£12.99

Description

Contents

Neil Astley 17 Introduction 1 Exploring the World Elma Mitchell 22 This Poem... Gerald Locklin 22 The Iceberg Theory Billy Collins 23 Introduction to Poetry Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 24 The Horses of Meaning Paul Muldoon 24 Symposium Simon Armitage 25 Not the Furniture Game Vincent Woods 26 A Song of Lies Philip Gross 27 Mappa Mundi Donald Hall 28 The Poem Galway Kinnell 29 Saint Francis and the Sow Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill 29 Celebration Elizabeth Bishop 31 At the Fishhouses Stewart Conn 33 Tremors Theodore Roethke 34 Night Journey Randall Jarrell 35 The Orient Express C.P. Cavafy 36 Ithaka Sheenagh Pugh 37 What If This Road Philip Larkin 38 Poetry of Departures Derek Mahon 39 The Last of the Fire Kings Matthew Sweeney 40 The Appointment Derek Mahon 41 The Mayo Tao Michael Longley 42 Echoes Hayden Carruth 43 No Matter What, After All and That Beautiful Word So Mark Doty 44 Migratory Don McKay 45 Close-up on a Sharp-shinned Hawk Lorna Crozier 46 Inventing the Hawk George Mackay Brown 48 The Hawk Robert Adamson 46 The southern skua 2 Taste and See Philip Levine 50 The Simple Truth David Budbill 51 The First Green of Spring Denise Levertov 51 O Taste and See Li-Young Lee 52 From Blossoms Peter Davison 52 Peaches Galway Kinnell 53 Blackberry Eating Sylvia Plath 53 Blackberrying Tony Harrison 54 A Kumquat for John Keats Vicki Feaver 57 Crab Apple Jelly Jacob Polley 59 A Jar of Honey Pablo Neruda 59 Sweetness, Always Kim Addonizio 61 For Desire Helen Dunmore 62 Wild strawberries Pablo Neruda 63 Horses Ted Hughes 64 The Horses Henry Shukman 65 Horses at Christmas Katrina Porteous 66 Calf Mary Oliver 66 How Everything Adores Being Alive Alden Nowlan 68 In Praise of the Great Bull Walrus Henri Cole 69 Cleaning the Elephant Alden Nowlan 69 The Bull Moose Elizabeth Bishop 70 The Fish Wendell Berry 72 The Peace of Wild Things Czeslaw Milosz 73 Gift Jane Hirsh?eld 73 Not-Yet Andrew Greig 74 A Pre-Breakfast Rant Chase Twichell 75 Hunger for Something Ruth L. Schwartz 75 Talking to God on the Seventh Day Jack Gilbert 76 Hunger Gwendolyn MacEwen 77 Dark Pines Under Water Erin Mouré 78 Toxicity P.K. Page 79 Planet Earth Wislawa Szymborska 80 The Ball Anne Michaels 81 The Passionate World Sarah Lindsay 82 World Truffle Archibald MacLeish 83 You, Andrew Marvell Mary Oliver 85 Look and See Agha Shahid Ali 85 Stationery Michael Donaghy 86 The Present Imtiaz Dharker 86 Blessing Robert Creeley 87 The Rain Naomi Shihab Nye 88 So Much Happiness Jane Kenyon 89 Happiness Robert Bly 90 The Third Body Czeslaw Milosz 90 On Pilgrimage Mary Oliver 91 The Summer Day Carl Dennis 92 The God Who Loves You James K. Baxter 93 The Ikons Czeslaw Milosz 94 Veni Creator Carl Sandburg 94 Prayers of Steel Antonio Machado 95 'Last night while I was sleeping' Elizabeth Smither 96 Mission Impossible R.S. Thomas 96 from Counterpoint Dennis O'Driscoll 97 Missing God Charles Causley 100 The Forest of Tangle Fiona Farrell 101 Credo Aidan Rooney-Céspedes 102 Retro Creation Kaylin Haught 102 God Says Yes to Me Kerry Hardie 103 Sheep Fair Day Ruth L. Schwartz 105 Oh God, Fuck Me 3 Family Jacob Polley 108 Smoke Marge Piercy 109 The watch Lucille Clifton 110 the lost baby poem Jeni Couzyn 110 Heartsong Helen Dunmore 111 Scan at 8 weeks Kona Macphee 112 Ultrasound at 13 weeks Paul Muldoon 112 The Sonogram Pauline Stainer 113 The Ringing