothing is set, like a table that is not yet even a table Subject(s): Moon NOSTALGIA, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The professors of english have taken their gowns Last Line: It is yesterday. It is still yesterday NOT DYING, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: These wrinkles are nothing Last Line: Remembers and holds fast OLD MAN LEAVES PARTY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It was clear whn I left the party Last Line: Be only myself, this dream of flesh, from moment to moment OLD PEOPLE ON THE NURSING HOME PORCH, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Able at last to stop Last Line: Be only myself, this dream of flesh, from moment to moment Subject(s): Emptiness; Nursing Homes; Old Age; Old Age Homes; Assisted Living OLD PEOPLE ON THE NURSING HOME PORCH, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Able at last to stop Subject(s): Emptiness; Nursing Homes; Old Age ONE SONG, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I prefer to sit all day Last Line: I long for more ONE WINTER NIGHT, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I showed up at a party of hollywood stars Last Line: When he lifted his head, he loosed a bellow that broke & rolled %like thunder in the rooms below. Th ORPHEUS ALONE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: It was an adventure much could be made of: a walk Last Line: Of ever becoming more than it will be, might mourn Subject(s): Mythology - Classical; Orpheus OUR MASTERPIECE IS THE PRIVATE LIFE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Is there something down by the water keeping itself from us, Last Line: For anything else? Our masterpiece is the private life Subject(s): Privacy OUR MASTERPIECE IS THE PRIVATE LIFE: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Is there something down by the water keeping itself from us Last Line: Air? Why look for more OUR MASTERPIECE IS THE PRIVATE LIFE: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And now, while the advocates of awfulness and sorrow Last Line: For anything else? Our masterpiece is the private life OUR MASTERPIECE IS THE PRIVATE LIFE: 3, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Standing on the quay between the roving swan and the star immaculate Last Line: All the day's rewards waiting at the doors of sleep Subject(s): Love PIECE OF THE STORM, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: From the shadow of domes in the city of domes Last Line: It's time. The air is ready. The sky has an opening POOR NORTH, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is cold, the snow is deep Last Line: And the small puffs of their breath are carried away Subject(s): Cold; Family Life; Relatives POT ROAST, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I gaze upon a roast Last Line: I raise my fork / and I eat Subject(s): Food & Eating; Solitude; Childhood Memories; Loneliness PRECIOUS LITTLE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If blindness is blind to itself Last Line: Between blindness lost and blindness regained PREDICTION, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: That night the moon drifted over the pond Last Line: And taking the moon and leaving the paper dark READING IN PLACE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Imagine a poem that starts with a couple Last Line: And says to a blank page, "where, where in heaven am I?" Subject(s): Farm Life; Agriculture; Farmers READING IN PLACE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Imagine a poem that starts with a couple Subject(s): Farm Life RECOVERY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I stood alone in the weather Last Line: And it was no more than anyone might have predicted REMAINS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I empty myself of the names of others Last Line: I empty myself of my life and my life remains Subject(s): Self ROOM, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is an old story, the way it happens Last Line: Where nothing, when it happens, is never terrible enough SARGENTVILLE NOTEBOOK, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A man in utah hates my work Last Line: One of my dogs was eaten by the other dogs SE LA VITA EN SVENTURA ...?, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Where was it written that today Last Line: And feel the fall of flesh into time, and feel it turn, %soundlessly, slowly, as if righting itself, SEVEN POEMS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: At the edge Last Line: It is darker and I walk in Subject(s): Relationships SEVEN POEMS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: At the edge %of the body's night Last Line: It is darker and I walk in SHOOTING WHALES, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the shoals of plankton Last Line: They were luring me / downward and downward / into the murmurous / waters of sleep Subject(s): Animals SHOOTING WHALES, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the shoals of plankton Last Line: They were luring me %downward and downward %into the murmurous %waters of sleep Subject(s): Animals SLEEP, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: There is the sleep of my tongue Last Line: Out of which I shall never appear SLEEPING WITH ONE EYE OPEN, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Unmoved by what the wind does Last Line: Hoping / that nothing, nothing will happen Subject(s): Night; Anxiety; Bedtime SLEEPING WITH ONE EYE