In this Book
- Alive Together: New and Selected Poems
- Book
- 1996
- Published by: Louisiana State University Press
In a collection that represents over thirty-five years of her writing life, this distinguished poet explores a wide range of subjects, which include her cultural and family history and reflect her fascination with music and the discoveries offered by language. In fact, her book is a testament to the miraculous power of language to interpret and transform our world. It is a testament that invites readers to share her vision of experiences we all have in common: sorrow, tenderness, desire, the revelations of art, and morality—“the hard, dry smack of death against the glass.”
In the title piece Mueller brings a sense of enduring and unclouded wonder to a recognition of all those whose lives might have been our own. “Speaking of marvels,” says the poem’s speaker, “I am alive.” Thus we, too—alive together—are marvels, and so are our children:
who—but for endless ifs—
might have missed out on being alive
together with marvels and follies
and longings and lies and wishes
and error and humor and mercy
and journeys and voices and faces
and colors and summers and mornings
and knowledge and tears and chance.
Imaginative, poignant, and wise—Alive Together is a marvelous book, an act of faith and courage in the face of life’s enduring mystery.
Table of Contents
- 1
- Curriculum Vitae
- pp. 5-6
- Place and Time
- pp. 7-8
- Immortality
- p. 9
- Losing My Sight
- p. 10
- Eyes and Ears
- p. 12
- Midwinter Notes
- pp. 14-15
- Pillar of Salt
- pp. 16-18
- 2
- Imaginary Paintings
- pp. 24-25
- An Afterlife
- p. 29
- American Literature
- p. 31
- Silence and Dancing
- p. 32
- Animals Are Entering Our Lives
- pp. 37-38
- Why I Need the Birds
- p. 39
- A Short History of the Rose
- pp. 40-41
- In November
- p. 42
- Night Voyage: A Dream
- pp. 43-44
- 3
- From Dependencies (1965)
- The Power of Music to Disturb
- pp. 55-56
- The Mermaid
- p. 59
- Moon Fishing
- p. 60
- A Crackle Observed
- p. 61
- The Lonesome Dream
- p. 62
- The Queen of Sheba Says Farewell
- pp. 63-64
- From The Private Life (1976)
- Reading the Brothers Grimm to Jenny
- pp. 73-74
- Highway Poems
- pp. 75-78
- The Fall of the Muse
- p. 79
- The Biographer
- p. 80
- Life of a Queen
- pp. 82-83
- Alive Together
- pp. 84-85
- My Grandmother's Gold Pin
- pp. 86-87
- Palindrome
- p. 90
- The Private Life
- pp. 92-93
- The Late News
- p. 94
- In Praise of Surfaces
- pp. 96-97
- Naming the Animals
- p. 98
- Love like Salt
- p. 99
- The Concert
- p. 100
- A Farewell, a Welcome
- pp. 101-102
- Letter from the End of the World
- pp. 104-106
- From The Need to Hold Still (1980)
- For a Thirteenth Birthday
- pp. 109-110
- Another Version
- p. 111
- Drawings by Children
- pp. 112-113
- Beginning with 1914
- pp. 116-117
- Talking to Helen
- pp. 118-121
- Not Only the Eskimos
- pp. 124-125
- One More Hymn to the Sun
- pp. 127-128
- Picking Raspberries
- p. 130
- The Need to Hold Still
- pp. 131-133
- Voices from the Forest
- pp. 134-138
- The Triumph of Life: Mary Shelley
- pp. 139-144
- The End of Science Fiction
- pp. 147-148
- What Will You Do
- p. 149
- Why We Tell Stories
- pp. 150-152
- From Second Language (1986)
- Necessities
- pp. 155-156
- Bread and Apples
- p. 159
- The Garden
- p. 160
- Blood Oranges
- p. 161
- Your Tired, Your Poor
- pp. 162-163
- Identical Twins
- p. 164
- After Whistler
- p. 166
- The Questioning
- p. 167
- The Exhibit
- p. 169
- Letter to California
- pp. 170-171
- Accommodations
- p. 175
- For the Strangers
- pp. 176-177
- Scenic Route
- p. 179
- Reasons for Numbers
- pp. 180-181
- The Possessive Case
- pp. 182-183
- Stalking the Poem
- pp. 184-185
- Monet Refuses the Operation
- pp. 186-187
- What Is Left to Say
- p. 188
- There Are Mornings
- p. 189
- A Day like Any Other
- p. 191
- Into Space
- pp. 192-194
- From Waving from Shore (1989)
- Missing the Dead
- p. 197
- When I Am Asked
- p. 198
- Cavalleria Rusticana
- p. 200
- Late Hours
- p. 203
- Poem for My Birthday
- p. 204
- Bedtime Story
- p. 205
- Three Poems About the Voiceless
- pp. 207-208
- Epilepsy, Petit Mal
- p. 209
- After Your Death
- p. 213
- The Deaf Dancing to Rock
- p. 215
- Film Script
- p. 216
- Brendel Playing Schubert
- p. 220