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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 Gwen Harwood 36 Naked Vision Thom 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 Schnackenberg 46 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 Simon Armitage 57 Poem Carl Sandburg 58 Choose Vladimír Holan 58 Meeting in a Lift E.E. Cummings 58 'i thank You God for most this amazing' Dennis O'Driscoll 59 You Brendan Kennelly 60 Begin Louis MacNeice 60 Entirely Adrienne Rich 61 Integrity Galway Kinnell 63 The Bear Delmore Schwartz 66 The Heavy Bear Who Goes with Me John Berryman 67 from Dream Songs Tracey Herd 67 from Some mangled dream songs for Henry Freda Downie 68 Window Miroslav Holub 69 The door Kapka Kassabova 70 The Door Robert Frost 71 Directive Gillian Allnutt 72 The Road Home Robert Frost 73 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Louis MacNeice 74 Snow Paul Muldoon 74 History Maura Dooley 75 History Vladimír Holan 75 Snow Lawrence Sail 76 The Cablecar Galway Kinnell 77 That Silent Evening Mary Oliver 78 The Journey Helen Dunmore 79 When You've Got Muriel Rukeyser 80 Yes Stephen Dunn 81 Happiness Michael Donaghy 81 Machines Tomas Tranströmer 82 Alone Menna Elfyn 83 Couplings William Stafford 84 Traveling through the Dark John Burnside 84 Penitence W.N. Herbert 86 Slow Animals Crossing Elizabeth Bishop 87 The Moose Thomas Lux 92 Wife Hits Moose 3 Dead or alive Jaan Kaplinski 95 'To eat a pie and to have it...' Louise Glück 95 Trillium Elizabeth Daryush 96 'I saw the daughter of the sun...' Frieda Hughes 97 Stonepicker Marin Sorescu 97 The Arrow Christopher Logue 98 Be Not Too Hard Charles Simic 99 Modern Sorcery Vona Groarke 99 Tonight of Yesterday Hayden Carruth 100 Sonnet James Wright 100 Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm William Empson 101 Missing Dates Weldon Kees 101 Villanelle Gjertrud Schnackenberg 102 Signs Galway Kinnell 103 from When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone Brendan Kennelly 103 My Dark Fathers Kit Wright 104 Hoping It Might Be So Charles Wright 105 Clear Night Robert Bly 106 Defeated Theodore Roethke 106 The Waking Kapka Kassabova 107 Mirages Eibhlín Nic Eochaidh 108 How to kill a living thing Anne Michaels 109 from Sublimation Chase Twichell 110 Horse Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 111 Swineherd Kathleen Jamie 111 The way we live Connie Bensley 112 Apologia Rosemary Tonks 113 Addiction to an Old Mattress Fleur Adcock 113 Things Elma Mitchell 114 Thoughts After Ruskin Elizabeth Bartlett 115 Themes for Women Maura Dooley 116 What Every Woman Should Carry Ruth Fainlight 116 Handbag Jenny Joseph 117 Warning Theodore Roethke 117 Dolor Elizabeth Bishop 118 One Art Louise Glück 119 Lamium May Sarton 119 A Glass of Water Stephen Dunn 120 Sadness Stephen Dunn 121 Sweetness Alden Nowlan 122 The Execution James Wright 123 A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard's Shack Bertolt Brecht 124 Epistle on Suicide Stevie Smith 124 Harold's Leap Anne Sexton 125 Her Kind Tracey Herd 126 Anne Sexton's Last Letter to God Robert Frost 128 My November Guest Edward Thomas 128 She Dotes R.S. Thomas 129 The Cry Vachel Lindsay 130 The Leaden-Eyed Ezra Pound 130 And the Days Are Not Full Enough Douglas Dunn 130 A Removal from Terry Street 4 Bittersweet Matthew Sweeney 133 Tube Ride to Martha's Peter Reading 133 from Ukulele Music Ken Smith 135 Against the grain