To a Steam Roller

Related poetry:

1. Dream Song 54: 'NO VISITORS' I thumb the roller to ‘NO VISITORS’ I thumb the roller to And leans against the door. Comfortable in my horseblanket I prop on the costly bed & dream of my wife, My first wife, And my second wife & my son. Insulting, they put guardrails up, As if it were a crib! I growl at the head nurse; we […]...
2. OPEN TABLE MANY a guest I’d see to-day, Met to taste my dishes! Food in plenty is prepar’d, Birds, and game, and fishes. Invitations all have had, All proposed attending. Johnny, go and look around! Are they hither wending? Pretty girls I hope to see, Dear and guileless misses, Ignorant how sweet it is Giving tender kisses. […]...
3. 213. Song-Up in the Morning Early CAULD blaws the wind frae east to west, The drift is driving sairly; Sae loud and shill’s I hear the blast- I’m sure it’s winter fairly. Chorus.-Up in the morning’s no for me, Up in the morning early; When a’ the hills are covered wi’ snaw, I’m sure it’s winter fairly. The birds sit chittering […]...
4. Everybody is an Ezing! everybody is an Ezing to themselves! Oh yes, because reality does not exist, Oh no, even when it seems so. Only action happens, even when it doesn’t. And it does not matter, even when it so appears. It is opinion that matters, and opinion alone, It still matters when it doesn’t so appear. As to […]...
5. Impossibility, like Wine Impossibility, like Wine Exhilarates the Man Who tastes it; Possibility Is flavorless Combine A Chance’s faintest Tincture And in the former Dram Enchantment makes ingredient As certainly as Doom...
6. The Promise of the Morning Star Thou father of the children of my brain By thee engendered in my willing heart, How can I thank thee for this gift of art Poured out so lavishly, and not in vain. What thou created never more can die, Thy fructifying power lives in me And I conceive, knowing it is by thee, Dear […]...
7. False Notions, Fears, And Other Things Of Wood Repeatedly, that sturdy stump in me Bears up like stone, Beneath some ritual I see: The blinding axe Swings up, holds, That moment of its weightlessness Inscrutable Till I confirm the arm is mine; I will it, grip, Feel moist the swelling handle, The shudder rude, The difference fallen. Toward that chopping block I carry […]...
8. Plymouth Rock Joe Why are you running so fast hither and thither Chasing midges or butterflies? Some of you are standing solemnly scratching for grubs; Some of you are waiting for corn to be scattered. This is life, is it? Cock-a-doodle-do! Very well, Thomas Rhodes, You are cock of the walk, no doubt. But here comes Elliott Hawkins, […]...
9. My enemy my friend My enemy my friend Whom I know without compromise, When I listened to the Deconstructions avowed of you As your brand of pernicious Lies I was ashamed. I know where you situate In matters that joined us In vigorous hand to hand (and at times bloody) debate, I know where you opposed my Belated philosophies […]...
10. Publication is the Auction Publication is the Auction Of the Mind of Man Poverty be justifying For so foul a thing Possibly but We would rather From Our Garret go White Unto the White Creator Than invest Our Snow Thought belong to Him who gave it Then to Him Who bear Its Corporeal illustration Sell The Royal Air In […]...
11. The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord I caught this morning morning’s minion, king- dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing, As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a […]...
12. A Suggestion As I go and shop, sir! If a car I stop, sir! Where you chance to sit, And you want to read, sir! Never mind or heed, sir! I’ll not care a bit. For it’s now aesthetic To be quite athletic. That’s our fad, you know. I can hold the strap, sir! And keep off […]...
13. Once A Great Love Once a great love cut my life in two. The first part goes on twisting At some other place like a snake cut in two. The passing years have calmed me And brought healing to my heart and rest to my eyes. And I’m like someone standing in the Judean desert, looking at a sign: […]...
14. Whom should I choose for my Judge? (fragment) Whom should I choose for my Judge? the earnest, impersonal reader, Who, in the work, forgets me and the world and himself! Ye who have eyes to detect, and Gall to Chastise the imperfect, Have you the heart, too, that loves, feels and rewards the Compleat? What is the meed of thy Song? ‘Tis the […]...
15. Writing often it is the only Thing Between you and Impossibility. No drink, No woman’s love, No wealth Can Match it. Nothing can save You Except Writing. It keeps the walls From Failing. The hordes from Closing in. It blasts the Darkness. Writing is the Ultimate Psychiatrist, The kindliest God of all the Gods. Writing stalks […]...
16. Sonnets 01: We Talk Of Taxes, And I Call You Friend We talk of taxes, and I call you friend; Well, such you are,-but well enough we know How thick about us root, how rankly grow Those subtle weeds no man has need to tend, That flourish through neglect, and soon must send Perfume too sweet upon us and overthrow Our steady senses; how such matters […]...
17. I would not paint a picture I would not paint a picture I’d rather be the One Its bright impossibility To dwell delicious on And wonder how the fingers feel Whose rare celestial stir Evokes so sweet a Torment Such sumptuous Despair I would not talk, like Cornets I’d rather be the One Raised softly to the Ceilings And out, and […]...
18. Macdonough's Song “As easy as A B C” A Diversity of Creatures” Whether the State can loose and bind In Heaven as well as on Earth: If it be wiser to kill mankind Before or after the birth These are matters of high concern Where State-kept schoolmen are; But Holy State (we have lived to learn) Endeth […]...
