The New Anthology of American Poetry: Vol. III: Postmodernisms 1950-Present

Contents

vii CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Acknowledgments and a Note on the Cover Art . . . . . xxiii PART ONE: MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY POETRY Introduction 3 GEORGE OPPEN (1908–1984) . . . . . . . . . 9 Tug against the river 11 She lies, hip high 12 Eclogue 12 Birthplace: New Rochelle 13 Time of the Missile 13 O Western Wind 14 Squall 15 Still Life 15 Of Being Numerous #7 16 Anniversary Poem 16 Till Other Voices Wake Us 18 THEODORE ROETHKE (1908–1963) . . . . . . . . 19 Cuttings 20 Cuttings (later) 20 My Papa’s Waltz 21 The Waking 22 In a Dark Time 22 CHARLES OLSON (1910–1970) . . . . . . . . . 23 As the Dead Prey Upon Us 25 Ø Contents viii The Distances 32 The Songs of Maximus 34 ELIZABETH BISHOP (1911–1979) . . . . . . . . . 38 The Man-Moth 41 The Fish 42 At the Fishhouses 44 Insomnia 47 Questions of Travel 47 The Armadillo 49 First Death in Nova Scotia 51 In the Waiting Room 52 Poem 55 One Art 57 Pink Dog 58 Sonnet 60 CARLOS BULOSAN (1911?–1956) . . . . . . . . . 61 History of a Moment 62 ROBERT HAYDEN (1913–1980) . . . . . . . . . 64 Night, Death, Mississippi 65 The Ballad of Sue Ellen Westerfield 66 Those Winter Sundays 68 MURIEL RUKEYSER (1913–1980) . . . . . . . . . 69 To Enter That Rhythm Where the Self Is Lost 70 The Poem as Mask 71 Poem (I lived in the first century of world wars) 72 The Speed of Darkness 73 Waking This Morning 76 Myth 77 St. Roach 77 JOHN BERRYMAN (1914–1972) . . . . . . . . . 78 The Ball Poem 80 Dream Song 1 81 Dream Song 4 82 Contents Ø ix Dream Song 13 83 Dream Song 26 83 Dream Song 29 84 Dream Song 76 85 Dream Song 77 85 Dream Song 90 86 Dream Song 101 87 Dream Song 385 87 JULIA DE BURGOS (1914–1953) . . . . . . . . . 88 A Julia de Burgos/To Julia de Burgos 89 RANDALL JARRELL (1914–1965) . . . . . . . . . 93 Losses 94 The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner 96 Protocols 96 Eighth Air Force 97 A Quilt-Pattern 98 The Black Swan 101 The Woman at the Washington Zoo 102 Next Day 103 The House in the Woods 105 GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917–2000) . . . . . . . . 106 a song of the front yard 109 Sadie and Maud 110 Boy Breaking Glass 110 The Life of Lincoln West 111 The Boy Died in My Alley 115 ROBERT LOWELL (1917–1977) . . . . . . . . . 117 Where the Rainbow Ends 119 Commander Lowell 121 Waking in the Blue 123 Skunk Hour 125 For the Union Dead 127 Waking Early Sunday Morning 130 For Robert Kennedy 1925–68 134 Ø Contents x Reading Myself 135 End of a Year 135 Dolphin 136 Epilogue 137 ROBERT DUNCAN (1919–1988) . . . . . . . . . 138 Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow 139 Poetry, A Natural Thing 140 Roots and Branches 141 My Mother Would Be a Falconress 142 Childhood’s Retreat 144 JAMES DICKEY (1923–1997) . . . . . . . . . 145 A Birth 146 Falling 147 The Sheep Child 152 DENISE LEVERTOV (1923–1997) . . . . . . . . . 154 Illustrious Ancestors 155 To the Reader 156 A Solitude 156 What Were They Like? 158 A Woman Alone 159 The May Mornings 161 MITSUYE YAMADA (b. 1923) . . . . . . . . . 161 What Your Mother Tells You 162 Evacuation 163 Harmony at the Fair Grounds 163 Block 4 Barrack 4 Apt C 164 Thirty Years Under 165 Cincinnati 166 Mirror Mirror 167 Drowning in My Own Language 167 ROBERT CREELEY (1926–2005) . . . . . . . . . 169 The Rain 170 For No Clear Reason 170 Contents Ø xi The Flower 171 The Language 171 ALLEN GINSBERG (1926–1997) . . . . . . . . . 172 Howl 175 A Supermarket in California 186 Sunflower Sutra 187 America 189 Anti-Vietnam War Peace Mobilization 192 “Don’t Grow Old” 193 It’s All So Brief 195 Yiddishe Kopf 195 JAMES MERRILL (1926–1995) . . . . . . . . . 196 The Victor Dog 197 Self-Portrait in Tyvek™ Windbreaker 199 FRANK O’HARA (1926–1966) . . . . . . . . . 204 Autobiographia Literaria 207 The Day Lady Died 207 Avenue A 209 Having a Coke with You 210 JOHN ASHBERY (b. 1927) . . . . . . . . . . 212 The Instruction Manual 213 The Picture of Little J. A. in a Prospect of Flowers 216 The Tennis Court Oath 218 Daffy Duck in Hollywood 220 The Big Cloud 224 Twilight Park 225 Anticipated Stranger, 226 ANNE SEXTON (1928–1974) . . . . . . . . . 226 You, Doctor Martin 228 Music Swims Back to Me 230 Her Kind 231 For John, Who Begs Me Not to Enquire Further 232 The Truth the Dead Know 233 Ø Contents xii Old Dwarf...