The Best American Erotic Poems

by David Lehman

  Star Black: “The Evangelist” copyright (c) 2007 by Star Black. Used with the permission of the poet.

  Paul Blackburn: “The Once-Over” from The Collected Poems of Paul Blackburn. Copyright (c) 1985 by Paul Blackburn. Reprinted with the permission of Persea Books, Inc.

  Robin Blaser: “2nd Tale: Return” from The Holy Forest. Copyright (c) 2006 by the Regents of the University of California. Reprinted with the permission of the University of California Press.

  Catherine Bowman: “Demographics” from 1–800-HOT-RIBS. Copyright(c) 1993 by Catherine Bowman. Reprinted with the permission of the author and Gibbs Smith.

  Charles Bukowski: “Hunk of Rock” from The Last Night of the Earth Poems. Copyright (c) 1992 by Charles Bukowski. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Robert Olen Butler: “Walter Raleigh, courtier and explorer, beheaded by King James I, 1618” from Severance: Stories. Copyright (c) 2006 by Robert Olen Butler. Reprinted with the permission of Chronicle Books, San Francisco.

  Hayden Carruth: “Assignment” from Collected Shorter Poems 1946–1991. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hayden Carruth. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

  Heather Christle: “Letter to My Love” appeared in Octopus. Copyright (c) 2005 by Heather Christle. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Lucille Clifton: “to a dark moses” from Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969–1980. Copyright (c) 1987 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.

  Marc Cohen: “It Never Happened” copyright (c) 2007 by Marc Cohen. Used with the permission of the poet.

  Billy Collins: “Pinup” from The Art of Drowning. Copyright (c) 1995 by Billy Collins. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.

  Dennis Cooper: “After School, Street Football, Grade Eight” from The Dream Police. Copyright (c) 1995 by Dennis Cooper. Reprinted with the permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  Laura Cronk: “From the Other” appeared in No Tell Motel. Copyright (c) 2005 by Laura Cronk. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  E. E. Cummings: “as/we lie side by side” from Complete Poems 1904–1962, edited by George J. Firmage. Copyright 1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1935, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, (c) 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust. Copyright (c) 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1991 by George James Firmage. Reprinted with the permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.

  James Cummins: “The Body Is the Flower” from Portrait in a Spoon. Copyright (c) 1994 by James Cummins. Reprinted with the permission of the author and University of South Carolina Press.

  J. V. Cunningham: Part 6 [“It was in Vegas. Celibate and able”] from “To What Strangers, What Welcome” from The Collected Poems and Epigrams of J. V. Cunningham. Copyright (c) 1971 by J. V. Cunningham. Reprinted with the permission of Ohio University Press/Swallow Press, Athens, Ohio.

  Olena Kalytiak Davis: “Francesca Says More” appeared in Tin House. Copyright (c) 2006 by Olena Kalytiak Davis. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Emily Dickinson: #211, 249, 315, 1555, and 1670 from The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson. Copyright 1945, 1951, (c) 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted with the permission of The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

  Stephen Dobyns: “Desire” from Body Traffic. Copyright (c) 1991 by Stephen Dobyns. Reprinted with the permission of Viking, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Mark Doty: “Lilacs in NYC” from Sweet Machine. Copyright (c) 1998 by Mark Doty. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Denise Duhamel: “House-Sitting” from The Star-Spangled Banner. Copyright (c) 1999 by Denise Duhamel. Reprinted with the permission of Southern Illinois University Press.

  Robert Duncan: excerpt [Passage 18] from “The Torso” from Bending the Bow. Copyright (c) 1968 by Robert Duncan. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

  Russell Edson, “Conjugal” from The Tunnel: Selected Poems. Copyright (c) 1973, 1994 by Russell Edson. Reprinted with the permission of Oberlin College Press.

  Lynn Emanuel: “Dreaming of Rio at Sixteen” from The Dig. Copyright (c) 1992 by Lynn Emanuel. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Illinois Press.

