In this Book
- Spans: New and Selected Poems
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: Louisiana State University Press
Through the poems in Spans, Elizabeth Seydel Morgan examines life from the perspective of one who appreciates the complexities of the world but finds pleasure in events as predictable as the changing of the seasons or as uncomplicated as a visit to an art museum. Morgan accepts the inevitability of change but mourns the loss of "what we don't know / that we cannot live without."
By couching her wry insights in deceptively simple language, Morgan can commemorate a long-ago game of hide-and-seek in the same darkly humorous tone that she employs to recall tragedies both natural and manmade. With wit and more than a touch of melancholy, she contemplates the disappearance of the world's honeybees, the vagaries of friendships and romances, and the quiet satisfaction of garden plantings. Her poems invite the reader to examine without resentment the multifaceted world we inhabit, with all its frustrations and pleasures.
Table of Contents
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- PARTIES
- Counting Sheep
- p. 7
- Stillness Like This
- p. 13
- Waiting for You
- p. 14
- Island Life
- p. 19
- Caravati’s Junkyard
- p. 21
- Beyond Recognition
- p. 23
- January Flies
- p. 24
- Luncheon of the Boating Party
- pp. 25-26
- THE GOVERNOR OF DESIRE
- Ungovernable
- p. 29
- Laws of Nature
- p. 31
- Mother’s Side
- p. 33
- Heart’s Core
- p. 37
- The Place You Left
- p. 40
- Czechoslovakia 1989
- pp. 43-44
- Matthew in Uniform
- p. 46
- Define Space
- p. 47
- Define Time
- p. 48
- Loss Without Ceremony
- pp. 49-50
- ON LONG MOUNTAIN
- Perseid Night
- p. 53
- Gnat Facts on NPR
- p. 55
- Sensing Winter
- p. 57
- Ways to Go
- p. 60
- Like Young Men
- p. 61
- Enthusiasm
- p. 64
- Unbalanced
- p. 65
- “Now Words Are Surrounded by Spaces”
- pp. 66-67
- Momentary Travels
- p. 69
- Even in Foxes
- p. 70
- Poetry Reading
- p. 71
- At the End of August
- p. 73
- Swing, Boat, Table
- p. 74
- WITHOUT A PHILOSOPHY
- Without a Philosophy
- p. 77
- Bombing Yugoslavia
- p. 79
- The Present
- p. 83
- December 2001
- p. 84
- The Glutton of Grief
- p. 85
- Driving Alone
- p. 86
- Cow Bone Clearing
- p. 88
- You, Archie Ammons
- p. 91
- How Space Travel Affects the Aging
- pp. 92-93
- Euripides’ Cave
- p. 96
- Stealing Grace
- p. 97
- Blessing the Water Snakes
- pp. 98-99
- The Californian
- p. 100
- Black Animals
- pp. 101-102
- NEW POEMS
- The Irony of Poppies
- p. 109
- Widow’s Walk
- p. 113
- Creation Theory
- p. 114
- February Burglary
- p. 117
- August Evening
- p. 118
- Dumb Bunny
- p. 119
- Weather Reporters
- p. 120
- September 2011
- p. 121
- The Brain’s Refusal
- p. 122
- A Version Of
- p. 124
- Sacrificial Metal
- p. 125
- Skating up to Eighty
- p. 129
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