STAYING ALIVE real poems for unreal times edited by NEIL ASTLEY SUB Gottingen 7 219 048 886 2006 A 6305 BISODAXG BQ5K5 CONTENTS Various 18 Poets on poetry Neil Astley 19 Introduction Mary Oliver 28 Wild Geese 1 Body and soul Denise Levertov 31 Living Andrew Greig 31 Orkney / This Life Alistair Elliot 32 Northern Morning Raymond Carver 33 Happiness James Merrill 33 My Father's Irish Setters Vernon Scannell 35 Legs Lucille Clifton 36 homage to my hips Grven Harwood 36 Naked Vision Thorn Gunn 37 The Hug Tess Gallagher 38 The Hug Elizabeth Bishop 39 Chemin de Fer Alden Nowlan 40 He Sits Down on the Floor of a School for the Retarded Les Murray 41 An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow Michael Longley 43 A Prayer Carol Ann Duffy 43 Prayer Czeslaw Milosz 44 Encounter Rainer Maria Rilke 44 FROM The Tenth Duino Elegy Denise Levertov 45 Variation on a Theme by Rilke Gjertrud Schnackenberg46 FROM A Gilded Lapse of Time Kevin Hart 47 Dark Angel Nina Cassian 48 Temptation Sylvia Plath 48 Poppies in October Osip Mandelstam 49 'Eyesight of Wasps' David Constantine 49 The Wasps Charles Simic 50 The Old World Robert Bly 50 Watering the Horse Chase Twichell 51 Saint Animal Carol Rumens 51 Jarrow Stephen Dobyns 52 Where We Are 2 Roads and journeys Robert Frost 55 The Road Not Taken James K. "Baxter 55 The Bay Elizabeth Garrett 56 Tyranny of Choice Stevie Smith 57 Not Waving but Drowning Vona Groarke 99 Simon Armitage 57 Poem Tonight of Yesterday Hay den Carruth 100 Carl Sandburg 58 Choose Sonnet James Wright 100 Vladimir Holan 58 Meeting in a Lift Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm William Empson 101 E.E. Cummings 58 'i thank You God for most this amazing' Missing Dates WeldonKees 101 Dennis O'Driscoll 59 You Villanelle Gjertrud Schnackenberg 102 Brendan Kennelly 60 Begin Signs | Galway Kinnell 103 Louis MacNeice 60 Entirely FROM When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone j[ Brendan Kennelly 103 Adrienne Rich 61 Integrity My Dark Fathers J /& ^n#Af 104 Galway Kinnell 63 The Bear Hoping It Might Be So f Charles Wright 105 Delmore Schwartz 66 The Heavy Bear Who Goes with Me Clear Night | Robert Bly 106 John Berryman 67 FROM Dream Songs Defeated ]• Theodore Roethke 106 Tracey Herd 67 FROM Some mangled dream songs for Henry The Waking Kapka Kassabova 107 Freda Downie 68 Window Mirages : Eibhlin Nic Eochaidh 108 Miroslav Holub 69 The door How to kill a living thing Anne Michaels 109 FROM Sublimation Kapka Kassabova 70 The Door Robert Frost 71 Directive CW 7iwVA<;// 110 Horse Gillian Allnutt 72 The Road Home £*/<?'«« M Chuilleandin 111 Swineherd Robert Frost 73 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Kathleen Jamie 111 The way we live Louis MacNeice 74 Snow ; Connie Bensley 112 Apologia Paul Muldoon 74 History Rosemary Tonks 113 Addiction to an Old Mattress Maura Dooley 75 History Fleur Adcock 113 Things Vladimir Holan 75 Snow Elma Mitchell 114 Thoughts After Ruskin Lawrence Sail 76 The Cablecar Elizabeth Bartlett 115 Themes for Women Galway Kinnell 77 That Silent Evening Maura Dooley 116 What Every Woman Should Carry Mary Oliver 78 The Journey Ruth Fainlight 116 Handbag Helen Dunmore 79 When You've Got Jenny Joseph 117 Warning Muriel Rukeyser 80 Yes • Theodore Roethke 117 Dolor Stephen Dunn 81 Happiness ; Elizabeth Bishop 118 One Art Michael Donaghy 81 Machines j L0««6" G/M<T& 119 Lamium Tomas Transtromer 82 Alone May Sarton 119 A Glass of Water Menna Elfyn 83 Couplings ,&<?