19. My Twins Of twin daughters I’m the mother – Lord! how I was proud of them; Each the image of the other, Like two lilies on one stem; But while May, my first-born daughter, Was angelic from the first, Different as wine and water, Maude, my second, seemed accurst. I’m a tender-hearted dame, Military is my bent; […]...
20. TAME XENIA THE Epigrams bearing the title of XENIA were written By Goethe and Schiller together, having been first occasioned by Some violent attacks made on them by some insignificant writers. They are extremely numerous, but scarcely any of them could be translated Into English. Those here given are merely presented as a specimen. GOD gave to […]...
21. Satisfaction is the Agent Satisfaction is the Agent Of Satiety Want a quiet Commissary For Infinity. To possess, is past the instant We achieve the Joy Immortality contented Were Anomaly....
22. Those who have been in the Grave the longest Those who have been in the Grave the longest Those who begin Today Equally perish from our Practise Death is the other way Foot of the Bold did least attempt it It is the White Exploit Once to achieve, annuls the power Once to communicate...
23. Butterflies Eyes aloft, over dangerous places, The children follow the butterflies, And, in the sweat of their upturned faces, Slash with a net at the empty skies. So it goes they fall amid brambles, And sting their toes on the nettle-tops, Till, after a thousand scratches and scrambles, They wipe their brows and the hunting stops. […]...
24. On His Lady Denys Denys hath merited no slender praise, In that She well supplied the Formers daies. Conceive how Good she was, whose very worst Unto her Knight was This, that She dyed First....
25. To undertake is to achieve To undertake is to achieve Be Undertaking blent With fortitude of obstacle And toward encouragement That fine Suspicion, Natures must Permitted to revere Departed Standards and the few Criterion Sources here...
26. I sometimes drop it, for a Quick I sometimes drop it, for a Quick The Thought to be alive Anonymous Delight to know And Madder to conceive Consoles a Woe so monstrous That did it tear all Day, Without an instant’s Respite ‘Twould look too far to Die...
27. Two were immortal twice Two were immortal twice The privilege of few Eternity obtained in Time Reversed Divinity That our ignoble Eyes The quality conceive Of Paradise superlative Through their Comparative....
28. My life closed twice before its close My life closed twice before its close It yet remains to see If Immortality unveil A third event to me So huge, so hopeless to conceive As these that twice befell. Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell....
29. I think I was enchanted I think I was enchanted When first a sombre Girl I read that Foreign Lady The Dark felt beautiful And whether it was noon at night Or only Heaven at Noon For very Lunacy of Light I had not power to tell The Bees became as Butterflies The Butterflies as Swans Approached and spurned the […]...
30. Which is the best the Moon or the Crescent? Which is the best the Moon or the Crescent? Neither said the Moon That is best which is not Achieve it You efface the Sheen. Not of detention is Fruition Shudder to attain. Transport’s decomposition follows He is Prism born....
31. Fireflies in the Garden Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, And here on earth come emulating flies, That though they never equal stars in size, (And they were never really stars at heart) Achieve at times a very star-like start. Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part....
32. Modesties Words as plain as hen-birds’ wings Do not lie, Do not over-broider things – Are too shy. Thoughts that shuffle round like pence Through each reign, Wear down to their simplest sense Yet remain. Weeds are not supposed to grow But by degrees Some achieve a flower, although No one sees....
33. The King of Yellow Butterflies (A Poem Game.) The King of Yellow Butterflies, The King of Yellow Butterflies, The King of Yellow Butterflies, Now orders forth his men. He says “The time is almost here When violets bloom again.” Adown the road the fickle rout Goes flashing proud and bold, A down the road the fickle rout Goes flashing proud […]...
34. The Scrutiny Why should you swear I am forsworn, Since thine I vowed to be? Lady, it is already morn, And ’twas last night I swore to thee That fond impossibility. Have I not loved thee much and long, A tedious twelve hours’ space? I must all other beauties wrong, And rob thee of a new embrace, […]...
35. Alone Over the fence, the dead settle in For a journey. Nine o’clock. You are alone for the first time Today. Boys asleep. Husband out. A beer bottle sweats in your hand, And sea lavender clogs the air With perfume. Think of yourself. Your arms rest with nothing to do After weeks spent attending to others. […]...
36. Toilet Seats While I am emulating Keats My brother fabrics toilet seats, The which, they say, are works of art, Aesthetic features of the mart; So exquisitely are they made With plastic of a pastel shade, Of topaz, ivory or rose, Inviting to serene repose. Rajahs I’m told have seats of gold, (They must, I fear, be […]...
37. My Heart ran so to thee My Heart ran so to thee It would not wait for me And I affronted grew And drew away For whatsoe’er my pace He first achieve they Face How general a Grace Allotted two Not in malignity Mentioned I this to thee Had he obliquity Soonest to share But for the Greed of him Boasting […]...
38. The Genesis of the Butterfly The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings, That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide, With muffled music, murmured far and wide. Ah, the Spring time, when we […]...
39. South Winds jostle them South Winds jostle them Bumblebees come Hover hesitate Drink, and are gone Butterflies pause On their passage Cashmere I softly plucking, Present them here!...
40. What tenements of clover What tenements of clover Are fitting for the bee, What edifices azure For butterflies and me What residences nimble Arise and evanesce Without a rhythmic rumor Or an assaulting guess....