Amanda Barker

Related poetry:

1. Amanda's Painting In the painting, I’m seated in a shield, Coming home in it up a shadowy river. It is a small metal boat lined in eggshell And my hands grip the gunwale rims. I’m A composite bow, tensioning the whole boat, Steering it with my gaze. No oars, no engine, No sails. I’m propelling the little […]...
2. Dream Barker We met for supper in your flat-bottomed boat. I got there first: in a white dress: I remember Wondering if you’d come. Then you shot over the bank, A Virgilian Nigger Jim, and poled us off To a little sea-food barker’s cave you knew. What’ll you have? you said. Eels hung down, Bamboozled claws hung […]...
3. Dream Song 77: Seedy Henry rose up shy Seedy Henry rose up shy in de world & shaved & swung his barbells, duded Henry up And p. a.’d poor thousands of persons on topics of grand Moment to Henry, ah to those less & none. Wif a book of his in either hand He is stript down to move on. €”Come away, Mr. […]...
4. Dream Song 74: Henry hates the world. What the world to Henry Henry hates the world. What the world to Henry Did will not bear thought. Feeling no pain, Henry stabbed his arm and wrote a letter Explaining how bad it had been In this world. Old yellow, in a gown Might have made a difference, ‘these lower beauties’, And chartreuse could have mattered “Kyoto, Toledo, Benares—the […]...
5. Dream Song 1: Huffy Henry hid the day Huffy Henry hid the day, Unappeasable Henry sulked. I see his point, —a trying to put things over. It was the thought that they thought They could do it made Henry wicked & away. But he should have come out and talked. All the world like a woolen lover Once did seem on Henry’s side. […]...
6. Dream Song 117: Disturbed, when Henry's love returned with a hubby Disturbed, when Henry’s love returned with a hubby, — I see that, Henry, I don’t put that down, — He thought he had to think Or with a razor like a skating-rink Have more to say or more to them downtown In the Christmas season, like a hobby. Their letters will, released, shake the mapped […]...
7. Dream Song 13: God bless Henry God bless Henry. He lived like a rat, With a thatch of hair on his head In the beginning. Henry was not a coward. Much. He never deserted anything; instead He stuck, when things like pity were thinning. So may be Henry was a human being. Let’s investigate that. … We did; okay. He is […]...
8. Dream Song 109: She mentioned 'worthless' & he took it in She mentioned ‘worthless’ & he took it in, Degraded Henry, at the ebb of love— O at the end of love— In undershorts, with visitors, whereof We can say their childlessness is ending. Love Finally took over, After their two adopted: she has a month to go And Henry has (perhaps) many months to go […]...
9. Dream Song 5: Henry sats in de bar & was odd Henry sats in de bar & was odd, Off in the glass from the glass, At odds wif de world & its god, His wife is a complete nothing, St Stephen Getting even. Henry sats in de plane & was gay. Careful Henry nothing said aloud But where a Virgin out of cloud To her […]...
10. The Genius Of The Crowd there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average Human being to supply any given army on any given day And the best at murder are those who preach against it And the best at hate are those who preach love And the best at war finally are those who preach peace Those who […]...
11. Dream Song 129: Thin as a sheet his mother came to him Thin as a sheet his mother came to him During the screaming evenings after he did it, Touched F. J.’s dead hand. The parlour was dark, he was the first pall-bearer in, He gave himself a dare & then did it, The thing was quite unplanned, Riots for Henry the unstructured dead, His older playmate […]...
12. Dream Song 7: 'The Prisoner of Shark Island' with Paul Muni Henry is old, old; for Henry remembers Mr Deeds’ tuba, & the Cameo, & the race in Ben Hur, —The Lost World, with sound, & The Man from Blankey’s, which he did not dig, Nor did he understand one caption of, Bewildered Henry, while the Big Ones laughed. Now Henry is unmistakably a Big One. […]...
13. Dream Song 29: There sat down, once, a thing There sat down, once, a thing on Henry’s heart Só heavy, if he had a hundred years & more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time Henry could not make good. Starts again always in Henry’s ears The little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime. And there is another thing he has in mind Like […]...
14. Dream Song 104: Welcome, grinned Henry, welcome, fifty-one! Welcome, grinned Henry, welcome, fifty-one! I never cared for fifty, when nothing got done. The hospitals were fun In certain ways, and an honour or so, But on the whole fifty was a mess as though Heavy clubs from below And from—God save the bloody mark—above Were loosed upon his skull & soles. O love, […]...
