Good Poems

Good PoemsIntroduction1. O LordPoem in Thanks—Thomas LuxHow Many Nights—Galway KinnelWelcome Morning—Anne SextonPsalm 23—from The Bay Psalm BookAt Least—Raymond CarverAddress to the Lord—John BerrymanO Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie—Philip ApplemanPsalm—Reed WhittemorePsalm 121—Michael WigglesworthWhen one has lived a long time alone—Galway KinnellHome on the Range—AnonymousWhat I Want Is—C. G. Hanzlicek2. A DaySummer Morning—Charles SimicOtherwise—Jane KenyonPoem About Morning—William MeredithLiving—Denise LevertovAnother Spring—Kenneth RexrothMorning Person—Vassar MillerRoutine—Arthur GuitermanThe Life of a Day—Tom HennenFor My Son, Noah, Ten Years Old—Robert BlyI've known a Heaven, like a Tent—Emily DickinsonLetter to N.Y.—Elizabeth BishopDilemna—David Budbillfrom Song of Myself—Walt WhitmanNew Yorkers—Edward FieldSoaking Up Sun—Tom HennenLate Hours—Lisel Mueller3. MusicScrambled Eggs and Whiskey—Hayden CarruthMehitabel's Song—Don MarquisNightclub—Billy CollinsAlley Violinist—Robert LaxCradle Song—Jim SchleyHer Door—Mary LeaderThe Pupil—Donald JusticePiano—D. H. LawrenceInsrument of Choice—Robert PhillipsHomage: Doo-Wop—Joseph StroudThe Persistence of Song—Howard MossOoly Pop a Cow—David HuddleElevator Music—Henry TaylorThe Grain of Sound—Robert MorganI Will Make You Brooches—Robert Louis StevensonThe Dance—C. K. WilliamsThe Investment—Robert FrostThe Dumka—B. H. FairchildThe Green Street Mortuary Marching Band—Lawrence Ferlinghetti4. ScenesPoem to Be Read at 3 A.M.—Donald JusticeThe Swimming Pool—Thomas LuxDostoevsky—Charles BukowskiAfter a Movie—Henry TaylorSummer Storm—Dana GioiaWoolworth's—Mark IrwinWorked Late on a Tuesday Night—Deborah GarrisonThe Farmhouse—Reed Whittemorewrist-wrestling father—Orval LundYorkshiremen in Pub Gardens—Gavin EwartNoah—Roy Daniells5. LoversA Red, Red Rose—Robert BurnsWhen I Heard at the Close of Day—Walt WhitmanFirst Love—John ClareHe Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven—W. B. YeatsSonnet—C. B. TrailPolitics—W. B. YeatsMagellan Street, 1974—Maxine KuminAnimals—Frank O'HaraLending Out Books—Hal SirowitzThe Changed Man—Robert PhillipsThe Constant North—J. F. HendryOn the Strength of All Conviction and the Stamina of Love—Jennifer Michael HechtThe Loft—Richard JonesThis Is Just to Say—William Carlos WilliamsThis Is Just to Say—Erica-Lynn GambinoVenetian Air—Thomas MooreSummer Morning—Louis SimpsonComin thro' the Rye—Robert BurnsTopograhy—Sharon OldsSaturday Morning—Hugo WilliamsFlight—Louis JenkinsAt Twenty-Three Weeks She Can No Longer See Anything South of Her Belly—Thom WardFor the Life of Him and Her—Reed WhittemoreRomantics—Lisel MuellerDown in the Valley—AnonymousThe Middle Years—Walter McDonaldWinter Winds Cold and Blea…—John Claresince feeling is first—e. e. cummingsVergissmeinnicht—Keith DouglasSonnet XLIII What lips my lips have kissed—Edna St. Vincent MillayAfter the Argument—Stephen DunnThe Orange—Wendy CopeSusquehanna—Liz RosenbergFarm Wife—R. S. ThomasAfter Forty Years of Marriage, She Tries a New Recipe for Hamburger Hot Dish—Leo DangelThose Who Love—Sara TeasdaleQuietly—Kenneth RexrothFor C.W.B.