by Unknown
“Meditations in an Emergency,” Frank O’Hara, 90
“Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland,” John Ashbery, 99
“Middle Men,” Rae Armantrout, 188
“Montparnasse,” Ernest Hemingway, 53
“Monument,” Mary Ruefle, 236
“The Most Beautiful Word,” Linh Dinh, 281
“A Nap on the Afternoon of My 39th Birthday,” Denise Duhamel, 276
“Nepenthe,” Sarah Manguso, 309
“The New Father,” Russell Edson, 122
“News,” Ruth Krauss, 54
“A Nice Presentation,” John Ashbery, 96
“No Sorry,” Catherine Bowman, 266
“Notes on the Orgasm,” Nin Andrews, 270
“Not Something for Nothing,” John Hollander, 107
“Nude Interrogation,” Yusef Komunyakaa, 197
“Ode,” Lisa Jarnot, 295
“Of Flesh and Spirit,” Wang Ping, 268
“One Day at a Florida Key,” Robert Bly, 85
“On Orchids,” Anne Carson, 215
“Our Jailer,” W. S. Merwin, 102
“The Page Torn Out,” Anselm Berrigan, 304
“A Performance at Hog Theater,” Russell Edson, 117
“The Person,” Kit Robinson, 210
“The Pilot,” Russell Edson, 118
“Power,” Andrei Codrescu, 186
“Predella,” John Yau, 223
“Pretty Happy!,” Peter Johnson, 226
“The Prose Poem,” Louis Jenkins, 153
“The Prose Poem,” Campbell McGrath, 279
“Rapture,” James Tate, 163
“The Rat’s Tight Schedule,” Russell Edson, 120
“Red Slippers,” Amy Lowell, 33
“Requiem,” Richard Deming, 302
“Return to Harmony 3,” Agha Shahid Ali, 206
“A Rusty Tin Can,” Robert Bly, 84
“Same Tits,” James Tate, 160
“Schoenberg,” Frank O’Hara, 92
“The Second Greatest Story Ever Told,” James Tate, 159
“Secret Training,” Andrei Codrescu, 185
“Sentences,” Thornton Wilder, 50
“Seurat,” Ira Sadoff, 176
“Shadow—A Parable,” Edgar Allan Poe, 28
“On Shelter,” Anne Carson, 216
“Shoot the Horse,” Terence Winch, 180
“Sleeping with the Dictionary,” Harryette Mullen, 256
“So Let’s Look At It Another Way,” John Godfrey, 170
“State,” Michael Friedman, 274
“Stereo,” Anne Waldman, 178
“Still Life,” Lisa Jarnot, 294
“A Story About the Body,” Robert Hass, 143
“The Story of Progress,” David Ignatow, 72
“Strophe,” H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), 43
“Success Story,” Mark Strand, 112
“A Summer Night in Hanoi,” Yusef Komunyakaa, 199
“Summer Rental,” John Yau, 224
“A Supermarket in California (1956),” Allen Ginsberg, 86
“Tall Windows,” Robert Hass, 145
“The Taxi,” Russell Edson, 119
“Tex-Mex,” Peter Johnson, 226
“That They Were at the Beach,” Leslie Scalapino, 202
“The Thirteenth Woman,” Lydia Davis, 191
Three Entries from 20 Lines a Day, Harry Mathews, 108
Three Improvisations from Kora in Hell, William Carlos Williams, 39
Three Poems from “Prose of Departure,” James Merrill, 87
Three Poems from The World Doesn’t End, Charles Simic, 125
Three Sections from My Life, Lyn Hejinian, 146
“Toy Car,” Maureen Seaton, 200
“Triptych,” Paul Violi, 165
“Twelve Epistles from Letters to Wendy’s,” Joe Wenderoth, 291
“12 O’Clock News,” Elizabeth Bishop, 60
22 “Objects” from Tender Buttons, Gertrude Stein, 34
“Two Meditations,” James Schuyler, 74
Two Poems from “Blasted Fields of Clover Bring Harrowing and Regretful Sighs,” Mark Bibbins, 298
Two Poems from Masquerade, Andrew Sawacki, 303