15. Henry King The Chief Defect of Henry King Was chewing little bits of String. At last he swallowed some which tied Itself in ugly Knots inside. Physicians of the Utmost Fame Were called at once; but when they came They answered, as they took their Fees, “There is no Cure for this Disease. “Henry will very soon […]...
16. To One Hated Had it been when I came to the valley where the paths parted asunder, Chance had led my feet to the way of love, not hate, I might have cherished you well, have been to you fond and faithful, Great as my hatred is, so might my love have been great. Each cold word of […]...
17. Dream Song 134: Sick at 6 & sick again at 9 Sick at 6 & sick again at 9 Was Henry’s gloomy Monday morning oh. Still he had to lecture. They waited, his little children, for stricken Henry To rise up yet once more again and come oh. They figured he was a fixture, Nuts to their bolds, keys to their bloody locks. One day the […]...
18. Dream Song 65: A freaking ankle crabbed his blissful trips A freaking ankle crabbed his blissful trips, This whiskey tastes like California But is Kentucky, Like Berkeley where he truly worked at it But nothing broke all night—no fires—one dawn, Crowding his luck, Flowed down along the cliffs to the Big Sur Where Henry Miller’s box is vomit-green And Henry bathed in sulphur Lovely, hot, […]...
19. Captain Stratton's Fancy OH some are fond of red wine, and some are fond of white, And some are all for dancing by the pale moonlight; But rum alone’s the tipple, and the heart’s delight Of the old bold mate of Henry Morgan. Oh some are fond of Spanish wine, and some are fond of French, And some’ll […]...
20. Harry Wilmans I was just turned twenty-one, And Henry Phipps, the Sunday-school superintendent, Made a speech in Bindle’s Opera House. “The honor of the flag must be upheld,” he said, “Whether it be assailed by a barbarous tribe of Tagalogs Or the greatest power in Europe.” And we cheered and cheered the speech and the flag he […]...
21. Dream Song 124: Behold I bring you tidings of great joy Behold I bring you tidings of great joy— Especially now that the snow & gale are still— For Henry is delivered. Not only is he delivered from the gale But he has a little one. He’s out of jail Also. It is a boy. Henry’s pleasure in this unusual event Reminds me of the extra […]...
22. Dream Song 118: He wondered: Do I love? all this applause He wondered: Do I love? all this applause, Young beauties sitting at my feet & all, And all. It tires me out, he pondered: I’m tempted to break laws And love myself, or the stupid questions asked me Move me to homicide— So many beauties, one on either side, The wall’s behind me, into which […]...
23. Dream Song 113: or Amy Vladeck or Riva Freifeld or Amy Vladeck or Riva Freifeld That isna Henry limping. That’s a hobble Clapped on mere Henry by the most high GOD For the freedom of Henry’s soul. €”The body’s foul, cried god, once, twice, & bound it— For many years I hid it from him successfully— I’m not clear how he found it But […]...
24. Dream Song 25: Henry, edged, decidedly, made up stories Henry, edged, decidedly, made up stories Lighting the past of Henry, of his glorious Present, and his hoaries, All the bight heals he tamped— —Euphoria, Mr Bones, euphoria. Fate clobber all. €”Hand me back my crawl, Condign Heaven. Tighten into a ball Elongate & valved Henry. Tuck him peace. Render him sightless, Or ruin at […]...
25. Dream Song 69: Love her he doesn't but the thought he puts Love her he doesn’t but the thought he puts Into that young woman Would launch a national product Complete with TV spots & skywriting Outlets in Bonn & Tokyo I mean it Let it be known that nine words have not passed Between herself and Henry; Looks, smiles. God help Henry, who deserves it all […]...
26. Dream Song 78: Op. posth. no. 1 Darkened his eye, his wild smile disappeared, Inapprehensible his studies grew, Nourished he less & less His subject body with good food & rest, Something bizarre about Henry, slowly sheared Off, unlike you & you, Smaller & smaller, till in question stood His eyeteeth and one block of memories These were enough for him Implying […]...
27. How many schemes may die How many schemes may die In one short Afternoon Entirely unknown To those they most concern The man that was not lost Because by accident He varied by a Ribbon’s width From his accustomed route The Love that would not try Because beside the Door It must be competitions Some unsuspecting Horse was tied Surveying […]...