  Janice Erlbaum: “The Temp” appeared in McSweeney’s. Copyright (c) 2003 by Janice Erlbaum. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Jill Alexander Essbaum: “On Reading Poorly Transcribed Erotica” appeared in No Tell Motel. Copyright (c) 2004 by Jill Alexander Essbaum. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Jenny Factor: “Misapprehension” from Unraveling at the Name. Copyright (c) 2001 by Jenny Factor. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

  Alan Feldman: “A Man and a Woman” from The Happy Genius. Copyright(c) 1978 by Alan Feldman. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  Beth Ann Fennelly: “Why We Shouldn’t Write Love Poems, or If We Must, Why We Shouldn’t Publish Them” from Tender Hooks. Copyright (c) 2004 by Beth Ann Fennelly. Reprinted with the permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

  Bob Flanagan: “I’ve been a shit and I hate fucking you now” (Sonnet #1) from Slave Sonnets (Cold Calm Press, 1986). Reprinted by permission.

  Robert Frost: “The Subverted Flower” from The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright 1951 by Robert Frost. Copyright 1923, (c) 1969 by Henry Holt and Co., Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

  Isabella Stewart Gardner: “The Milkman” from The Collected Poems. Originally published in Poetry (April 1952). Copyright (c) 1990 by The Estate of Isabella Gardner. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.

  Amy Gerstler: “Ode to Semen” from Ghost Girl. Copyright (c) 2004 by Amy Gerstler. Reprinted with the permission of Viking, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Allen Ginsberg: “Love Poem on Theme by Whitman” from Collected Poems 1947–1980. Copyright (c) 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Dana Gioia: “Alley Cat Love Song” from Interrogations at Noon. Copyright(c) 2001 by Dana Gioia. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  Louise Glück: “The Encounter” from The Triumph of Achilles. Copyright(c) 1985 by Louise Glück. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Linda Gregg: “Kept Burning and Distant” from The Sacraments of Desire. Copyright (c) 1992 by Linda Gregg. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

  Beth Gylys: “Preference” from Bodies That Hum. Copyright (c) 1999 by Beth Gylys. Reprinted with the permission of Silverfish Review Press.

  Donald Hall: “When I Was Young” from The Museum of Clear Ideas. Copyright (c) 1999 by Donald Hall. Reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

  Judith Hall: “In an Empty Garden” from To Put the Mouth To. Copyright (c) 1992 by Judith Hall. Reprinted with the permission of the author and HarperCollins Publishers.

  Robert Hass: “Against Botticelli” from Praise. Copyright (c) 1979 by Robert Hass. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Terrance Hayes: “Preface” from Hip Logic. Copyright (c) 2002 by Terrance Hayes. Reprinted with the permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Tony Hoagland: “Visitation” appeared in American Poetry Review. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tony Hoagland. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  Richard Howard: “Move Still, Still So” from Inner Voices: Selected Poems, 1963–2003 (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004). Co
pyright (c) 1984 by Richard Howard. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  Langston Hughes: “Desire” from Collected Poems. Copyright (c) 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Cynthia Huntington: excerpt from Shot Up in the Sexual Revolution: The True Adventures of Suzy Creamcheese from No Tell Motel. Copyright (c) 2007 by Cynthia Huntington. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  Denis Johnson: “Poem [Loving you is every bit as fine]” from The Veil. Copyright (c) 1987 by Denis Johnson. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Paul Jones: “To His Penis” appeared in No Tell Motel. Copyright (c) 2006 by Paul Jones. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Richard Jones: “Wan Chu’s Wife in Bed” from The Blessing: New and Selected Poems. Copyright (c) 1990 by Richard Jones. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

  Jane Kenyon: “The Shirt” from From Room to Room. Copyright (c) 1978 by Jane Kenyon. Reprinted with the permission of Alice James Poetry Cooperative.

