| Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks I am the blossom pressed in a book, |
| Poet's Work Grandfather |
| Poetry I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond |
| Ground Swell Is nothing real but when I was fifteen, |
| Broadway Under Grand Central's tattered vault |
| What He Thought We were supposed to do a job in Italy |
| Endnote The great poems of |
| Diving into the Wreck First having read the book of myths, |
| Ars Poetica A poem should be palpable and mute |
| Arthur's Anthology of English Poetry To be or not to be, that is the question |
| Take the I Out But I love the I, steel I-beam |
| Always on the Train Writing poems about writing poems |
| Speech Alone It happens that one pronounces |
| The Poem as Mask When I wrote of the women in their dances and |
| Ars Poetica (cocoons) Six monarch butterfly cocoons |
| The Poems I Have Not Written I’m so wildly unprolific, the poems |
| This Bridge, Like Poetry, is Vertigo |
| Envoi Go, little book. If anybody asks |
| A True Poem I'm working on a poem that's so true, I can't show it to anyone |
| Prefix: Finding the measure Finding the measure is finding the mantram |
| A Book Of Music Coming at an end, the lovers |
| Workshop I might as well begin by saying how much I like the title |
| The Bear In late winter |
| The Uses of Poetry I've fond anticipation of a day |
| Because You Asked about the Line Between Prose and Poetry Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle |
| O Black and Unknown Bards O black and unknown bards of long ago |
| Teaching the Ape to Write Poems They didn't have much trouble |
| Why I Am Not a Painter I am not a painter, I am a poet |
| Poetry Is a Destructive Force That's what misery is |
| Eating Poetry Ink runs from the corners of my mouth |
| How to Read a Poem: Beginner's Manual First, forget everything you have learned |
| Blue or Green We don't belong to each other. |
| Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am signaling you through the flames] I am signaling you through the flames |
| If It All Went Up in Smoke that smoke |
| Languages There are no handles upon a language |
| Adam's Curse We sat together at one summer's end |
| The Art of Poetry [excerpt] Gently make haste, of Labour not afraid |
| The Composition of the Text an adjective breathing the window open |
| The Indications [excerpt] The words of the true poems give you more than poems |
| The Difference between a Child and a Poem If you are terrified of your own death |