“Untitled,” Alice Notley, 174
“Vanity, Wisconsin,” Maxine Chernoff, 228
“Variation on a Theme Park,” Harryette Mullen, 254
“Vectors: Thirty-six Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays,” James Richardson, 218
“Vespers,” W. H. Auden, 57
“Visions or Desolation,” Bernadette Mayer, 171
“On Waterproofing,” Anne Carson, 215
“The Way We Walk Now,” John Hollander, 106
“Whatever It Is, Wherever You Are” John Ashbery, 93
“What We Miss,” Sarah Manguso, 310
“When Kiss Spells Contradiction,” Karen Volkman, 297
“Why I Hate the Prose Poem,” Tom Whalen, 205
“The Wish to Be Pregnant,” Kenneth Koch, 79
“Women’s Novels,” Margaret Atwood, 128
“Wonderful World,” James Schuyler, 75
“Woods, A Prose Sonnet,” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 27
“The Wreck of the Platonic,” B.J. Atwood-Fukuda, 183
INDEX OF POETS
Ali, Agha Shahid (1949–2001)
“Return to Harmony 3,” 206
Andrews, Nin (1958–)
“Notes on the Orgasm,” 270
“Always Have a Joyful Mind,” 272
Armantrout, Rae (1947–)
“Bases,” 186
“Middle Men,” 188
“Imaginary Places,” 189
Ashbery, John (1927–)
“Whatever It Is, Wherever You Are,” 93
“Haibun 6,” 95
“A Nice Presentation,” 96
“Disagreeable Glimpses,” 97
“Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland,” 99
Atwood, Margaret (1939–)
“Women’s Novels,” 128
“In Love with Raymond Chandler,” 131
Atwood-Fukuda, B.J. (1946–)
“The Wreck of the Platonic,” 183
Auden, W. H. (1907–1973)
“Vespers,” 57
Benedikt, Michael (1935–)
“The Doorway of Perception,” 116
Bernard, April (1956–)
“Exegesis,” 259
Bernstein, Charles (1950–)
“Comraderie turns to rivalry . . .,” 212
Berrigan, Anselm (1972–)
“The Page Torn Out,” 304
Bibbins, Mark (1968–)
Two Poems from “Blasted Fields of Clover Bring Harrowing and Regretful Sighs,” 298
Bidart, Frank (1939–)
“Borges and I,” 132
Bishop, Elizabeth (1911–1979)
“12 O’Clock News,” 60
Blanco, Richard (1968–)
“Mango, Number 61,” 300
Bly, Robert (1926–)
“The Hockey Poem,” 80
“Warning to the Reader,” 83
“A Rusty Tin Can,” 84
“One Day at a Florida Key,” 85
Boully, Jenny (1976–)
“He appeared then . . .,” 308
Bowman, Catherine (1957–)
“No Sorry,” 266
Brainard, Joe (1942–1994)
“Freud,” 151
“History,” 151
Brown, Stephanie (1961–)
“Commencement Address,” 275
Burkard, Michael (1947–)
“A Conversation About Memory,” 190
Carlen, Fran (1954–)
“Anna Karenina,” 240
“Anal Nap,” 244
Carson, Anne (1950)
“On Waterproofing,” 215
“On Orchids,” 215
“On Hedonism,” 216
“On Shelter,” 216
Chernoff, Maxine (1952–)
“His Pastime,” 228
“Vanity, Wisconsin,” 228
“The In
ner Life,” 229
Clark, Tom (1941–)
“Death, Revenge and the Profit Motive,” 140
Clary, Killarney (1953–)
“Because the ones I work for . . .,” 238
“Life is boundless . . .,” 238
Codrescu, Andrei (1946–)
“De Natura Rerum,” 185
“Secret Training,” 185
“Power,” 186
Collins, Billy (1941–)
“Five Fondly Remembered Passages from My Childhood Reading,” 141
Crane, Hart (1899–1932)
“Havana Rose,” 52
cummings, e. e. (1894–1962)
“i was sitting in mcsorley’s,” 47
Davis, Lydia (1947–)
“The Thirteenth Woman,” 191
“In the Garment District,” 191
“Agreement,” 192