28. Remorse For Intemperate Speech I ranted to the knave and fool, But outgrew that school, Would transform the part, Fit audience found, but cannot rule My fanatic heart. I sought my betters: though in each Fine manners, liberal speech, Turn hatred into sport, Nothing said or done can reach My fanatic heart. Out of Ireland have we come. Great […]...
29. 16-bit Intel 8088 chip with an Apple Macintosh You can’t run Radio Shack programs In its disc drive. Nor can a Commodore 64 Drive read a file You have created on an IBM Personal Computer. Both Kaypro and Osborne computers use The CP/M operating system But can’t read each other’s Handwriting For they format (write On) discs in different […]...
30. The Oldest Song “These were never your true love’s eyes. Why do you feign that you love them? You that broke from their constancies, And the wide calm brows above them! This was never your true love’s speech. Why do you thrill when you hear it? You that have ridden out of its reach The width of the […]...
31. Unlyric Love Song It is time to give that-of-myself which I could not at first: To offer you now at last my least and my worst: Minor, absurd preserves, The shell’s end-curves, A document kept at the back of a drawer, A tin hidden under the floor, Recalcitrant prides and hesitations: To pile them carefully in a desparate […]...
32. Dream Song 71: Spellbound held subtle Henry all his four Spellbound held subtle Henry all his four Hearers in the racket of the market With ancient signs, infamous characters, New rythms. On the steps he was beloved, Hours a day, by all his four, or more, Depending. And they paid him. It was not, so, like no one listening But critics famed & Henry’s pals […]...
33. Dream Song 26: The glories of the world struck me The glories of the world struck me, made me aria, once. Гўв‚”What happen then, Mr Bones? If be you cares to say. Гўв‚”Henry. Henry became interested in women’s bodies, His loins were & were the scene of stupendous achievement. Stupor. Knees, dear. Pray. All the knobs & softnesses of, my God, The ducking & trouble […]...
34. Dream Song 52: Silent Song Bright-eyed & bushy tailed woke not Henry up. Bright though upon his workshop shone a vise Central, moved in While he was doing time down hospital And growing wise. He gave it the worst look he had left. Alone. They all abandoned Henry—wonder! all, When most he—under the sun. That was all right. He can’t […]...
35. Dream Song 93: General Fatigue stalked in, & a Major-General General Fatigue stalked in, & a Major-General, Captain Fatigue, and at the base of all Pale Corporal Fatigue, And curious microbes came, came viruses: And the Court conferred on Henry, and conferred on Henry The rare Order of Weak. €”How come dims one these wholesome elsers oh? Old polymaths, old trackers, far from home, Say […]...
36. Dream Song 31: Henry Hankovitch, con guítar Henry Hankovitch, con guítar, Did a short Zen pray, On his tatami in a relaxed lotos Fixin his mind on nuffin, rose-blue breasts, And gave his parnel one French kiss; Enslaving himself he withdrew from his blue Florentine leather case an Egyptian black & flickt a zippo. Henry & Phoebe happy as cockroaches In the […]...
37. The Melting An old woman likes to melt her husband. She puts him in A melting device, and he pours out the other end in a hot Bloody syrup, which she catches in a series of little husband Molds. What splatters on the floor the dog licks up. When they have set she has seventeen little husbands. […]...
38. Brave Coward Elisabeth imagines I’ve A yellow streak She deems I have no dash and drive, Jest dogoned weak. ‘A man should be a man,’ says Liz ‘Trade blow for blow.’ Poor kid! What my position is She jest don’t know. She jest don’t know my old man killed, Yea, slew and slew. As steamy blood he […]...
39. Dream Song 136: While his wife earned the living, Rabbi Henry While his wife earned the living, Rabbi Henry Studied the Torah, writing commentaries More likely to be burnt than printed. It was rumoured that they needed revision. Smiling, kissing, he bent his head not with ‘Please’ But with austere requests barely hinted, Like a dog with a bone he worried the Sacred Book And often […]...
40. Romulus and Remus Oh, little did the Wolf-Child care When first he planned his home, What City should arise and bear The weight and state of Rome. A shiftless, westward-wandering tramp, Checked by the Tiber flood, He reared a wall around his camp Of uninspired mud. But when his brother leaped the Wall And mocked its height and […]...