/>&?« Daww 120 Sadness William Stafford 84 Traveling through the Dark Stephen Dunn 121 Sweetness John Burnside 84 Penitence AldenNowlan 122 The Execution W.N. Herbert 86 Slow Animals Crossing >w« JTrjgAf 123 A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard's Shack Elizabeth Bishop 87 The Moose Bertolt Brecht 124 Epistle on Suicide Thomas Lux 92 Wife Hits Moose Stevie Smith 124 Harold's Leap V4M«^ Sexton 125 Her Kind 3 Dead or alive Tracey Herd 126 Anne Sexton's Last Letter to God Jaan Kaplinski 95 'To eat a pie and to have it...' Robert Frost 128 My November Guest Louise Gliick 95 Trillium Edward Thomas 128 She Dotes Elizabeth Daryush 96 'I saw the daughter of the sun...' /?.5. 77wm<w 129 The Cry Frieda Hughes 97 Stonepicker Vachel Lindsay 130 The Leaden-Eyed Marin Sorescu 97 The Arrow ' .Ezra Pound 130 And the Days Are Not Full Enough Christopher Logue 98 Be Not Too Hard '•'^•Douglas Dunn 130 A Removal from Terry Street Charles Simic 99 Modern Sorcery U.UVIV.-j Trif.K i \bt.N y 4 Bittersweet Maura Dooley 181 Freight First Birth Matthew Sweeney 133 Tube Ride to Martha's Sharon Olds 181 Sharon Olds 182 Her First Week Peter Reading 133 FROM Ukulele Music Anne Stevenson 183 The Spirit is too Blunt an Instrument Ken Smith 135 Against the grain Gavin Ewart 184 Sonnet: How Life Too Is Sentimental Wislawa Szymborska 135 The One Twenty Pub Anne Stevenson 184 Poem for a Daughter Izet Sarajlic 137 Luck in Sarajevo Ellen Bryant Voigt 185 Daughter Michael Longley 137 All of These People Adrian Mitchell 186 Beattie Is Three Muriel Rukeyser 138 Waking This "Morning W.D. Snodgrass 186 FROM Heart's Needle Douglas Dunn 138 I Am a Cameraman Gjertrud Schnackenberg191 Supernatural Love Philip Gross 140 FROM The Wasting Game Brendan Kennelly 193 Poem from a Three Year Old Leontia Flynn 143 Brinkwomanship Roger McGough 194 Cinders Ken Smith 144 Here Kenneth Rexroth 195 A Sword in a Cloud of Light U.A. Fanthorpe 144 The Unprofessionals Jdnos Pilinszky 197 On the Back of a Photograph Stewart Conn 145 Visiting Hour Fleur Adcock 197 The Video Carole Satyamurti 145 FROM Changing the Subject P.K Page 197 Young Girls Nick Drake 150 The Cure Adrian Mitchell 198 A Puppy Called Puberty Charles Simic 150 Past-Lives Therapy Adrian Mitchell 199 A Dog Called Elderly Adrienne Rich 151 Diving into the Wreck Paul Muldoon 199 Cuba Richard Wilbur 153 April 5, 1974 Michael Donaghy 200 My Flu Michael Longley 154 At Poll Salach Charles Simic 'We were so poor...' Edward Thomas 154 Thaw 201 Robert Hayden 201 Those Winter Sundays Michael Longley 154 Thaw Julia Copus 202 The Back Seat of My Mother's Car FleurAdcock 155 Kissing Louise Gliick Mirror Image Leland Bardwell 155 How my true love and I lay without touching 203 Mirror Basil Bunting 156 'You idiot!...' Sylvia Plath 203 Anne Carson 204 Father's Old Blue Cardigan Randall Jarrell 157 90 North Philip Larkin 205 This Be the Verse E.J. Scovell 158 Listening to Collared Doves Caitriona O'Reilly 205 Possession David Constantine 159 Watching for Dolphins Randall Jarrell 206 A Night with Lions Jo Shapcott 160 Goat Joseph Brodsky 207 FROM A Part of Speech Peter Didsbury 161 The Drainage Edward Thomas Old Man Helen Dunmore 162 Three Ways of Recovering a Body 209 Randall Jarrell 211 Thinking