Wislawa Szymborska 135 The One Twenty Pub Izet Sarajlic 137 Luck in Sarajevo Michael Longley 137 All of These People Muriel Rukeyser 138 Waking This Morning Douglas Dunn 138 I Am a Cameraman Philip Gross 140 from The Wasting Game Leontia Flynn 143 Brinkwomanship Ken Smith 144 Here U.A. Fanthorpe 144 The Unprofessionals Stewart Conn 145 Visiting Hour Carole Satyamurti 145 from Changing the Subject Nick Drake 150 The Cure Charles Simic 150 Past-Lives Therapy Adrienne Rich 151 Diving into the Wreck Richard Wilbur 153 April 5, 1974 Michael Longley 154 At Poll Salach Edward Thomas 154 Thaw Michael Longley 154 Thaw Fleur Adcock 155 Kissing Leland Bardwell 155 How my true love and I lay without touching Basil Bunting 156 'You idiot!...' Randall Jarrell 157 90 North E.J. Scovell 158 Listening to Collared Doves David Constantine 159 Watching for Dolphins Jo Shapcott 160 Goat Peter Didsbury 161 The Drainage Helen Dunmore 162 Three Ways of Recovering a Body Ted Hughes 163 Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days Sylvia Plath 164 Mushrooms Derek Mahon 166 A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford John Burnside 167 Unwittingly 5 Growing up Ken Smith 171 Being the third song of Urias Sujata Bhatt 172 White Asparagus Alden Nowlan 173 It's Good To Be Here Kathleen Jamie 174 Ultrasound Helen Dunmore 178 Safe period Kona Macphee 178 IVF Jane Duran 180 Miscarriage Maura Dooley 181 Freight Sharon Olds 181 First Birth Sharon Olds 182 Her First Week Anne Stevenson 183 The Spirit is too Blunt an Instrument Gavin Ewart 184 Sonnet: How Life Too Is Sentimental Anne Stevenson 184 Poem for a Daughter Ellen Bryant Voigt 185 Daughter Adrian Mitchell 186 Beattie Is Three W.D. Snodgrass 186 from Heart's Needle Gjertrud Schnackenberg 191 Supernatural Love Brendan Kennelly 193 Poem from a Three Year Old Roger McGough 194 Cinders Kenneth Rexroth 195 A Sword in a Cloud of Light János Pilinszky 197 On the Back of a Photograph Fleur Adcock 197 The Video P.K. Page 197 Young Girls Adrian Mitchell 198 A Puppy Called Puberty Adrian Mitchell 199 A Dog Called Elderly Paul Muldoon 199 Cuba Michael Donaghy 200 My Flu Charles Simic 201 'We were so poor...' Robert Hayden 201 Those Winter Sundays Julia Copus 202 The Back Seat of My Mother's Car Louise Glück 203 Mirror Image Sylvia Plath 203 Mirror Anne Carson 204 Father's Old Blue Cardigan Philip Larkin 205 This Be the Verse Caitríona O'Reilly 205 Possession Randall Jarrell 206 A Night with Lions Joseph Brodsky 207 from A Part of Speech Edward Thomas 209 Old Man Randall Jarrell 211 Thinking of the Lost World Paul Muldoon 213 Quoof Hart Crane 214 Forgetfulness Billy Collins 214 Forgetfulness W.S. Merwin 215 Unknown Forbear David Scott 216 Groundsmen 6 Man and beast Les Murray 218 Pigs Dennis O'Driscoll 218 Experimental Animals Alden Nowlan 219 Weakness Stephen Dobyns 220 Spiritual Chickens James Dickey 221 The Heaven of Animals Nina Cassian 222 Sacrilege Elena Shvarts 223 Remembrance of Strange Hospitality Julie O'Callaghan 224 Federal Case Frank O'Hara 224 Animals Charles Simic 225 'The city had fallen...' Robert Adamson 225 The stone curlew Polly Clark 226 My Life with Horses Seán Ó Riordáin 227 Switch James Wright 227 A Blessing Michael Longley 228 The Horses Seamus Heaney 229 The Skunk Thom Gunn 229 Considering the Snail Fleur Adcock 230 For a Five-Year-Old Ted Hughes 231 Full Moon and Little Frieda Frieda Hughes 231 Birds John Montague 