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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: NELSON, MARILYN Matches Found: 205 Nelson, Marilyn Poet's Biography Alternate Author Name(s): Waniek, Marilyn Nelson 205 poems available by this author A CANTICLE FOR ABBA JACOB Poem Text First Line: How beautiful you are, my love Subject(s): Literary Form A CHARMED LIFE Poem Text First Line: Here breathes a solitary pilgrim sustained by dew Subject(s): Gratitude ABBA JACOB AND MIRACLES First Line: One day abba jacob Last Line: We're here %aren't we ABBA JACOB AND ST. FRANCIS Poem Text First Line: Abba jacob with his invention Subject(s): Nature ABBA JACOB AND ST. FRANCIS First Line: Abba jacob with his invention Last Line: Well, at least I don't call them %brother %and then kill them. %but I do %ask god's pardon Subject(s): Nature ABBA JACOB AND THE ANGEL First Line: In the end abba jacob gave up Last Line: And put her arm around his neck. %then he heard the music ABBA JACOB AND THE BUSINESSMAN First Line: A businessman heard about abba jacob Last Line: I heard he %was holy ABBA JACOB AND THE THEOLOGIAN First Line: Thanking him for spending Last Line: Not seriously, of course ABBA JACOB AT BAT Poem Text First Line: A young visitor [or, secular] / wearing an angels cap Subject(s): Jews; Judaism ABBA JACOB AT BAT First Line: A young visitor [or, secular] %wearing an angels cap Last Line: He said: because they remind us %to live Subject(s): Jews ABBA JACOB GETS DOWN First Line: Abba jacob said: %there was once a desert father Last Line: I'm sitting %on three bishops ABBA JACOB IN THE WELL Poem Text First Line: Bakar, atul, and clancy lower a bucket Last Line: The ladder cuts through the slanting light / and disappears Subject(s): Wells ABBA JACOB IN THE WELL First Line: Bakar, atul, and clancy lower a bucket Last Line: The ladder cuts through slanting light %and disappears ABBA JACOB'S SEVEN DEVILS First Line: Another miracle Last Line: All night the dogs howl ACHES AND PAINS Poem Text First Line: Abba jacob said: / the older I get, the more clearly I believe Last Line: Like manna. Like respite. Like rain Subject(s): Old Age ACHES AND PAINS First Line: Abba jacob said: %the older I get, the more clearly I believe Last Line: Like manna. Like respite. Like rain ALDERMAN Poem Text First Line: One year the town republicans Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives ALDERMAN First Line: One year the town republicans Last Line: You need to learn your place. And pomp withdrew %because the klan was wrong: by god, he knew Subject(s): Family Life ANNUNCIATION Poem Text First Line: Like holes punched in a tin roof, thinks diverne Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives ANNUNCIATION First Line: Like holes punched in a tin roof, thinks diverne Last Line: For someone dead. Like abraham, that night %she saw her children: lord, they daddy white? Subject(s): Family Life APE-GODS First Line: Vivisection is up to date Last Line: In these ape-gods' power APRIL RAPE First Line: Bessie altmann is home again Last Line: She is glad to be home again ARACHIS HYPOGAEA First Line: Arachis hypogaea may have been %smuggled to north america by slaves Last Line: The peanut-man,' we say and laugh at him ARMED MEN Poem Text First Line: Ray teaches at the boley baptist school Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives ARMED MEN First Line: Ray teaches at the boley baptist school Last Line: To let them go out and run %through the twilit streets of boley, %where each window holds a loaded g Subject(s): Family Life AS SIMPLE AS THAT First Line: Talk about bosnia led to the hutu and tusi, two Last Line: Love holds me back AT PRAYER First Line: Abba jacob closes the prayer book Last Line: Around his white skirts AUNT ANNIE'S PRAYER Poem Text First Line: Her magnified voice reverberates Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives AUNT ANNIE'S PRAYER First Line: Her magnified voice reverberates Last Line: Praise god. %thank you, jesus. %amen. %amen Subject(s): Family Life BALANCE Poem Text First Line: He watch her like a coonhound watch a tree. Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Relatives BALANCE First Line: He watch her like a coonhound watch a tree. Last Line: That hoe diverne think she marse tyler's wife. Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form BALI HAI CALLS MAMA Poem Text First Line: As I was putting away the groceries Subject(s): Mothers; Babies; Family Life; Infants; Relatives BALI HAI CALLS MAMA First Line: As I was putting away the groceries Last Line: Suddenly through the window %came the wild cry of geese BALLAD OF AUNT GENEVA First Line: Geneva was the wild one Last Line: And gave away her heart Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Racism BEAUTY SHOPPE Poem Text First Line: Yes, girl. He was fine. All night he'd groan I love you Last Line: He's not worth it. Girl, that nigger broke my heart Subject(s): African Americans; Love – Unrequited; Deception; Grief BEAUTY SHOPPE First Line: Yes, girl, he was fine. All night he'd groan I love you Last Line: He's not worth it. Girl, that nigger broke my heart BLACK PIONEERS Poem Text First Line: There, we'll put the chickens Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives BLACK PIONEERS First Line: There, we'll put the chickens Last Line: And buy you a fine cook-stove. %but, baby, first, let's try the bed... %(censored: they're making lo Subject(s): Family Life BLESSING THE BOATS First Line: Abba jacob said: %did I ever tell you about the time Last Line: They're probably still %talking about it BOYS IN THE PARK First Line: In town to do good works, filled with our own Last Line: They were boys, just boys, nine or ten years old CACHOEIRA Poem Text First Line: We slept, woke, breakfasted, and met the man Subject(s): Cachoeira, Brazil; Tourists; Slavery; Convents; Serfs CAFETERIA FOOD Poem Text First Line: Even when you've been living on Subject(s): Food & Eating CAFETERIA FOOD First Line: Even when you've been living on Last Line: Even when it's good, %it's bad Subject(s): Food And Eating CANTICLE FOR ABBA JACOB First Line: How beautiful you are, my love Last Line: Touch him for me, my lord. %my love! Thy kiss Subject(s): Literary Form CENTURY QUILT First Line: My sister and I were in love CHOPIN Poem Text First Line: It's sunday evening. Pomp holds the receipts Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Relatives CHOPIN First Line: It's sunday evening. Pomp holds the receipts Last Line: And plays chopin. And blessed are the meek %who have to buy in white men's stores next week Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form CHOSEN Poem Text First Line: Diverne wanted to die, that august night Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Relatives CHOSEN First Line: Diverne wanted to die, that august night Last Line: Share of the future. And it wasn't rape. %in spite of her raw terror. And his whip Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form CHURCHGOING Poem Text First Line: The lutherans sit stolidly in rows; Subject(s): Christianity; Slavery; Hypocrisy; Serfs CHURCHGOING First Line: The lutherans sit stolidly in rows Last Line: Finding the black way back to what we've lost CIRCUS OF HUNGER First Line: My dad was working the river again Last Line: I breathed the strange odor %of a world of real dreams CLOWN NOSE First Line: After their afternoon walk to the sheepfold Last Line: Brushed off his white skirt COAL Poem Text First Line: He made a living selling land and coal Last Line: He made a living Subject(s): Family Life; Business; Fathers; Relatives COAL First Line: He made a living selling land and coal Last Line: His signature is firm, decisive, bold: %he made a living Subject(s): Family Life CONFESSIONAL POEM First Line: This friend of mine COVER PHOTOGRAPH First Line: I want to be remembered CURVE-BREAKER First Line: What broke the ice? Last Line: We were calling him 'doc.' DANGEROUS CARNIVAL First Line: One of the signs of a concussion DAUGHTERS, 1900 Poem Text First Line: Five daughters, in the slant light on the porch Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Relatives DAUGHTERS, 1900 First Line: Five daughters, in the slant light on the porch Last Line: The fourth concedes, 'well, maybe not in church...' %five daughters in the slant light on the porch Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form DEATH OF POLYXENA First Line: I am not to die Last Line: On the swan-curve of her throat DINOSAUR SPRING Poem Text First Line: A violet wash is streaked across the clouds Subject(s): Dinosaurs DINOSAUR SPRING First Line: A violet wash is streaked across the clouds Last Line: At the bottom of the sea Subject(s): Dinosaurs DIVERNE'S HOUSE Poem Text First Line: The house of myth Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives DIVERNE'S HOUSE First Line: The house of myth Subject(s): Family Life DIVERNE'S WALTZ Poem Text First Line: Diverne stands in the kitchen as they dance Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Relatives DIVERNE'S WALTZ First Line: Diverne stands in the kitchen as they dance Last Line: Who knows? Next