  Galway Kinnell: “Last Gods” from When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone. Copyright (c) 1990 by Galway Kinnell. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Jennifer L. Knox, “Another Motive for Metaphor” appeared in The Hat. Copyright (c) 2007 by Jennifer L. Knox. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Kenneth Koch: “To Orgasms” from New Addresses. Copyright (c) 2000 by Kenneth Koch. Reprinted with the permission of The Literary Estate of Kenneth Koch and Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Yusef Komunyakaa: “Lust” from Talking Dirty to the Gods. Copyright (c) 2001 by Yusef Komunyakaa. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  Deborah Landau: “August in West Hollywood” from Orchidelerium. Copyright (c) 2004 by Deborah Landau. Reprinted with the permission of the poet and Anhinga Press.

  Dorianne Laux: “The Shipfitter’s Wife” from Smoke. Copyright (c) 2000 by Dorianne Laux. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.

  Sarah Maclay: “My Lavenderdom” from Whore: Poems. Copyright (c) 2004 by Sarah Maclay. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Tampa Press.

  Sarah Manguso: “Reverence” from Siste Viator. Copyright (c) 2006 by Sarah Manguso. Reprinted with the permission of Four Way Books, www.fourwaybooks.com.

  Ross Martin: “Body Cavity” appeared in McSweeney’s. Copyright (c) 2003 by Ross Martin. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Cate Marvin: “Me and Men” from World’s Tallest Disaster. Copyright (c) 2001 by Cate Marvin. Reprinted with the permission of Sarabande Books, www.sarabandebooks.org.

  Bernadette Mayer: “First turn to me…” from The Bernadette Mayer Reader. Copyright (c) 1992 by Bernadette Mayer. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

  Jeffrey McDaniel: “When a man hasn’t been kissed” from The Splinter Factory. Copyright (c) 2002 by Jeffrey McDaniel. Reprinted with the permission of the poet and Manic D Press.

  Thomas McGrath: excerpt from Letter to an Imaginary Friend. Copyright(c) 1997 by Copper Canyon Press. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

  Heather McHugh: “Gig at Big Al’s” from Danger. Copyright (c) 1977 by Heather McHugh. Reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

  James Merrill: “Peeled Wands” from Collected Poems. Copyright (c) 2001 by the Literary Estate of James Merrill at Washington University. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Noah Michelson: “Valentine” from Cimarron Review (2007). Copyright (c) 2007 by Noah Michelson. Reprinted with permission.

  Edna St. Vincent Millay: [“I too beneath your moon, almighty Sex”] from Collected Poems. Copyright 1931, (c) 1958 by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Norma Millay Ellis. Reprinted with the permission of Elizabeth Barnett, The Millay Society.

  Honor Moore: “Disparu” from Red Shoes. Copyright (c) 2005 by Honor Moore. Reprinted with the permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

  Paul Muldoon: “The Little Black Book” from Hay. Copyright (c) 1998 by Paul Muldoon. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  Harryette Mullen: “Pretty Piece of Tail” from Blues Baby. Copyright (c) 2002 by Harryette Mullen. Reprinted with the permission of the poet and Associated University Presses.

  Frank O’Hara: “To the Harbormaster” from Meditations in an Emergency. Copyright (c) 1957 by Frank O’Hara. Reprinted by permission.

  Sharon Olds: “The Sisters of Sexual Treasure” from Satan Says. Copyright(c) 1980 by Sharon Olds. Reprinted with the permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press.

  Danielle Pafunda: “Courtesy” from Pretty Young Thing. Copyright (c) 2005 by Danielle Pafunda. Reprinted with the permission of Soft Skull Press.

  Molly Peacock: “She Lays” from Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems. Copyright (c) 2002 by Molly Peacock. Reprinted with the permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

  Carl Phillips: “I See a Man” from Cortège. Copyright (c) 2002 by Carl Phillips. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

  Marge Piercy: “Salt in the Afternoon” from What Are Big Girls Made Of? Copyright (c) 1997 by Marge Piercy. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Sylvia Plath: “The Beekeeper’s Daughter” from The Colossus and Other Poems. Copyright (c) 1962 by Sylvia Plath. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., and Faber and Faber, Ltd.