232 The Trout Susan Wicks 233 Night Toad Sheila Wingfield 233 A Bird John Kinsella 234 Emu Hunt Lavinia Greenlaw 234 Night Parrot Ted Hughes 235 The Thought Fox Michael Longley 236 Swans Mating Michael Ondaatje 236 The Strange Case Selima Hill 237 Cow Katrina Porteous 238 Seven Silences Jo Shapcott 239 Lies Vicki Feaver 240 Glow Worm Jorie Graham 241 Salmon Richard Murphy 242 Seals at High Island Chris Greenhalgh 243 Of Love, Death and the Sea-Squirt Caitríona O'Reilly 244 Octopus Pablo Neruda 245 Fable of the mermaid and the drunks Stephen Knight 245 The Mermaid Tank Edwin Morgan 246 The Loch Ness Monster's Song Gwendolyn MacEwen 247 The Death of the Loch Ness Monster Seamus Heaney 248 Oysters 7 In and out of love Paul Durcan 250 My Belovèd Compares Herself to a Pint of Stout Deborah Randall 251 Finney's Bar Tracy Ryan 252 Bite Selima Hill 252 Desire's a Desire Marge Piercy 253 Raisin Pumpernickel C.K. Williams 254 Love: Beginnings Pauline Stainer 255 The Honeycomb Michael Longley 255 The Linen Industry Sharon Olds 256 Last Night János Pilinszky 257 Definition of Your Attraction Michael Ondaatje 257 The Cinnamon Peeler Sharon Olds 259 True Love W.H. Auden 259 Lullaby Julia Copus 261 In Defence of Adultery Rita Ann Higgins 261 The Did-You-Come-Yets of the Western World C.K. Williams 263 The Mistress Sharon Olds 263 Ecstasy D.H. Lawrence 264 New Year's Eve Salvatore Quasimodo 265 Only if Love Should Pierce You Jo Shapcott 265 Muse Jo Shapcott 266 Life Philippe Jaccottet 267 Distances David Constantine 268 'As our bloods separate' Judith Wright 268 Woman to Man Gjertrud Schnackenberg 269 Snow Melting Esta Spalding 270 August Kevin Hart 274 The Room Selima Hill 274 Don't Let's Talk about Being in Love Katie Donovan 275 Yearn On Carolyn Kizer 276 Bitch Eleanor Brown 277 Bitcherel Katherine Pierpoint 278 This Dead Relationship Stephen Dunn 280 Each from Different Heights Rosemary Tonks 280 Badly-Chosen Lover Anne Stevenson 281 After the End of It János Pilinszky 282 Relationship Louise Glück 282 Hesitate to Call Nina Cassian 282 Lady of Miracles Fleur Adcock 283 Advice to a Discarded Lover Kit Wright 284 The All Purpose Country and Western Self Pity Song James McAuley 286 Because P.K. Page 287 Cross Conrad Aiken 288 The Quarrel Kapka Kassabova 289 And they were both right Micheal O'Siadhail 290 Between W.B. Yeats 290 When You Are Old Kate Clanchy 291 Spell Zbigniew Herbert 291 Conch W.H. Auden 292 'O tell me the truth about love' Meg Bateman 293 Lightness James Fenton 294 In Paris with You 8 My people Jaan Kaplinski 297 'The East West border...' Kona Macphee 297 My People Anna Akhmatova 298 Our Own Land Richard Wilbur 299 A Summer Morning Stuart Henson 299 The Heron Jo Shapcott 300 A Letter to Dennis Tony Harrison 301 Turns David Constantine 301 The Door Peter Reading 302 from Going On Peter Didsbury 303 In Britain Anne Rouse 304 England Nil Joanne Limburg 304 Barton-in-the-Beans Esther Morgan 305 The Reason Philip Pacey 306 Charged Landscape: Uffington Edward Thomas 307 The Combe Norman Nicholson 307 Windscale John Heath-Stubbs 308 The Green Man's Last Will and Testament Robyn Bolam 309 Kith G.F. Dutton 310 passage Roddy Lumsden 311 An Outlying Station Peter Reading 311 from Evagatory Ken Smith 315 After Mr Mayhew's visit Roy Fisher 315 The Nation Kit Wright 316 Everyone Hates the English Andrew Salkey 317 A song for England Tom Leonard 317 The Voyeur W.N. Herbert 318 The King