OPEN, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Unmoved by what the wind does Last Line: Hoping %that nothing, nothing will happen SNOWFALL, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Watching snow cover the ground, cover itself Last Line: Of sleep, the down of winter, the negative of night Subject(s): Snow SO YOU SAY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is all in the mind, you say, and has Last Line: Like the moon departing after a night with us Subject(s): Relationships SOME LAST WORDS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is easier for a needle to pass through a camel Last Line: Just go to the graveyard and ask around STONE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The stone lives on Last Line: To the long meadows of your looking STORY OF OUR LIVES, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We are reading the story of our lives Last Line: They are the book and they are %nothing else STORY YOU KNOW, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: You dreamed all night of waking, of turning SUCCESS STORY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Had I known at the outset the climb would be slow, difficult, at Last Line: There? I count myself among the blessed. My life is all downhill SUICIDE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I jump from a building Last Line: As if I were dreaming %I were alive SUITE OF APPEARANCES: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Out of what dark or lack has he come to wait Last Line: Story, which continues wherever the end is happening SUITE OF APPEARANCES: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: No wonder - since things come into view then drop from sight Last Line: Before tonight, the history of ourselves, leaves us cold SUITE OF APPEARANCES: 3, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How it comes forward, and deposits itself like wind Last Line: Any idea of yourself must include a body surrounding a song SUITE OF APPEARANCES: 4, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In another time, we will want to know how the earth looked Last Line: Seen with a disguise, and never be seen without one SUITE OF APPEARANCES: 5, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To sit in this chair and wonder where is endlessness Last Line: So long in coming, keep us from mourning the loss SUITE OF APPEARANCES: 6, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Of occasions flounced with rose and gold in which the sun Last Line: The other, so brief they may have been lost to begin with THE BABIES, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Let us save the babies Last Line: Let us try to save the babie Subject(s): Babies; Infants THE COMING OF LIGHT, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Even this late it happens Last Line: And tomorrow's dust flares into breath Subject(s): Love; Travel; Journeys; Trips THE CONTINENTAL COLLEGE OF BEAUTY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the continental college of beauty opened its doors Last Line: How quickly the great unfinished world came into view / when the continental college of beauty opene THE CONTINUOUS LIFE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What of the neighborhood homes awash Last Line: Undeniable selves, into your days, and beyond Subject(s): Parents; Parenthood THE DREADFUL HAS ALREADY HAPPENED, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The relatives are leaning over, staring expectantly Last Line: I find his feet. He is what is left of my life Subject(s): Babies; Time; Ancestors & Ancestry; Infants; Heritage; Heredity THE END, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: Not every man [or, everyone] knows what he shall sing at the end Last Line: When the ship he is on slips into darkness, there at the end Subject(s): Environment; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation THE EVERYDAY ENCHANTMENT OF MUSIC, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A rough sound was polished until it became a smoother sound, which was polishe Last Line: What happened after the home of the troubled heart broke in two would also begin Subject(s): Music & Musicians THE GARDEN, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It shines in the garden Last Line: In the moment before it disappears Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Family Life; Relatives THE GHOST SHIP, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Through the crowded street Last Line: Do not / turn or close Subject(s): Ghost Ships THE HISTORY OF POETRY, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Our masters are gone and if they returned Last Line: And wasn't the church of the world always in ruins? Subject(s): Poetry & Poets THE IDEA, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: For us, too, there was a wish to possess Last Line: And should remain empty. That was the idea Subject(s): Relationships THE KING, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I went to the middle of the room and called out Last Line: Like a mouse vanishing into its hole Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares THE KITE (FOR BILL AND SANDY BAILEY), by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It rises over the lake, the farms Last Line: Slowly beginning to wake Subject(s): Kites THE LATE HOUR, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A man walks towards town Last Line: The lonely and feckless end Subject(s): Love - Unrequited THE