Chamber Victoria Redel 113 Ninth Month Derek Mahon 114 An Unborn Child Louis MacNeice 115 Prayer Before Birth Pablo Neruda 116 Births Kona Macphee 118 The night before the last day of January Kate Clanchy 118 Driving to the Hospital W.N. Herbert 119 The Harvest in March Matthew Hollis 120 And let us say Lauris Edmond 120 Tempo Fleur Adcock 122 Counting Kate Clanchy 123 Love Sylvia Plath 124 Morning Song Richard Murphy 124 Natural Son Thom Gunn 125 Baby Song Helen Farish 126 Newly Born Twins Sharon Olds 126 My First Weeks Kathleen Ossip 127 Nursling Anne Stevenson 128 The Victory Kate Clanchy 128 Stance Jane Hirsh?eld 129 Red Onion, Cherries, Boiling Potatoes, Milk - Anne Winters 130 from Elizabeth Near and Far Fleur Adcock 130 For Andrew Gabriela Mistral 131 Let Him Not Grow Up Rita Dove 132 Daystar Anna Jackson 133 The peacock of motherhood Connie Bensley 134 Single Parent Michael Ondaatje 134 Bearhug Nick Flynn 135 Cartoon Physics, part 1 Michael Laskey 136 A Tray of Eggs Thomas Lynch 137 Skating with Heather Grace Tony Hoagland 138 Benevolence Carlos Drummond de Andrade 139 Infancy Anne Stevenson 139 The Mother Seamus Heaney 140 Sunlight Philip Levine 141 Starlight Seamus Heaney 142 from Clearances Yehuda Amichai 142 My Father Sinéad Morrissey 143 Genetics Seamus Heaney 143 Digging Brendan Kennelly 144 I See You Dancing, Father Theodore Roethke 145 Papa's Waltz Susan Wicks 146 My Father Is Shrinking Li-Young Lee 147 Little Father Hart Crane 147 My Grandmother's Love Letters Andrew Waterhouse 148 Climbing My Grandfather Thomas Lynch 149 Custody Julia Copus 150 Second Home Marie Howe 151 How Many Times Kona Macphee 151 No fairy story Selima Hill 152 House Ai 152 The Cockfighter's Daughter Sylvia Plath 156 Daddy Sharon Olds 158 Waste Sonata Tracey Herd 159 The Survivors Pascale Petit 160 The Strait-Jackets Pascale Petit 161 Self-Portrait as a Warao Violin Susan Glickman 162 But till that morning, ain't no one gonna harm you John Steffler 162 Hollis Street Square, Halifax Gjertrud Schnackenberg 163 Returning North Maurice Riordan 165 Time Out Helen Dunmore 166 The blessing C. Day Lewis 167 Walking Away Kathleen Jamie 168 Mother-May-I Simon Armitage 169 Kid Cynthia Fuller 170 Guests Simon Armitage 170 from Book of Matches Rutger Kopland 171 Johnson Brothers Ltd Paul Farley 172 Laws of Gravity Gael Turnbull 174 Transmutation Vona Groarke 174 Family Sharon Thesen 175 Animals Miller Williams 175 Animals Sharon Olds 176 Forty-one, Alone, No Gerbil Billy Collins 176 Putting Down the Cat Elizabeth Smither 177 On the euthanasia of a pet dog Gerry McGrath 177 'Noticing a man unable...' Howard Nemerov 178 Walking the Dog 4 Love Life Wislawa Szymborska 180 Love at First Sight Rosemary Tonks 181 Story of a Hotel Room Lavinia Greenlaw 182 Tryst Derek Walcott 182 Love After Love Julia Copus 183 Love, Like Water Yehuda Amichai 184 To My Love, Combing Her Hair Cathy Song 184 The White Porch Zbigniew Herbert 186 Rosy Ear Margaret Atwood 187 Variation on the Word Sleep Greta Stoddart 188 The Blindfold Zbigniew Herbert 189 Silk of a Soul Derek Walcott 190 The Fist Deryn Rees-Jones 191 What It's Like To Be Alive Hayden Carruth 191 Alive Robert Hass 192 Misery and Splendor Sharon Olds 193 This Hour Galway Kinnell 194 After Making Love We Hear Footsteps Czeslaw Milosz 194 Love Jack Gilbert 195 The Great Fires Jane Hirsh?eld 196 Knowing Nothing Carol Ann Duffy 196 Warming Her Pearls Helen