July 1, 1980
Bench Presser
His junk ascends, sticks . . . at addict’s nod. He’s hooked to resisting inches, needs eleven To fade past failure; shivers through seven With loaded palms, his heart at […]
July 1, 1980
Miler
for Steve Prefottaine, American distance runner and Olympic hopeful, killed in a car crash, 1975 Drumming up birds, the rising Swivel of bears, sudden Bumping of rabbits, his gait Went […]
July 1, 1980
Bjorn
He’s brutal, smacks of the Norseman, named for a bear. His smile’s in hibernation; rumor of fangs. This day of the blow drier and sculpted hair- Cut, his strands are […]
July 1, 1980
Steeler
. . . The shadow of a dream is man. no more. But when the brightness comes, and God gives it there is a shining of light on men . […]
April 1, 1980
Elegy on the Death of a Hobo
From the Hungarian. From air he caught voices for birdwhistling; he was cheerful, and boy did he sweat it on the dusty road with colorful verbs whenever the old […]
April 1, 1980
Sunday in Summertime
From the Hungarian. (Hymn to the Sun) Fiery wreath, you! incendiary of blonde heads of hair, brilliant, rain-drinking skyflower! Bush of brightness, you! Southern hissing of rivers, baby-animal-rearing radiant […]
April 1, 1980
Rain Falls. It Dries….
From the Hungarian. Rain falls. It dries. Sun shines. A horse whinnies. Look on at the world’s minute flutters. In the depth of a workshop a lamp burning, cat […]
April 1, 1980
19 April 1931 (Yesterday They Confiscated My New Book)
From the Hungarian. Yesterday they confiscated my new book; now I sit alone, my fingers round my ankles; today, superstitiously, I buried a red moth under the threshold, and […]
October 1, 1947
The Child of Courts
After the door shuts, and the footsteps die, I call out, “Mother?” No one answers. I chafe my numb feet with my quaking hands And hunch beneath the covers, in […]
October 1, 1947
Overture: The Hostages
The teacher, the preacher, my mother, a mouse Sit snarled in the circle the cat has stitched In the barn; and they shift all day in their rope Till one […]
October 1, 1947
The Breath of Night
The moon rises. The red cubs rolling In the ferns by the rotten oak Stare over a marsh and a meadow To the farm’s white wisp of smoke. A spark […]
October 1, 1947
The Clock in the Tower of the Church
(In the last years of the tenth century, over most of Europe, work on public buildings was discontinued, since the Second Coming of Christ was expected in the year 1000.) […]