week, next month, I could be dead Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form DON'T THROW OUT WINE BOTTLES First Line: Abba jacob said: when I was in grad school, I house-sat Last Line: Maybe it had some deep %esoteric meaning DREAM'S WISDOM First Line: I dreamed Last Line: Help me greet everyone I know %with the dream's %wisdom DUSTING Poem Text First Line: Thank you for these tiny Subject(s): Nature DUSTING First Line: Thank you for these tiny Last Line: Thank you. For dust Subject(s): Nature EMILY DICKINSON'S DEFUNCT Poem Text First Line: She used to / pack poems Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) EMILY DICKINSON'S DEFUNCT First Line: She used to %pack poems Last Line: And buzzed %when she died Subject(s): Dickinson, Emily (1830-1886) EPITHALAMIUM AND SHIVAREE First Line: All cana was abuzz next day with stories Last Line: Jitterbugging on shimmering air FASTER THAN LIGHT First Line: I didn't want to pay to park my car Last Line: My seatmate fast-talked into his cell phone FISH AND FLOOR-DUST BOUQUET First Line: Abba jacob hums quietly, negotiating traffic Last Line: Fish like sunlight from the afternoon sky FOR MARY, FOURTH MONTH First Line: Open the drawer Last Line: As someone opens %sad, knowing eyes FORTUNATE SPILL First Line: Well! Johnnie thinks. He has his nerve! Last Line: And I watch from this distant balcony %as they fall for eachother, and for me Subject(s): Family Life FOUR A.M. IN THE WOODS Poem Text First Line: Darkness softens, a thin FREEMAN FIELD Poem Text First Line: It was a cool evening Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life; Relatives FREEMAN FIELD First Line: It was a cool evening Last Line: To smoke, watching %the german pow's pump gas, %wash windshields %and laugh %at the motorpool %acros Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life HECUBA MOURNS Poem Text First Line: Ah, my daughter Subject(s): Mourning; Bereavement HECUBA MOURNS First Line: Ah, my daughter Last Line: For one single, blessed, eternal moment HERBS IN THE ATTIC First Line: A cat by the fireside, purring HIGH AND HAUGHTY Poem Text First Line: Ray, almost a spinster, gave up Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives HIGH AND HAUGHTY First Line: Ray, almost a spinster, gave up Last Line: A white man called toward the house: %mister mitchell? %and ray became, %at long last, %a queen Subject(s): Family Life HOME Poem Text First Line: I neither remember / the first time Last Line: And shot me with / america Subject(s): Education; Schools; Students HOME First Line: I neither remember %the first time Last Line: And shot me with %america Subject(s): Education; Schools HOUSE ON MOSCOW STREET First Line: It's the ragged source of memory Last Line: Generations lost to be found, %to be found Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Family Life; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations HOW I DISCOVERED POETRY Poem Text First Line: It was like soul-kissing, the way the words Subject(s): Poetry & Poets HOW I DISCOVERED POETRY First Line: It was like soul-kissing, the way the words Last Line: To the buses, awed by the power of words HURRAH, HURRAH Poem Text First Line: A full moon rises Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives HURRAH, HURRAH First Line: A full moon rises Last Line: Rufus never wears the uniform %again in his life. %a black man in france %wasn't the same %as a blac Subject(s): Family Life I AM YOU AGAIN Last Line: How loudly we can say our names I DECIDE NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN First Line: Dawn, the gulls weep for the jews Last Line: That warmed the whole house I DREAM THE BOOK OF JONAH First Line: One stormy april afternoon Last Line: I've come back empty-handed %singing %dazed I IMAGINE DRIVING ACROSS COUNTRY Last Line: Still falling home down the highway I KNEW THAT First Line: In his miraculously fixed Last Line: (oh, said amma mama) I SEND MAMA HOME Poem Text First Line: I send you down the road from paden Subject(s): Mothers I SEND MAMA HOME First Line: I send you down the road from paden Last Line: When you waved goodbye from the train IMPALA First Line: On ballerina legs the dominant male commands the vista Last Line: Which one of them the lions will take first INTERMEZZO Poem Text First Line: Pomp, at the foot of her lacy bed Last Line: To give pomp a marble Subject(s): Slavery; Reconstruction (1865-1876); Freedom INTERMEZZO First Line: Pomp, at the foot of her lacy bed Last Line: Johnny cowgill raced from the house %and into the rutted road %to give pomp a marble