Lucky Bones

Contents

Contents Old Houses xi i. the molecule of life Drive-by Shootings 3 The Firebug 4 Cassandra in the Library 5 Generalsis I (1–3) 6 Habemus Papam 7 Ars Longa, Vita Brevis 8 Habeus Corpus 10 Sic Transit Gloria Mundi 11 Five Landays with a Latin Phrase 12 Heartworld 13 Patty’s Father 14 D. E. A. T. H. 15 The Family Megashelter Song, 1961 17 Grasshoppers of the World, Unite 18 Election Day 2012 20 Ants, Ants 22 The Storm 23 A Fable: The Floss-Silk Tree and the Philodendron 25 Mirror Lake 26 The Lover 27 Babylon 29 Lucky Bones 30 Floaters 31 The Activist 32 viii Front-Rhymed Easter Anti-Sonnet 33 Poem on Your Birthday 34 Father and Child 35 The Devil’s Paintbrush 36 The Molecule of Life 38 ii. skipping stones Emily Dickinson Thinks about Buying a Ribbon 41 Belgian Truffles 42 Juliet 2010 43 Unbearable Lightness 44 Christmas Burning 45 Winter in Detroit 47 A Song Impossible to Sing 48 Gangsters 49 Mountain Man 50 John Dove 52 The Forest 53 Life at the Bosnian Oyster Bar 54 Sunday Brunch at Point Lookout 56 Skydiving 57 Old Backboards 58 For Willie Mays 59 The Chattaway 60 On Completing My PhD 61 Of Course 63 Habit 64 ix Trucking 65 Watching 66 Traveling 67 Nodding 68 Walking by the Dalí Museum 69 Skipping Stones 70 It Beats TV 71 My Polish Cap 72 Indian Legend 73 The Campaign 74 The Old Professor 75 Charity Recital (Suite, 1936: A Trio) 76 Hymn 2014 78 Lassing Park 79 Epitaph 82 Acknowledgments 84 ...