and Queen of Dumfriesshire R.S. Thomas 319 Reservoirs Harri Webb 319 Synopsis of the Great Welsh Novel Bernard O'Donoghue 320 Westering Home Gillian Clarke 321 Overheard in Co. Sligo Patrick Kavanagh 321 Inniskeen Road: July Evening Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill 322 The Language Issue Colette Bryce 323 Break Seamus Heaney 323 The Toome Road Paul Muldoon 324 The Sightseers Charles Simic 324 Dream Avenue E.E. Cummings 325 ' "next to of course god america i" ' Langston Hughes 326 I, Too Fred Voss 326 Making America Strong Imtiaz Dharker 327 They'll say, 'She must be from another country' Jackie Kay 329 In my country Shirley Geok-lin Lim 329 Modern Secrets Moniza Alvi 330 Exile Sophia de Mello Breyner 331 Exile Jane Griffiths 331 Emigrants Grace Nichols 332 Epilogue Carol Ann Duffy 332 In Your Mind Sophia de Mello Breyner 333 Homeland Jo Shapcott 333 Motherland Anna Akhmatova 334 'That city that I have loved' Anne Michaels 335 from What the Light Teaches Czeslaw Milosz 336 My Faithful Mother Tongue Adam Zagajewski 337 Betrayal Glyn Maxwell 338 We Billion Cheered C.P. Cavafy 339 Waiting for the Barbarians W.H. Auden 340 Gare du Midi Weldon Kees 340 The Coming of the Plague George Szirtes 341 Death by Meteor Jamie McKendrick 342 Ancient History 9 War and peace Kate Clanchy 345 War Poetry Carl Sandburg 345 Grass Miroslav Holub 346 The fly Wilfred Owen 347 Anthem for Doomed Youth Freda Downie 347 For Wilfred Owen Siegfried Sassoon 348 Everyone Sang Isaac Rosenberg 348 Returning, we hear the Larks Edward Thomas 349 As the team's head-brass Michael Longley 350 Ceasefire Paul Durcan 351 The Bloomsday Murders, 16 June 1997 Gwendolyn MacEwen 352 from The T.E. Lawrence Poems Keith Douglas 354 Vergissmeinnicht Mairi MacInnes 355 The Old Naval Airfield Geoffrey Hill 356 September Song Bertolt Brecht 356 There is no greater crime than leaving W.H. Auden 357 September 1, 1939 Bruce Weigl 360 On the Anniversary of Her Grace Carolyn Forché 361 Selective Service James Fenton 361 Cambodia Jo Shapcott 362 Phrase Book Robert Graves 363 The Persian Version Tony Harrison 364 Initial Illumination Ingeborg Bachmann 365 Every Day César Vallejo 366 from Spain, take away this cup from me Wislawa Szymborska 367 The End and the Beginning Thomas Lux 368 The People of the Other Village 10 Disappearing acts Frances Horovitz 371 Rain - Birdoswald Michael Longley 371 Björn Olinder's Pictures Thomas Blackburn 372 Now Light Congeals Charles Simic 372 Psalm Dennis O'Driscoll 373 Someone Philip Larkin 374 Aubade Jaan Kaplinski 375 'Death does not come from outside...' A.E. Housman 376 'Good creatures...' Carolyn Kizer 376 Thrall Tony Harrison 377 Bookends (I) Ellen Bryant Voigt 378 For My Mother Dylan Thomas 379 Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night Anon 379 'Do not stand at my grave and weep' W.H. Auden 380 Funeral Blues Michael Hartnett 381 Death of an Irishwoman Michael Longley 381 Water-burn Miroslav Holub 382 The dead Gösta Ågren 382 Death's Secret G.F. Dutton 383 Death in October David Constantine 383 'Pity the drunks' David Scott 384 Scattering Ashes Thom Gunn 384 The Gas-poker David Constantine 386 Boy finds tramp dead John F. Deane 387 On a Dark Night Pamela Gillilan 388 Four Years Caroline Smith 388 Metamorphosis Liz Lochhead 389 Sorting Through Alden Nowlan 389 This Is What I Wanted to Sign Off With Tess Gallagher 390 Wake P.K. Page 390 About Death Howard Nemerov 