Subject(s): Family Life INVISIBLE First Line: Four of us in the park Last Line: We use invisible kings %for the rest of the game IS SHE OKAY? First Line: Easy to forget the little lies: I'll call you Last Line: She remembers what one woman said IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Poem Text First Line: How easily my heart falls back into habits Subject(s): Anxiety; Jazz; Music & Musicians IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD First Line: How easily my heart falls back into habits Subject(s): Anxiety; Jazz; Music And Musicians JUNETEENTH Poem Text First Line: With her shiny black-patent sandals Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives JUNETEENTH First Line: With her shiny black-patent sandals Last Line: With the newpaper editor, %who lost his other ear %getting away from a lynch-mob Subject(s): Family Life LA PESTE First Line: In the era of raining boys, a steady downpour Last Line: After the black death, after the holocaust: survivors LAUGHTER AS THE HIGHEST FORM OF CONTEMPLATION First Line: Abba jacob said: %do you know anything about zen? Last Line: Abba jacob asked, and laughed %there's your koan Subject(s): Laughter LEAVING THE HOSPICE Poem Text First Line: Abba jacob said: / it's amazing! The old nun has been resurrected! Last Line: What awaits is welcome purer than true love's first kiss Subject(s): Death LEAVING THE HOSPICE First Line: Abba jacob said: %it's amazing: the old nun has been resurrected! Last Line: What awaits is welcome purer than true love's first kiss LETTER TO A BENEDICTINE MONK First Line: Dear frere jacques Last Line: But perhaps you don't %remember me at all LEVITATION WITH BABY First Line: The muse bumped Last Line: As he ascended over the roof of his house %on the muse's huge, sun-spangled wings LIFE OF A SAINT First Line: A boy walks out Last Line: How he opened his beak %how he sang LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI Poem Text First Line: The trees paint their reflections Last Line: In a little yellow book Subject(s): Family Life; Mississippi River; African Americans; Relatives LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI First Line: The trees paint their reflections Subject(s): Family Life LIGHT UNDER THE DOOR First Line: I remember hiding in the hall closet Last Line: As I walked out into the light LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON First Line: It comes over him sometimes, he can't help Last Line: All right. Child of the only goddamned god he knows LITTLE WHITE CHURCH Poem Text First Line: Us free will baptists walked a thin tightwire Subject(s): Worship; Christianity; Free Will & Determinism LIVE JAZZ, FRANKLIN PARK ZOO First Line: A tree grew. Oh, remembering gorillas Last Line: To receive it, music built a cathedral in their senses LONELY EAGLES Poem Text First Line: Being black in america Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Aviation & Aviators; Air Warfare; World War Ii; African Americans - Military; Family Life; James, General Daniel 'chappie' (1920-78); Airplanes; Air Pilots; Second World War; Relatives LONELY EAGLES Poem Text First Line: Being black in america Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life; James, General Daniel 'chappie' (1920-78; Relatives LONELY EAGLES First Line: Being black in america Last Line: I used his mattress %for the rest of the tour. %it still bothers me, sometimes: %I was sleeping %on Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life; James, General Daniel "chappie" (1920-78 LOST DAUGHTER First Line: One morning just before christmas LOVESONG Poem Text First Line: How shall I hold my spirit, that is not Subject(s): Love LOVESONG First Line: How shall I hold my spirit, that it not Last Line: How sweet, how: ah! MAMA I REMEMBER Last Line: Of loss in your thighs MAMA'S MURDERS First Line: Her leg flies open like a dictionary dropped MAMA'S PROMISE Poem Text First Line: I have no answer to the blank inequity Subject(s): Mothers; Death; Dead, The MAMA'S PROMISE First Line: I have no answer to the blank inequity MARRIAGE NIGHTMARE First Line: He's so romantic, he's kissed both my arms Last Line: I wake up to a blue day MAY YOUR LOVE CONVERT LUCIFER First Line: Abba jacob said: I pray for lucifer Last Line: I'll bet it makes him %mad as hell MEMENTO First Line: Somewhere in france a vacation album Last Line: Her brown face, his loving listening. Behind them %sky, sea,three sailboats MEN IN THE KITCHEN First Line: Abba jacob said: %I wonder if souls are unhappy Last Line: His own mother and held her for ransom MINOR