—Elizabeth BishopShorelines—Howard MossPrayer for a Marriage—Steve ScafidiThe Master Speed—Robert FrostBonnard's Nudes—Raymond Carver6. Day's WorkHappiness—Raymond CarverHoeing—John UpdikeSome Details of Hebridean House Construction—Thomas A. ClarkRelations—Philip BoothWhat I Learned from My Mother—Julia KasdorfTo be of use—Marge PiercyNo Tool or Rope or Pail—Bob ArnoldOx Cart Man—Donald HallGirl on a Tractor—Joyce SutphenSoybeans—Thomas Alan OrrLanding Pattern—Philip ApplemanMae West—Edward FieldHay for the Horses—Gary Snyder7. Sons and DaughtersMasterworks of Ming—Kay RyanBess—Linda PastanA Little Tooth—Thomas LuxSonnet XXXVII—William ShakespeareEgg—C. G. HanzlicekRolls-Royce Dreams—Ginger AndrewsMy Life Before I Knew It—Lawrence RaabAfter Work—Richard JonesI Stop Writing the Poem—Tess GallagherFranklin Hyde—Hilaire BellocManners—Elizabeth BishopSeptember, the First Day of School—Howard NemerovFirst Lesson—Philip BoothChildhood—Barbara RasWaving Good-Bye—Gerald SternFamily Reunion—Maxine Kumin8. LanguageA Primer of the Daily Round—Howard NemerovThe Possessive Case—Lisel MuellerThe Icelandic Language—Bill HolmThe Fantastic Names of Jazz—Hayden CarruthOde to the Medieval Poets—W. H. AudenSweater Weather—Sharon Bryan9. A Good LifeWe grow accustomed to the Dark—Emily DickinsonA Ritual to Read to Each Other—William StaffordCourage—Anne SextonSometimes—Sheenagh PughLeisure—W. H. Daviesthe way it is now—Charles BukowskiA Secret Life—Stephen DunnLost—David WagonerSonnet XXV—William ShakespeareThe Eel in the Cave—Robert BlyWild Geese—Mary OliverFrom the Manifesto of the Selfish—Stephen DunnHope—Lisel MuellerThe Three Goals—David BudbillVermeer—Howard NemerovRepression—C. K. WilliamsWeather—Linda PastanModeration Is Not a Negation of Intensity, But Helps Avoid Monotony—John TagliabueTell all the Truth but tell it slant—Emily DickinsonThe Props assist the House…—Emily Dickinson10. BeastsLittle Citizen, Little Survivor—Hayden CarruthHer First Calf—Wendell BerryBats—Randall JarrellRiding Lesson—Henry TaylorWalking the Dog—Howard NemerovThe Excrement Poem—Maxine KuminStanza IV from Coming of Age—Ursula LeguinDestruction—Joanne KygerHow to See Deer—Philip BoothDog's Death—John UpdikeNames of Horses—Donald HallBison Crossing Near Mt. Rushmore—May Swenson11. FailureSuccess is counted sweetest…—Emily DickinsonSolitude—Ella Wheeler WilcoxThe first time I remember—Wendell BerryOur Lady of the Snows—Robert HassThe British Museum Reading Room—Louis MacNeiceThe Bare Arms of Trees—John TagliabueThe Sailor—Geof HewittA Place for Everything—Louis JenkinsThe Feast—Robert HassNobody Knows You—Jimmie Coxthe last song—Charles Bukowski12. ComplaintThe Forsaken Wife—Elizabeth ThomasConfession—Stephen DobynsLiving in the Body—Joyce SutphenTired As I Can Be—Bessie JacksonThe Iceberg Theory—Gerald LocklinManifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front—Wendell BerryA Bookmark—Tom Dischpoetry readings—Charles BukowskiPublication—is the Auction…—Emily Dickinson13. TripsOnce in the 40s—William