391 The Vacuum Jeanne Willis 392 Inside Our Dreams Thom Gunn 392 The Reassurance Theodore Roethke 392 She Brendan Kennelly 393 A Glimpse of Starlings Pablo Neruda 394 Dead Woman Tess Gallagher 395 Yes Andrew Motion 395 Close Sophia de Mello Breyner 396 Inscription E.E. Cummings 397 'Buffalo Bill 's' Billy Collins 397 The Dead Tadeusz Rozewicz 398 Proofs Anne Carson 398 On Walking Backwards Stephen Dobyns 399 Cemetery Nights Stephen Dunn 400 Father, Mother, Robert Henley who hanged himself in the ninth grade, et al Vladimír Holan 400 Resurrection Charles Causley 401 Eden Rock Jo Shapcott 402 When I Died Dana Gioia 402 All Souls' Philippe Jaccottet 403 from Lessons August Kleinzahler 405 Where Souls Go Brad Leithauser 405 A Mosquito Louise Glück 406 The Wild Iris Derek Mahon 407 Antarctica Paul Muldoon 407 Why Brownlee Left Matthew Sweeney 408 Sleep with a Suitcase Derek Mahon 409 As It Should Be Amanda Dalton 409 How to Disappear Vona Groarke 410 Folderol Weldon Kees 411 Robinson Sophia de Mello Breyner 411 Night and the House Miroslav Holub 412 Distant Howling 11 Me, the Earth, the Universe János Pilinszky 414 Homage to Isaac Newton Robin Robertson 414 New Gravity Adam Zagajewski 414 Moment Yannis Ritsos 415 Morning Moniza Alvi 415 The Other Room Miroslav Holub 416 Brief reflection on accuracy Simon Armitage 417 Zoom! Seamus Heaney 418 from Lightenings Ellen Hinsey 418 On the Uncountable Nature of Things Amy Clampitt 420 The Sun Underfoot among the Sundews James Harpur 421 'I stretch my arms' James Merrill 421 A Downward Look Charles Causley 422 I Am the Song Vasko Popa 422 from Games Derek Walcott 423 Earth Sheila Wingfield 423 Waking Ivan V. Lalic 424 Places We Love R.S. Thomas 424 Moorland Robin Robertson 425 Three Ways of Looking at God Kerry Hardie 426 The Avatar Alden Nowlan 426 Sacrament T.S. Eliot 427 Journey of the Magi Wallace Stevens 428 The Snow Man Patrick Kavanagh 428 Sanctity R.S. Thomas 429 Via Negativa Charles Simic 429 To the One Upstairs Tomas Tranströmer 430 Tracks Elizabeth Jennings 431 Delay Norman MacCaig 431 Summer farm Iain Crichton Smith 432 Tinily a star goes down Carol Rumens 432 Star Whisper Gwyneth Lewis 433 from Zero Gravity Jane Cooper 434 Rent Elinor Wylie 435 Full Moon Kapka Kassabova 435 Preparation for the big emptiness Elizabeth Bishop 436 The Shampoo Alice Oswald 437 Mountains Kit Wright 437 The Other Side of the Mountain 12 The art of poetry Philippe Jaccottet 440 from Songs from Below Archibald MacLeish 441 Ars Poetica W.S. Graham 442 The Beast in the Space Alden Nowlan 443 An Exchange of Gifts Helen Ivory 443 Note to the reader: this is not a poem Robert Hass 444 Meditation at Lagunitas Jaan Kaplinski 445 'Once I got a postcard...' Tomas Tranströmer 445 From March 1979 Chase Twichell 446 Animal Languages Vasko Popa 446 The Story of a Story Wallace Stevens 447 Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing Itself Eamon Grennan 448 Detail Rita Dove 448 Ö Mark Strand 449 Eating Poetry Howard Nemerov 450 The Painter Dreaming in the Scholar's House Robert Lowell 453 Epilogue Galway Kinnell 454 Oatmeal Patrick Kavanagh 455 Consider the Grass Growing Joan Brossa 455 Note Seamus Heaney 456 Postscript Raymond Carver 456 Late Fragment Neil Astley 458 The Sound of Poetry 464 Glossary 471 Further reading 473 Acknowledgements 480 Index of writers 486 Index of titles and first lines

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