MIRACLE Poem Text First Line: Which reminds me of another knock-on-wood Subject(s): African Americans; Racism; Regret; Negroes; American Blacks; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry MINOR MIRACLE First Line: Which reminds me of another knock-on-wood Last Line: He climbed back into his truck %and drove away MY GRANDFATHER WALKS IN THE WOODS Poem Text First Line: Somewhere / in the light above the womb Subject(s): Grandparents; Trees; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers MY GRANDFATHER WALKS IN THE WOODS First Line: Somewhere %in the light above the womb Last Line: With voices like wind %blowing away from him MY PEOPLE First Line: Strutting around here acting humble Last Line: Wasn't the blackest face on the faculty, %as if he wasn't a nigger MY SECOND BIRTH First Line: That first birth Last Line: I remember how she leaned over my crib, %her eyes full of sky NAMING THE ANIMAL First Line: There's a beast in my chest NEGRO HERO First Line: I had to kick their law into their teeth in order to save them Last Line: To the continuation of their creed %and their lives NO NO, BAD DADDY First Line: A black pendulum, a dark tree unexplained, inexplicable Last Line: A child gasps awake, its scream sealed by an acid kiss NO WORST First Line: The wicked stepmother bursts into her husband's Last Line: The nosferatu behind the mask of a neighbor's face OLD BIBLES First Line: I throw things away OTHER WOMEN'S CHILDREN First Line: In wyoming, %plain as far as my eye can see Last Line: The children who never cry Subject(s): Children PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MEDUSA Poem Text First Line: Column six, page thirty-six Last Line: With this simpleton love Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Crime & Criminals; Guilt PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE MEDUSA First Line: Column six, page thirty-six Last Line: With this simpleton love PLOTINUS SUITE First Line: Hard sex. The silken, honeyed twang of parting Last Line: Here: make the flight of the alone to the alone PORTER Poem Text First Line: Suddenly / when I hear airplanes overhead Last Line: He looks down. Then he looks at me and grins. / I took it, too! Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life; Aviation & Aviators; Relatives PORTER First Line: Suddenly %when I hear airplanes overhead Last Line: When I put it down %she handed me a dime %as a tip. %he looks down. %then he looks at me and grins. Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life POST-PRANDIAL CONVERSATION First Line: Abba jacob said: %I'm sorry; I forgot. I'm always forgetting things Last Line: Then there was only the om of mosquitos PRAYER OF SILENCE First Line: I've bought off the octopi and the great white shark Last Line: Looks up, closes his eyes %and takes in %radiance PROPOSITIONS First Line: The soul grows hunched, flinching away from pain Last Line: Into the river of flame to feel anything at all PSALM Poem Text First Line: So many cars have driven past me Subject(s): Automobile Drivers PSALM First Line: So many cars have driven past me Last Line: I shall not want RECURRENT DREAM First Line: My father came back regularly, to see Last Line: It knew the way. My love, I'm grown. Let go RILKE'S THIRD ELEGY First Line: It's one thing to sing lovesongs. Another Last Line: Hold him back RUELLIA NOCTIFLORA Poem Text First Line: A colored man come running at me out of the woods Subject(s): Petunias SACRAMENT OF POVERTY First Line: All the children on this ward are dying of aids Last Line: Your wedding poem SAWED-THROUGH-LINK Poem Text SIMPLE WISDOM First Line: Abba jacob said: %there's a big difference between Last Line: Know god by loving SISTERS Poem Text First Line: The school bus drove us home from high school, where Subject(s): Women's Rights; Racism; Feminism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry SISTERS First Line: The school bus drove us home from high school, where Last Line: To call a heifer out, and whup her ass SLEEPLESS NIGHTS First Line: We used to tell each other erotic stories SOLITUDE IN SOWETO First Line: I seek you in narrow sleep Last Line: Where five grown men %weep toward dawn SORT OF A CALLING First Line: Under a yellow moon that mused STAR-FIX Poem Text First Line: At his cramped desk Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life; Relatives STAR-FIX First Line: At his cramped desk Last Line: Going hungry for five or six hours %to give his flight-lunch%to his two little girls Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life