Deming, Richard (1970–)
“Requiem,” 302
Denby, Edwin (1903–1983)
“Aaron,” 56
Dinh, Linh (1963–)
“Fish Eyes,” 281
“The Most Beautiful Word,” 281
Doolittle, Hilda (H. D.) (1886–1961)
“Strophe,” 43
“Antistrophe,” 44
“Epode,” 45
Dove, Rita (1952–)
“Kentucky, 1833,” 231
Duhamel, Denise (1961–)
“A Nap on the Afternoon of My 39th Birthday,” 276
Dunham, Jamey (1973–)
“An American Story,” 307
Edgar, Christopher (1961–)
“In C,” 278
Edson, Russell (1935–)
“A Performance at Hog Theater,” 117
“The Pilot,” 118
“The Taxi,” 119
“The Rat’s Tight Schedule,” 120
“The Canoeing Trip,” 121
“The New Father,” 122
Eliot, T. S. (1888–1965)
“Hysteria,” 46
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803–1882)
“Woods, A Prose Sonnet,” 27
Fogel, Aaron (1947–)
“The Chessboard Is on Fire,” 193
Forché, Carolyn (1950–)
“The Colonel,” 217
Friedman, Michael (1960–)
“Lecture,” 273
“Death,” 273
“State,” 274
Gerstler, Amy (1956–)
“Dear Boy George,” 260
“Bitter Angel,” 261
“The Bear-Boy of Lithuania,” 262
Ginsberg, Allen (1926–1997)
“A Supermarket in California (1956),” 86
Godfrey, John (1945–)
“So Let’s Look At It Another Way,” 170
Gudding, Gabriel (1966–)
“A Defense of Poetry,” 285
Guest, Barbara (1920–)
“Color,” 73
Harryman, Carla (1952–)
“Magic (or Rousseau),” 232
“Matter,” 233
Harvey, Matthea (1973–)
“The Crowds Cheered as Gloom Galloped Away,” 308
Hass, Robert (1941–)
“A Story About the Body,” 143
“In the Bahamas,” 144
“Tall Windows,” 145
Hejinian, Lyn (1941–)
Three Sections from My Life, 146
Hemingway, Ernest (1899–1961)
“Montparnasse,” 53
Hollander, John (1929–)
“The Way We Walk Now,” 106
“Crocus Solus,” 107
“Not Something for Nothing,” 107
Howe, Fanny (1940–)
“Everything’s a Fake,” 135
“Doubt,” 136
Ignatow, David (1914–1997)
“I sink back upon the ground . . .,” 71
“The Story of Progress,” 72
Jarman, Mark (1952–)
“Epistle,” 234
Jarnot, Lisa (1967–)
“Still Life,” 294
“Ode,” 295
Jenkins, Louis (1942–)
“Football,” 152
“Appointed Rounds,” 152
“The Prose Poem,” 153
Johnson, Peter (1951–)
“Pretty Happy!,” 226
“Tex-Mex,” 226
Knox, Jennifer L. (1968–)
“Hot Ass Poem,” 301
Koch, Kenneth (1925–2002)
“On Happiness,” 77
“The Allegory of Spring,” 78
“The Wish to Be Pregnant,” 79
Komunyakaa, Yusef (1947–)
“Nude Interrogation,” 197
“The Hanoi Market,” 198
“A Summer Night in Hanoi,” 199
Krauss, Ruth (1901–1993)
“News,” 54
Lazarus, Emma (1849–1887)
“The Exodus (August 3, 1492),” 31
Lederer, Katherine (1972–)
“According to the Appetites,” 305
Lowell, Amy (1874–1925)
“Red Slippers,” 33
McGrath, Campbell (1962–)
“The Prose Poem,” 279
Manguso, Sarah (1974–)
“Nepenthe,” 309
“What We Miss,” 310
Martínez, Dionisio D. (1956–)
“Avant-Dernières Pensées,” 264
Mathews, Harry (1930–)
Three Entries from 20 Lines a Day, 108
Mayer, Bernadette (1945–)
“Visions or Desolation,” 171
Merrill, James (1926–1995)
Three Poems from “Prose of Departure,” 87
Merwin, W. S. (1927–)
“Humble Beginning,” 101
“The Dachau Shoe,” 101
“Our Jailer,” 102
“The Lonely Child,” 103
Milosz, Czeslaw (1911–)
“Esse,” 62
“Be Like Others,” 63
Mullen, Harryette (?-)
“Variation on a Theme Park,” 254