MAILMAN, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It is midnight Last Line: By inflicting pain. / you shall forgive Subject(s): Forgiveness; Postal Service; Clemency; Postmen; Post Office; Mail; Mailmen THE MAN IN THE MIRROR, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I walk down the narrow Last Line: Scared that you will stay Subject(s): Mirrors; Self; Aging THE MAN IN THE TREE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I sat in the cold limbs of a tree Last Line: The poem that has stolen these words from my mouth / may not be this poem Subject(s): Trees THE MAP, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Composed, generally defined Last Line: Perfect distance from what it is Subject(s): Maps THE MARRIAGE, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The wind comes from opposite poles Last Line: The wind is everything to them Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Love - Marital; Work; Workers; Wedded Love; Marriage - Love THE MIDNIGHT CLUB, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The gifted have told us for years that they want to be loved Last Line: Hands on the table, shirts with a bloodstain over the heart Subject(s): Social Commentaries THE MINISTER OF CULTURE GETS HIS WISH, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: The minister of culture goes home after a grueling day at the office Last Line: And what is more, I have come to stay Subject(s): Patience; Nothingness; Nihilism; Voids THE MONUMENT: 29, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It occurs to me that you may be a woman. What then? I suppose I Last Line: Birth of myself as a woman. Subject(s): Women THE MONUMENT: 30, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sometimes when I wander in these woods whose prince I am, I hear a Last Line: Intended to be seen. It is the bishop calling and calling. THE MONUMENT: 34, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: They are back, the angry poets. But look! They have come with hammers Last Line: To study and use in the making of their own small tombs Subject(s): Poetry & Poets THE MYSTERIOUS ARRIVAL OF AN UNUSUAL LETTER, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Recitation by Author Poet's Biography First Line: It had been a long day at the office and a long ride back to the small apartment Last Line: "dear son," was the way it began. "dear son" and then nothing. Subject(s): Letters; Fathers THE NEW POETRY HANDBOOK, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: If a man understands a poem, Last Line: He shall bathe in the blank wake of his passion / and be kissed by white paper Subject(s): Poetry & Poets THE NIGHT, THE PORCH, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To stare at nothing is to learn by heart Last Line: Tells as much, and was never written with us in mind Subject(s): Self THE OLD AGE OF NOSTALGIA, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Those hours given over to basking in the glow of an imagined Last Line: Like flireflies in the perfumed heat of summer night Subject(s): Nostalgia THE POEM OF THE SPANISH POET, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: In a hotel room somewhere in iowa an american poet, tired of his poems Last Line: Black fly, black fly / to wish me goodbye Subject(s): Poetry & Poets THE PREDICTION, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: That night the moon drifted over the pond, Last Line: And taking the moon and leaving the paper dark Subject(s): Future THE REMAINS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I empty myself of the names of others Last Line: I empty myself of my life and my life remains Subject(s): Self THE STORY OF OUR LIVES, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: We are reading the story of our lives Last Line: They are the book and they are / nothing else Subject(s): Conduct Of Life THE TUNNEL, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A man has been standing Last Line: And I have been waiting for days Subject(s): Doppelgangers THE UNTELLING, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: He leaned forward over the paper Last Line: He sat and began to write: / the untelling / to the woman in the yellow dress Subject(s): Reality; Truth THE WAY IT IS, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I lie in bed Last Line: The graves are ready. The dead / shall inherit the dead Subject(s): Modern Life; Human Behavior; Conduct Of Life; Human Nature THOUGHTS ON A LINE BY MARK STRAND, by CYNTHIA TODD CAPPELLO Poem Source First Line: I'd like to say Last Line: And dance in the spit %of the sieve TO HIMSELF, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: So you've come to me now without knowing why Last Line: In the distance a car disappearing over the hill Subject(s): Writing & Writers; Time TO HIMSELF, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: So you've come to me now without knowing why TOMORROW, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Your best friend is gone Last Line: Will invent an ending that comes out right Subject(s): Travel; Journeys; Trips TOMORROW, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Your best friend is gone Last Line: Will invent an ending that comes out right Subject(s): Travel TRANSLATION: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A few months ago my four-year-old son surprised me. He was Last Line: Someone your own age, whose poems are no good. Then, if your%translations are bad, it won't matter TRANSLATION: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: My son's nursery school teacher came over to see me. I don't know Last Line: I see your point,' she said. 