Monday, September 29, 2008

725. The Old Writers' Welcome to the New - William Stafford

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. Somewhere out there new light is crossing a field. Our time, long preparing for this, carefully comes near. Without our knowing, our lives...
Thursday, September 25, 2008

724. Welcome - Stephen Dunn

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. if you believe nothing is always what's left after a while, as I did, If you believe you have this collection of ungiven gifts, as I d...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

723. I Laugh And Cry With The Same Eyes - James Kavanaugh

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. I laugh and cry with the same eyes, Love and hate with the same heart. I feel my rage and my gentleness, My sanity and suicide. When I hid...
Friday, September 19, 2008

721. We Knew The World Backwards And Forwards - Wislawa Szymborska

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Translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak We knew the world backwards and forwards So small it fit in a handshake So easy it could be ...
Monday, September 15, 2008

720. The Printer's Error - Aaron Fogel

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. Fellow compositors and pressworkers! I, Chief Printer Frank Steinman, having worked fifty- seven years at my trade, and served five years ...
Thursday, September 11, 2008

719. Waking At 3 a.m. - William Stafford

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. Even in the cave of the night when you wake and are free and lonely, neglected by others, discarded, loved only by what doesn't matter...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

718. Essy On The Personal - Stephen Dunn

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. Because finally the personal is all that matters, we spend years describing stones, chairs, abandoned farmhouses-- until we're ready. ...
Tuesday, September 09, 2008

717. Wait - Galway Kinnell

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(to someone contemplating suicide) Wait, for now. Distrust everything, if you have to. But trust the hours. Haven't they carried you eve...
Monday, September 08, 2008

716. Scouting - Philip Levine

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. I'm the man who gets off the bus at the bare junction of nothing with nothing, and then heads back to where we've been as thou...
Friday, September 05, 2008

715. Myrtle - John Ashbery

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. How funny your name would be if you could follow if back to where the first person thought of saying it, naming himself that, or maybe som...
Wednesday, September 03, 2008

714. Yusef Komunyakaa - Facing It

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. My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite. I said I wouldn't, dammit: No tears. I'm stone. I'm flesh. My clouded re...
Friday, August 29, 2008

713. Epic - Patrick Kavanagh

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. I have lived in important places, times When great events were decided, who owned That half a rood of rock, a no-man's land Surrounded...
Monday, August 25, 2008

712. One Empty Island - Wislawa Szymborska

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Translated from the Polish by S. Baranczak & C. Cavanagh Island where all becomes clear. Solid ground beneath your feet. The only roads ...
Friday, August 22, 2008

711. "Are You Mr. William Stafford?" - William Stafford

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. "Are you Mr. William Stafford?" "Yes, but...." Well, it was yesterday. Sunlight used to follow my hand. And that's...
Monday, August 18, 2008

710. Epithalamion For A Second Marriage - Stephen Dunn

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. If you, X, take this woman, Y, and if you, Y, take this man, X, you two who have taken each other many times before, then this is somethin...
Friday, August 15, 2008

709. The Hospital - Patrick Kavanagh

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. A year ago I fell in love with the functional ward Of a chest hospital: square cubicles in a row Plain concrete, wash basins - an art love...
Thursday, August 07, 2008

708. It Is Marvellous to Wake Up Together - Eliazbeth Bishop

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. It is marvellous to wake up together At the same minute; marvellous to hear The rain begin suddenly all over the roof, To feel the air cle...
Wednesday, August 06, 2008

707. Patrick Kavanagh: An Annotated Exequy - L. E. Sissman

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. Well, Kavanagh, you've gone and done it, died The way you said you would, propped up with pride And penury in a dim nursing home I...
Tuesday, August 05, 2008

706. The Seance - Wislawa Szymborska

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Translated from the Polish by Walter Whipple Chance shows her tricks. She pulls a glass of cognac from her sleeve and seats Henry on it. I e...
Monday, August 04, 2008

705. Because We Are Not Taken Seriously - Stephen Dunn

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. Some night I wish they'd knock, on my door, the government men, looking for the poem of simple truths recited and whispered among the ...