Farish 197 Look at These Liz Lochhead 198 I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine Carol Ann Duffy 199 Valentine Pablo Neruda 200 Ode to the Onion Linda France 202 If Love Was Jazz Billy Collins 203 Litany Pablo Neruda 204 from 100 Love Sonnets Patrick Kavanagh 205 On Raglan Road Brendan Kennelly 205 Raglan Lane Stanley Kunitz 206 Touch Me William Matthews 207 Misgivings Kerry Hardie 208 The Hunter Home from the Hill Michael Longley 208 The Waterfall U.A. Fanthorpe 209 Atlas Philip Larkin 209 An Arundel Tomb 5 Men and Women Frederick Seidel 212 Men and Women C.K. Williams 215 The Dress Denise Levertov 218 The Mutes Fred Voss 219 The Inspection Marge Piercy 220 In the men's room(s) Gwen Harwood 221 A Simple Story Tony Hoagland 222 The Change Carol Ann Duffy 224 Mrs Midas Anne Rouse 226 Spunk Talking Tom Leonard 226 Four of the Belt Chris Greenhalgh 227 A Man in the Valley of the Women Roddy Lumsden 228 Prayer To Be with Mercurial Women Wendy Cope 229 Bloody Men Clare Pollard 230 And Another Bloody Thing... Charles Bukowksi 230 sexpot Radmila Lazic 232 I'll Be a Wicked Old Woman Deborah Randall 233 Ballygrand Widow Kim Addonizio 234 'What Do Women Want?' Liz Lochhead 234 Rapunzstiltskin John Agard 236 English Girl Eats Her First Mango David Constantine 237 Pleasure Minnie Bruce Pratt 238 Done Selima Hill 238 Please Can I Have a Man Billy Collins 239 Man in Space Alice Oswald 240 Wedding Michael Laskey 240 The Tightrope Wedding Philip Larkin 241 The Whitsun Weddings Michael Longley 243 The Pattern Dorothy Molloy 244 Les Grands Seigneurs Selima Hill 244 Being a Wife Denise Levertov 245 The Ache of Marriage Sylvia Plath 245 The Applicant Dorothy Nimmo 247 Good Gifts Jacques Prévert 248 Breakfast Dorothy Nimmo 249 Ill-Wishing Him Liz Lochhead 249 My Way Cheryl Follon 251 Love Rats Duncan Forbes 252 Recension Day Michael Blackburn 253 Before That Catherine Smith 253 The New Bride Helen Ivory 254 Sleeping with the Fishes James Fenton 255 Let's Go Over It All Again Eleanor Brown 256 Sonnet 6 Being and Loss Wallace Stevens 258 The Emperor of Ice-Cream Jackie Kay 258 Somebody Else James Merrill 259 Mirror Michael Davitt 260 The Mirror Chase Twichell 261 Cat and Mirror Gael Turnbull 262 Transmutation Henri Cole 262 Original Face Aleksandar Ristovic 263 The essential Marin Sorescu 263 Pond W.B. Yeats 264 The Circus Animals' Desertion Jack Gilbert 265 Measuring the Tyger César Vallejo 266 The black heralds John Berryman 266 from Dream Songs (155) Paul Durcan 267 The Death by Heroin of Sid Vicious Jane Kenyon 268 Otherwise James Fenton 268 The Mistake C.P. Cavafy 269 Che Fece... Il Gran Ri?uto Andrew Waterhouse 270 Speaking About My Cracked Sump Tracey Herd 270 Ophelia's Confession Selima Hill 271 Hairbrush Polly Clark 272 Elvis the Performing Octopus Sarah Wardle 273 Flight Kerry Hardie 274 Autumn Cancer Julia Darling 274 Chemotherapy Gael Turnbull 275 Transmutation Kerry Hardie 275 She Replies to Carmel's Letter Kenneth Mackenzie 276 Caesura David Scott 277 Heart Esther Jansma 278 Descent Carole Satyamurti 279 Broken Moon Wendy Cope 280 Names Bob Hicok 280 Alzheimer's Alison Pryde 281 Have We Had Easter Yet? Tony Hoagland 282 Lucky Mark Doty 283 Brilliance Pearse Hutchinson 285 Flames Nick Drake 286 The Very Rich Hours Mark Doty 287 The Embrace Kerry Hardie 288 What's Left Lucille Clifton 289 poem to my uterus Lucille Clifton 290 to my last period Howard Moss 290 The