'maybe I should take a stab at %baudelaire.' TRANSLATION: 3, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: What's up?' I said to the nursery teacher's husband Last Line: Today. So far as I can see, there's nothing to be done with his poems.' %and with that he disappeare TRANSLATION: 4, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To get away from all the talk of translation I went camping by myself Last Line: My things, stuck the tent, and drove back to salt lake city TRANSLATION: 5, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I was in the bathtub when jorge luis borges stumbled in the door Last Line: I opened my eyes, he, and the text into which he was drawn, had %come to an end TRAVEL, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It might have been just outside munich or rome or on the new Last Line: Merriment is here, none of the flash and vigor, none of the pain that %kept sending me elsewhere TUNNEL, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A man has been standing Last Line: And I have been waiting for days TWO DE CHIRICOS: 1. THE PHILOSOPHER'S CONQUEST, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: This melancholy moment will remain Last Line: And always the tower, the boat, the distant train TWO DE CHIRICOS: 2. THE DISQUIETING MUSES, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Boredom sets in first, and then despair Last Line: Something about the silence of the square UNTITLED, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: As for the poem the adorable one slipped into your pocket Last Line: About to happen just at the moment it serves no purpose at all? Subject(s): Names UNTITLED, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: As for the poem the adorable one slipped into your pocket Last Line: About to happen just at the moment it serves no purpose at all? Subject(s): Names VARIATIONS ON A THEME, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had gone to the country to visit friends, but found Last Line: Mrs l took it in her hands, and said, 'oooh! It is warm %andcapable isn't it?' VELOCITY MEADOWS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I can say now that nothing was possible VIEW, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: This is the place. The chairs are white. The table shines Last Line: Of happiness, as if that plain fact were enough and would last VIEWING THE COAST, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sailing a ragged shoreline strewn with rocks VIOLENT STORM, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Those who have chosen to pass the night Last Line: That shared our wakefulness are dimming / and the dark brushes against our eyes Subject(s): Pessimism; Storms VIOLENT STORM, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Those who have chosen to pass the night Last Line: That shared our wakefulness are dimming %and the dark brushes against our eyes Subject(s): Pessimism; Storms WALK AT NIGHT, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Nothing is like something else. What is not wholly Last Line: Distributed in equal, almost weightless %parts among the stars. How they urge us on WAY IT IS, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I lie in bed %I toss all night Last Line: Shall inherit the dead WHAT IT WAS: 1, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It was impossible to imagine, impossible Last Line: And always because, and only because, once having been, it was WHAT IT WAS: 2, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It was the beginning of a chair Last Line: I sat, the way I waited for hours, for days. It was that. Just that WHAT TO THINK OF, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Think of the jungle, Last Line: Like the cold confetti of paradise Subject(s): Jungles; Paraguay WHAT TO THINK OF, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Think of the jungle Last Line: Like the cold confetti of paradise WHEN THE VACATION IS OVER FOR GOOD, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: It will be strange Last Line: We are dying. Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Nuclear War; Vacation; Nuclear Freeze; Atomic Bomb; Hydrogen Bomb WHERE ARE THE ATERS OF CHLDHOOD?, by MARK STRAND Poem Full Text Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: See where the windows are boarded up, Last Line: Now you look down. The waters of childhood are there Subject(s): Children; Water; Childhood WHERE ARE THE WATERS OF CHILDHOOD?, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: See where the windows are boarded up Last Line: Now you look down. The waters of childhood are there WHOLE STORY, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: How it should happen this way Last Line: May have lied about the fire WORKSHOP MIRACLE, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Scene: a university classroom. Last Line: Whole class: together, together, so poetry will never die. Together, together (etc YOU AND IT, by MARK STRAND Poem Source Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Think what you like, but Last Line: Catching the merest fraction %of sleep, you will know what I mean YOU GO ON WITH YOUR DYING (AFTER MARK STRAND), by JANE TOBY Poem Source First Line: Nothing can stop you Last Line: You go on with your dying Subject(s): Politics; War |
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