“The Anthropic Principle,” 255
“Sleeping with the Dictionary,” 256
Moss, Thylias (1954–)
“An Anointing,” 245
Notley, Alice (1945–)
“Untitled,” 174
O’Hara, Frank (1926–1966)
“Meditations in an Emergency,” 90
“Schoenberg,” 92
Padgett, Ron (1942–)
“Light as Air,” 154
“Album,” 157
Palmer, Michael (1943–)
“A word is coming up on the screen . . .,” 158
Patchen, Kenneth (1911–1972)
“In Order To,” 64
“Delighted with Bluepink,” 65
“The Famous Boating Party,” 66
Ping, Wang (1957–)
“Of Flesh and Spirit,” 268
Poe, Edgar Allan (1809–1849)
“Shadow—A Parable,” 28
Rankine, Claudia (1963–)
“Intermission in Four Acts,” 282
Richardson, James (1950–)
“Vectors: Thirty-six Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays,” 218
Robinson, Kit (1949–)
“The Person,” 210
Ruefle, Mary (1952–)
“Monument,” 236
Sadoff, Ira (1945–)
“Seurat,” 176
Sawacki, Andrew (1972–)
Two Poems from Masquerade, 303
Scalapino, Leslie (1948–)
“That They Were at the Beach,” 202
Schuyler, James (1923–1991)
“Two Meditations,” 74
“Wonderful World,” 75
“Footnote,” 76
Schwartz, Delmore (1913–1966)
“Justice,” 67
Seaton, Maureen (1947–)
“Toy Car,” 200
“Lateral Time,” 200
Simic, Charles (1938–)
Three Poem
s from The World Doesn’t End, 125
“The Magic Study of Happiness,” 126
“Contributor’s Note,” 127
Stein, Gertrude (1874–1946)
22 “Objects” from Tender Buttons, 34
Strand, Mark (1934–)
“In the Privacy of the Home,” 111
“Success Story,” 112
“From a Lost Diary,” 113
“Chekhov: A Sestina,” 114
Tate, James (1943–)
“The Second Greatest Story Ever Told,” 159
“Same Tits,” 160
“The List of Famous Hats,” 161
“Distance from Loved Ones,” 162
“Rapture,” 163
“Bernie at the Pay Phone,” 164
Toomer, Jean (1894–1967)
“Calling Jesus,” 49
Violi, Paul (1944–)
“Triptych,” 165
“Acknowledgments,” 169
Volkman, Karen (1967–)
“It Could Be a Bird,” 296
“When Kiss Spells Contradiction,” 297
Waldman, Anne (1945–)
“Stereo,” 178
Waldrop, Rosmarie (1935–)
Five Poems from The Reproduction of Profiles, 123
Wenderoth, Joe (1966–)
Twelve Epistles from Letters to Wendy’s, 291
Whalen, Tom (1948–)
“Why I Hate the Prose Poem,” 205
Wheeler, Susan (1955–)
“Invective: You Should Know,” 257
Wilder, Thornton (1897–1975)
“Sentences,” 50
Williams, Tyrone (1954–)
“Cold Calls,” 247
Williams, William Carlos (1883–1963)
Three Improvisations from Kora in Hell, 39
Winch, Terence (1945–)
“Shoot the Horse,” 180
Wright, James (1927–1980)
“On Having My Pocket Picked in Rome,” 104
“Honey,” 105
Yau, John (1950–)
“Predella,” 223
“Summer Rental,” 224
SCRIBNER POETRY
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2003 by David Lehman
Introduction copyright © 2003 by David Lehman
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SCRIBNER POETRY and design are trademarks of Macmillan Library Reference USA, Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of this work.
DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING
COVER DESIGN BY VICTOR JOHN VILLANUEVA
JACKET ILLUSTRATION BY JOHGN ASHBERY, L'HEURE EXQUISE, © JOHN ASHBERY 1977, 202.
Text set in Stempel Garamond
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
