In the old neighborhood. --
from The yellow house on the corner (1980): This life
Robert Schumann, or : musical genius begins with affliction
Upon meeting Don L. Lee, in a dream
"Teach us to number our days"
A suite for Augustus : 1963, D.C., Planning the perfect evening, Augustus observes the sunset, Wake, Back
The transport of slaves from Maryland to Mississippi
The slave's critique of practical reason
The Kadava Kumbis devise a way to marry for love
Notes from a Tunisian journal
from Museum (1983): The hill has something to say
The hill has something to say
Tou Wan speaks to her husband, Liu Sheng
Boccaccio : the plague years
Fiammetta breaks her peace
Reading Hölderlin on the patio with the aid of a dictionary
Three days of forest, a river, free
Agosta the Winged Man and Rasha the Black Dove
At the German writers conference in Munich
Sunday night at grandfather's
A father out walking on the lawn
Primer for the nuclear age
Early morning on the Tel Aviv-Haifa Freeway
Eastern European eclogues
Primer for the Nuclear Age
from Thomas and Beulah (1986): Mandolin
Definition in the face of unnamed fury
Variation on gaining a son
The Satisfaction Coal Company
The house on Bishop Street
The great palaces of Versailles
from Grace notes (1989): Summit Beach,1921 --
Fifth grade autobiography --
Fantasy and science fiction --
Poem in which I refuse contemplation --
Watching Last Year at Marienbad at Roger Haggerty's house in Auburn, Alabama --
Turning thirty, I contemplate students bicycling home --
The other side of the house --
The breathing, the endless news --
After reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the third time before bed --
Genie's prayer under the kitchen sink --
The island women of Paris --
On the road to Damascus --
Old folk's home, Jerusalem
from Mother love (1995): An intact world --
Party dress for a first born --
Statistic : the witness --
Breakfast of champions --
Persephone in hell -- Hades' pitch --
Sonnet in primary colors --
Demeter's prayer to Hades --
from On the bus with Rosa Parks (1999): Cameos --
Lake Erie skyline, 1930 --
Graduation, grammar school --
Freedom : bird's eye view --
I cut my finger once on purpose --
Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967 --
Freedom : birds' eye view --
Black on a Saturday night --
My mother enters the work force --
Black on a Saturday night --
The musician talks about "process" --
The camel comes to us from the barbarians --
The Venus of Willendorf --
Incarnation in Phoenix --
Best Western Motor Lodge, AAA Approved --
For Sophie, who'll be in first grade in the year 2000 --
On the bus with Rosa Parks --
"The situation is intolerable" --
Claudette Colvin goes to work --
QE2, transatlantic crossing, third day --
In the lobby of the Warner Theatre, Washington, D.C. --
The pond, porch-view : six p.m., early spring
from American smooth (2004): Fox trot Fridays --
"I have been a stranger in a strange land" --
Two for the Montrose Drive-In --
Meditation at fifty yards, moving target --
Alfonzo prepares to go over the top --
La Chapelle, 92nd Division, Ted --
Variation on reclamation --
The return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe --
Blues in half-tones, 3/4 time --
Hattie McDaniel arrives at the Coconut Grove --
Blues in half-tones, 3/4 time --
Describe yourself in three words or less --
The seven veils of Salomé --
The sisters : swansong --
Count to ten and we'll be there --
Looking up from the page, I am reminded of this mortal coil. --
Index of titles and first lines