American Poems O/Air and Space Flight

Home , Daniel Hoffman, Louis Untermeyer, Richard Eberhart

Edited by Karen Yelena Olsen

University of Iowa Press, Iowa City Contents

Preface xv Introduction i

I. IMPULSE OF DELIGHT

Ode for Orville and Wilbur Wright, David Moolten lg from Cape Hatteras, Hart Crane 15 Altitude, Stanley Plumly 16 The Poem of Flight, Philip Levine 18 To Beachey, 1912, Carl Sandburg 20 The Coming of the First Aeroplanes, Dick Allen 21 The Flight, Babette Deutsch 22 Courage, Amelia Earhart 26 Flight, Pamela Alexander 2j Ascent, Anne Morrow Lindbergh 2g from The World Goes Black, Enid Shomer 32 Take-Off, Peter Thorpe 34 Climbing Out, Diane Ackerman 35 First Flight, Daniel Hoffman 37 Small Plane in Kansas, Thorn Gunn 39 Tempus Fugit, Richard Harteis 40 Those Who Wrestle with the Angel for Us, Brigit Pegeen Kelly 41 Flight Instructor, James Applewhite 44 "A Lonely Impulse of Delight"-W. B. Yeats, David K. Vaughan 45 High Flight, John Gillespie Magee 46

II. WORLDS ABOVE, BELOW, WITHIN

Imperial Airways, Louis Untermeyer 4g An Aerial Photograph, Thomas Carper 51 Flight, George Oppen 52 Flying, Florence Ripley Mastin 53 Flying at Night, Ted Kooser 54 from North, Rosanna Warren 55 Over Ohio, Michael Blumenthal 56 Flying Home from Utah, May Swenson $y Windowseat, Sandra Meek 59 A San Diego Poem: January-February 1973, Simon J. Ortiz 60 Our Ground Time Here Will Be Brief, Maxine Kumin 64 On Hearing the Airlines Will Use a Psychological Profile to Catch Potential Skyjackers, Stephen Dunn 65 A History of Air Travel, Anna Leahy 67 Reading Moby-Dick at 30,000 Feet, Tony Hoagland 68 Flying, Retrying, Farming, Richard Hugo jo United Flight 608, Leonard Nathan J2 Airplane, Sherman Alexie 73 FLT #4372, Jeanne Murray Walker j6 At the Controls, Robert Vas Dias j8 Landing, James P. Lenfestey 79

III. AIRPLANE VISIONS, AIRPORT TRUTHS

The Unconquered Air, Florence Earle Coates 83 The Aeronauts, Rhoda Hero Dunn 85 August from My Desk, Roland Flint 8j An October Nocturne, Yvor Winters 88 The Buzz Plane, Robert Francis 89 Jet Plane, A. M. Sullivan go Air Show, John Updike gi Air Show: F-i6s above Cleveland, Mary Quade g2 • Watching the Planes Come In at La Guardia, John Frederick Nims g3 Dragon-watching in St. Louis, Carter Revard 94 At a Motel near O'Hare Airport, Jane Kenyon g6 The Sparrows at the Airport, Anthony Ostroff g8 The Unwinged Ones, Ogden Nash 100 At the Airport, Howard Nemerov 102

x) Dulles Airport, Eugene McCarthy 103 Kennedy Airport, Aaron Kramer 104 Airport, W. S. Merwin 106 Bad Weather at the Airport, Kurt J. Fickert 108 Vacation, Rita Dove log At the Terminal, Patricia Hooper 110 Passengers, Billy Collins 111 Jet Lag, Peter Makuck 113

IV. ANGLE OF ATTACK

Eagle Youth, Karle Wilson Baker 117 Ahout Eyes, Edwin Rolfe 118 A Leaf from a Log Book, H. Babcock lig The Fury of Aerial Bombardment, Richard Eberhart 120 The Raid, William Everson 121 Homeric Simile, William Meredith 123 The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, Randall Jarrell 125 Losses, Randall Jarrell 126 Tuskegee Airfield, Marilyn Nelson Waniek 128 V-J Day, John Ciardi 131 The War in the Air, Howard Nemerov 132 The Aging Poet, on a Reading Trip to Dayton, Visits the Air Force Museum and Discovers There a Plane He Once Flew, Richard Snyder 133 Thunderbirds, Tony Dater 134 Cobra Pilot, Don Receveur 135 Air Field, Robert Siegel 136 Sonnet for an SR-71, P. L. Delano igj The War in Bosnia, Walt McDonald 138

V. ICARUS FALLING

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, William Carlos Williams 141 To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph, Anne Sexton 142 Icarus, Edward Field 143 Ceiling Unlimited, Muriel Rukeyser 145 The Old Pilot, Donald Hall 149 The Lost Pilot, James Tate 150 The Airman, Anonymous 152 Missing, Gardner McFall 153 The Man in the Dead Machine, Donald Hall Waiting for Icarus, Muriel Rukeyser 156 In Flight, Jennifer Regan 157 The Black Hole, Robert Pack 158 Black Box, William Matthews 161 Libyan Airliner/Egyptian Acrobats/Israeli Air Circus, Sam Hamod 162 Lockerbie, Charles Munoz 163 The Women of Lockerbie, Richard Robbins 166 Above the City, James Laughlin 167 History of the Airplane, Lawrence Ferlinghetti 168

VI. SPACE ODYSSEYS

Earth's Bondman, Betty Page Dabney 173 Dog Asleep, William Stafford 174 Heel & Toe to the End, William Carlos Williams 175 The Crew of Apollo 8, Elaine V. Emans 176 Countdown, Ron Penoyer 177 A Farewell, a Welcome, Lisel Mueller i7g To the Moon, 1969, Babette Deutsch 181 The Flight of Apollo, Stanley Kunitz 182 Voyage to the Moon, Archibald MacLeish 183 Walk on the Moon, N. Scott Momaday 185 from Apollo, James Dickey 186 EVA Psalm, Raymond Roseliep 188 Annie Pearl Smith Discovers Moonlight, Patricia Smith igo Astronauts, Robert Hayden ig3 Witnessing the Launch of the Shuttle Atlantis, Howard Nemerov ig$ Elegy for Challenger, Diane Ackerman ig6 Viking, Brett Rutherford ig8 Firmament on High, Laurence Goldstein 200 An Open Letter to Voyager II, John Updike 201

A Few Notes on the Poems 205 America in Flight: A Brief History 211 Works Consulted 221 Acknowledgments 223 Index of Authors and Titles 233