of the Lost World Ted Hughes 163 Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days Paul Muldoon Quoof Sylvia Plath 164 Mushrooms 213 Hart Crane Forgetfulness Derek Mahon 166 A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford 214 Billy "Collins Forgetfulness John Burnside 167 Unwittingly 214 W.S. Merwin 215 Unknown Forbear 5 Growing up David Scott 216 Groundsmen Ken Smith 171 Being the third song of Urias 6 Man and beast Sujata Bhatt 172 White Asparagus Les Murray 218 Pigs Alden Nowlan 173 It's Good To Be Here Dennis O'Driscoll Experimental Animals Kathleen Jamie 174 Ultrasound 218 1 Alden Nowlan Weakness Helen Dunmore 178 Safe period 219 Stephen Dobyns 220 Spiritual Chickens Kona Macphee 178 IVF The Heaven of Animals Jane Duran 180 Miscarriage James Dickey 221 Nina Cassian 222 Sacrilege C.K Williams 254 Love: Beginnings Elena Shvarts 223 Remembrance of Strange Hospitality Pauline Stainer 255 The Honeycomb Julie O'Callaghan 224 Federal Case Michael Longley 255 The Linen Industry Frank O'Hara 224 Animals Sharon Olds 256 Last Night Charles Simic 225 'The city had fallen...' Jdnos Pilinszky 257 Definition of Your Attraction Robert Adamson 225 The stone curlew Michael Ondaatje 257 The Cinnamon Peeler Polly Clark 226 My Life with Horses Sharon Olds 259 True Love Sean O Riordain 227 Switch W.H. Auden 259 Lullaby James Wright 227 A Blessing' Julia Copus 261 In Defence of Adultery Michael Longley 228 The Horses Rita Ann Higgins 261 The Did-You-Come-Yets Seamus Heaney 229 The Skunk of the Western World TAOTW Ga«n 229 Considering the Snail C.K. Williams 263 The Mistress Fleur Adcock 230 For a Five-Year-Old Sharon Olds 263 Ecstasy Ted Hughes 231 Full Moon and Little Frieda Linda France 264 Zoology Is Destiny Frieda Hughes 231 Birds Salvatore Quasimodo 265 Only if Love Should Pierce You jfoAn Montague Til The Trout Jo Shapcott 265 Muse Susan Wicks 233 Night Toad Jo Shapcott 266 Life 5A«/a Wmgfuld 233 A Bird Philippe Jaccottet 267 Distances >An &«//« 234 Emu Hunt David Constantine 268 'As our bloods separate' Lavinia Greenlaw 234 Night Parrot Judith Wright 268 Woman to Man Ted Hughes 235 The Thought Fox Gjertrud Schnackenberg 269 Snow Melting Michael Longley 236 Swans Mating Esta Spalding 270 August Michael Ondaatje 236 The Strange Case Kevin Hart 274 The Room 5e/»wa #«// 237 Cow Selima Hill 274 Don't Let's Talk about Being in Love Katrina Porteous 238 Seven Silences Katie Donovan 275 Yearn On > Shapcott 239 Lies Carolyn Kizer 276 Bitch Feaver 240 Glow Worm Eleanor Brown 277 Bitcherel ./ Graham 241 Salmon Katherine Pierpoint 278 This Dead Relationship Richard Murphy 242 Seals at High Island Stephen Dunn 280 Each from Different Heights Cfcj Greenhalgh 243 Of Love, Death and the Sea-Squirt Rosemary Tonks 280 Badly-Chosen Lover Caitriona O'Reilly 244 Octopus Anne Stevenson 281 After the End of It PaWo Mrwia 245 Fable of the mermaid and the drunks Jdnos Pilinszky 282 Relationship Stephen Knight 245 The Mermaid Tank Lows? G/«V£ 282 Hesitate to Call Edwin Morgan 246 The Loch Ness Monster's Song Nina Cassian 282 Lady of Miracles Gwendolyn MacEmen 247 The Death of the Loch Ness Monster Fleur Adcock 283 Advice to a Discarded Lover Seamus Heaney 248 Oysters /& flfofcAf 284 The All Purpose Country and Western 7 In and out of love Self Pity Song McAuley 286 Because My Beloved Compares Herself to Paul Durcan 250 P.AT.