STRANGE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN Last Line: What you doing here? %she asked me %the same thing STRANGE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN TH FRUIT OF FAITH First Line: Abba jacob, on the word Last Line: Come %says the master %partake THE BALLAD OF AUNT GENEVA Poem Text First Line: Geneva was the wild one Subject(s): Family Life; Literary Form; Racism; Relatives; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry THE CENTURY QUILT Poem Text First Line: My sister and I were in love Subject(s): Quilts THE DREAM'S WISDOM Poem Text First Line: I dreamed / mama came back Subject(s): Mothers; Death; Dreams; Dead, The; Nightmares THE FORTUNATE SPILL Poem Text First Line: Well! Johnnie thinks. He has his nerve! Last Line: As they fall for each other, and for me Subject(s): Family Life; African Americans; Courtship; Luck; Love; Relatives THE HOUSE ON MOSCOW STREET Poem Text First Line: It's the ragged source of memory Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Family Life; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations; Relatives THE LACE-MAKER Poem Text First Line: Late sunday morning gilds the pins and needles, Subject(s): Lace THREE MEN IN A TENT First Line: My one blood-uncle laughs Last Line: One of us %to four %of them. %I sure missed %my old buddies.%I even missed %ol'corbon Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life THUS FAR BY FAITH: 1. SERMON IN THE COTTON FIELD First Line: His heart's upwelling of its own accord Last Line: The lord hisself were tempted, brother mule THUS FAR BY FAITH: 2. SERMON IN THE WOODLOT First Line: The lord himself was tested, brother mule Last Line: The mules meander into sunshine, leaving the wood THUS FAR BY FAITH: 3. SERMON IN THE RUINED GARDEN First Line: A mule meanders into sunshine from the wood Last Line: By hitching your tanks for god's love to my plow THUS FAR BY FAITH: 4. MEDITATION OVER THE WASHTUB First Line: Oh, I'm hitching my love for jesus to my plow Last Line: Hosannas rise like incense on the wind THUS FAR BY FAITH: 5. PALM SUNDAY, 1866 First Line: Make our hosannas incense on the wind Last Line: File out as the organist strikes up a hymn THUS FAR BY FAITH: 6. GOOD FRIDAY PRAYER First Line: Defy him! Tear his organ off! Strike him Last Line: The others? Well, it's like preaching to mules THUS FAR BY FAITH: 7. EASTER SERMON, 1866 First Line: Others might think it's like preaching to mules Last Line: And a heart that wells up of its own accord TO MARKET Poem Text First Line: All the long way from jamaica Subject(s): Family Life; Relatives TO MARKET First Line: All the long way from jamaica Subject(s): Family Life TRIOLETS FOR TRIOLET First Line: Walk through the winding streets of triolet Last Line: Was that you are good and just, and are not dead TUSKEGEE AIRFIELD Poem Text First Line: These men Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life; Relatives TUSKEGEE AIRFIELD First Line: These men Last Line: The instructor grinned. %boy, if your ass %is as hard as your head, %you'll go far in this world Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Family Life TWIST THE THREAD Last Line: The perfected past TWO EXCERPTS FROM THE CACHOIERA TALES: CACHOIERA First Line: We slept, woke, breakfasted, and met the man Last Line: We rode back into the quotidian TWO EXCERPTS FROM THE CACHOIERA TALES: GENERAL PROLOGUE First Line: When april rains had drenched the root Last Line: The one that showed me them dirty pictures!' TWO-SEATER First Line: Johnnie and rufus before bedtime Last Line: They laugh again, %then wipe, %pull up their pajamas %and race in to bed Subject(s): Family Life UNRHYMED PEACE SONNET Poem Text First Line: Who are the good guys now? Who are the bad? Subject(s): Politics & Government; War UNRHYMED PEACE SONNET First Line: Who are the good guys now? Who are the bad? Last Line: For pete's sake, send an angel! Burn a bush! Subject(s): Politics; War UPPER-TEN First Line: Big annie washed white people's linen Last Line: Chief wright's laughter %rang back from the mirrors. %pomp atwood's only son %was a man Subject(s): Family Life WAR OF THE HEART First Line: The snows of kilimanjaro we planted Last Line: Who writes, my deep friendship extends %to everyone you love WILD PANSIES First Line: I rested in my mother's womb WOMAN KILLS AND EATS OWN INFANT First Line: Tshew! Tshew! The kid's got a boy man whose limbs Last Line: Our limitless capacity to do the worst we can conceive WOMEN'S LOCKER ROOM First Line: The splat of bare feet on wet tile |
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