  H. Phelps Putnam: “Sonnets to Some Sexual Organs” from The Collected Poems of H. Phelps Putnam. Copyright (c) 1971 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  Michael Quattrone: “February” appeared in The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel. Copyright (c) 2007 by Michael Quattrone. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Kenneth Rexroth: Excerpts from The Love Poems of Marichiko in The Morning Star. Copyright (c) 1979 by Kenneth Rexroth. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

  Adrienne Rich: “(The Floating Poem, Unnumbered)” from The Fact of a Doorframe: Selected Poems 1950–2001. Copyright (c) 1971 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright (c) 2002, 1955, 1951 by Adrienne Rich. Reprinted with the permission of the poet and W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

  Muriel Rukeyser: “What I See” from The Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005). Copyright (c) 1968 by Muriel Rukeyser. Reprinted with the permission of International Creative Management, Inc.

  James Schuyler: “A photograph” from Collected Poems. Copyright (c) 1993 by James Schuyler. Reprinted with the permission of the Literary Estate of James Schuyler and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  Frederick Seidel: “Heart Art” from Going Fast. Copyright (c) 1998 by Frederick Seidel. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  Peter Serchuk: “The Naked Women” appeared in Boulevard. Copyright (c) 2006 by Peter Serchuk. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Anne Sexton: “December 11th” from “Eighteen Days Without You” from The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton. Copyright (c) 1981 by Linda Gray Sexton and Loring Conant, Jr. Reprinted with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

  Ravi Shankar: “Lucia” appeared in No Tell Motel. Copyright (c) 2005 by Ravi Shankar. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Brenda Shaughnessy: “Voluptuary” from Interior with Sudden Joy. Copyright (c) 1999 by Brenda Shaughnessy. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  Rachel Shukert: “Subterranean Gnomesick Blues; or, the Gnome Who Whet My Fleshy Tent.” appeared in McSweeney’s (2004). Copyright (c) 2004 by Rach
el Shukert. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.

  Richard Siken: “Little Beast” from Crush. Copyright (c) 2005 by Yale University. Reprinted with the permission of Yale University Press.

  Charles Simic: “Breasts” from Selected Early Poems. Copyright (c) 1974 by Charles Simic. Reprinted with the permission of George Braziller, Inc.

  Louis Simpson: “Summer Storm” from The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems 1940–2001. Copyright (c) 1980, 2003 by Louis Simpson. Reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.

  Ed Smith: “Poem [I reached into his pajamas].” Copyright (c) 1988 by Ed Smith. Reprinted with the permission of Mio Shirai.

  Ruth Stone: “Coffee and Sweet Rolls” from Simplicity. Copyright (c) 1995 by Ruth Stone. Reprinted with the permission of Paris Press, Inc., www.parispress.org.

  Mark Strand: “The Couple” from The Continuous Life. Copyright (c) 1990 by Mark Strand. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  May Swenson: “A New Pair” from In Other Words. Copyright (c) 1987 by May Swenson. Reprinted with the permission of The Literary Estate of May Swenson.

  John Updike: “Fellatio” from Collected Poems 1953–1993. Copyright (c) 1990 by John Updike. Reprinted with the permission of the poet and of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

  Paul Violi: “Resolution” from Fracas. Copyright (c) 1999 by Paul Violi. Reprinted with the permission of Hanging Loose Press.

  William Wadsworth: “The Snake in the Garden Considers Daphne” appeared in The Paris Review. Copyright (c) 1993 by William Wadsworth. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  Catherine Wagner: “Lover” appeared in The Canary. Copyright (c) 2003 by Catherine Wagner. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

  David Wagoner: “Trying to Write a Poem While the Couple in the Apartment Overhead Make Love” (2006). Used with the permission of the poet.

  Maggie Wells, “Sonnet from the Groin” copyright (c) 2007 by Maggie Wells. Used with the permission of the poet.