Staffordlines from Moby Dick—Herman MelvilleRain Travel—W. S. Merwinwhere we are—Gerald LocklinExcelsior—Henry Wadsworth LongfellowOn a Tree Fallen Across the Road—Robert FrostA Walk Along the Old Tracks—Robert KinsleyPassengers—Billy CollinsThe Walloping Window-Blind—Charles Edward CarrylThe Vacation—Wendell BerryDirections—Joseph StroudPostscript—Seamus HeaneyNight Journey—Theodore RoethkeWaiting—Raymond Carver14. SnowNew Hampshire—Howard MossTo fight aloud…—Emily DickinsonDecember Moon—May SartonYear's End— Richard WilburThe Snow Man—Wallace StevensJanuary—Baron Wormserin celebration of surviving—Chuck MillerHer Long Illness—Donal HallRequiescat—Oscar WildeThe Sixth of January—David BudbillNot Only the Eskimos—Lisel MuellerBoy at the Window—Richard WilburWinter Poem—Frederick MorganLester Tells of Wanda and the Big Snow—Paul ZimmerOld Boards—Robert BlyMarch Blizzard—John Tagliabue15. YellowElvis Kissed Me—T. S. KerriganStepping Out of Poetry—Gerald SternI shall keep singing!—Emily DickinsonSong to Onions—Roy Blount, Jr.O Luxury—Guy W. LongchampsComing—Kenneth RexrothA Light Left On—May SartonThe Yellow Slicker—Stuart DischellFirst Kiss—April LindnerThe Music One Looks Back On—Stephen Dobyns16. LivesIn a Prominent Bar in Secaucus One Day—X. J. KennedyWho's Who—W. H. AudenThe Portrait—Stanley KunitzParable of the Four-Poster—Erica JongEd—Louis SimpsonMemory—Hayden CarruthLazy—David LeeTestimonial—Harry Newman, Jr.Cathedral Builders—John OrmondThe Village Burglar—AnonymousThe Scandal—Robert BlyAt Last the Secret Is Out—W. H. AudenNight Light—Kate BarnesSir Patrick Spens—Anonymous17. EldersI Go Back to May 1937—Sharon OldsThose Winter Sundays—Robert HaydenThe Old Liberators—Robert HedinTo My Mother—Wendell BerryWorking in the Rain—Robert MorganBirthday Card to My Mother—Philip ApplemanYesterday—W. S. MerwinNo Map—Stephen DobynsMy Mother—Robert MezeyWhen My Dead Father Called—Robert BlyAugust Third—May SartonTerminus—Ralph Waldo Emerson18. The EndAuthorship—James B(al) NaylorYoung and Old—Charles KingsleyShifting the Sun—Diana Der-HovanessianMy Dad's Wallet—Raymond CarverWhen I Am Asked—Lisel MuellerDirge Without Music—Edna St. Vicent MillayMy mother said…—Donald HallDepartures—Linda PastanAs Befits a Man—Langston HughesSunt Leones—Stevie SmithPerfection Wasted—John UpdikeEleanor's Letters—Donald HallDeath and the Turtle—May SartonFour Poems in One—Anne PorterTitanic—David R. SlavittThe Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna—Charles WolfeKaddish—David IgnatowTwilight: After Haying—Jane KenyonFor the Anniversary of My Death—W. S. Merwinfrom The Old Italians Dying—Lawrence FerlinghettiStreet Ballad—George BarkerLet Evening Come—Jane Kenyon19. The ResurrectionForty-Five—Hayden CarruthA Blessing—James WrightHoly Thursday—William Blakelines from Walden—Henry David ThoreauThe Peace of Wild Things—Wendell BerryFrom Blossoms—Li-Young LeeThe First Green of Spring—David BudhillHere—Grace PaleyThe Lives of the Heart—Jane HirshfieldSpring—Gerard Manley HopkinsFishing in the Keep of Silence—Linda GreggBiographiesName IndexTitle Index