Pruned Tree James K. Baxter 291 Tomcat David Constantine 292 The Hoist R.S. Thomas 292 Lore Grace Paley 293 Here Anne Stevenson 294 Who's Joking with the Photographer? Fleur Adcock 295 Weathering Lauris Edmond 296 3 a.m. C.K. Williams 297 The Shade Frederick Seidel 298 Dune Road, Southampton Matthew Sweeney 300 The Box Gerard Woodward 300 The Murderer Is a Cow Jacob Polley 302 Moving House Imtiaz Dharker 303 This room Naomi Shihab Nye 304 Kindness 7 Daily Round William Bronk 306 The Way Glyn Maxwell 307 The Nerve Simon Armitage 308 Killing Time #2 Louis MacNeice 310 Bagpipe Music Dennis O'Driscoll 311 Life Roo Borson 312 City Lights August Kleinzahler 313 Snow in North Jersey William Matthews 314 Grief Helen Dunmore 315 To Virgil Maura Dooley 316 Mind the Gap Jo Shapcott 316 My Life Asleep David Constantine 317 New Year Behind the Asylum Alden Nowlan 318 Great Things Have Happened Thom Gunn 319 Night Taxi Ken Smith 321 Message on the machine Brendan Kennelly 321 Clearing a Space Ciaran Carson 323 Clearance Ciaran Carson 323 Turn Again Edward Hirsch 324 In Spite of Everything, the Stars Jack Gilbert 325 Searching for Pittsburgh Lavinia Greenlaw 325 Zombies Dennis O'Driscoll 326 Home Philip Levine 327 What Work Is Al Purdy 328 Alive or Not Jacques Prévert 329 At the Florist's Anne Rouse 330 Her Retirement Philip Larkin 331 Toads Robert Phillips 332 The Panic Bird Julie O'Callaghan 333 Managing the Common Herd Deborah Garrison 334 Fight Song Peter Didsbury 335 A Malediction Rita Ann Higgins 336 Some People Rodney Jones 337 TV Vicki Feaver 338 The Way We Live Philip Levine 339 Every Blessed Day Tom French 341 Pity the Bastards Ruth Dallas 345 Photographs of Pioneer Women Donald Hall 346 Names of Horses George Mackay Brown 347 The Ballad of John Barleycorn, The Ploughman, and the Furrow Grace Nichols 349 Sugar Cane Linda Gregg 350 Fish Tea Rice Derek Mahon 351 Everything Is Going To Be All Right Stanley Kunitz 352 The Round 8 Lives Derek Mahon 354 Lives Brendan Kennelly 356 The Story Gael Turnbull 357 Transmutation Suzanne Cleary 357 Acting Elizabeth Smither 359 The sea question Esther Morgan 359 The Sea Michael Harlow 360 No Problem, But Not Easy Joanne Limburg 361 Seder Night with My Ancestors Agha Shahid Ali 362 The Dacca Gauzes Maya Angelou 363 Still I Rise Gwendolyn Brooks 365 Sadie and Maud Douglas Dunn 365 Glasgow Schoolboys, Running Backwards Denis Glover 366 The Magpies Paul Muldoon 367 The Loaf Vona Groarke 368 Imperial Measure Billy Collins 370 Nostalgia Thomas Lux 371 Plague Victims Catapulted over Walls into Besieged City Ken Smith 371 Part of the crowd that day Tom Paulin 372 Desertmartin Derek Mahon 373 Ecclesiastes Andrew Waterhouse 374 Now the City Has Fallen Peter Reading 375 from Going On Imtiaz Dharker 376 Honour Killing Carol Rumens 377 Geography Lesson W.H. Auden 377 Refugee Blues George Szirtes 378 My father carries me across a ?eld Choman Hardi 379 Escape Journey, 1988 Kapka Kassabova 380 Someone else's life Jane Grif?ths 381 Migration Carl Sandburg 382 Limited Moniza Alvi 382 Arrival, 1946 C.P. Cavafy 383 The City Ken Smith 383 Malenki robot Saadi Youssef 384 The Mouse Carol Rumens 385 The Emigrée James Fenton 386 The Ideal Gwyneth Lewis 386 A Poet's Confession Zbigniew Herbert 387 Tongue Mihangel Morgan 387 Conversation W.S. Merwin 388 Losing a Language Zbigniew Herbert 389 From the Technology of Tears Agha Shahid Ali 390 from The Country Without a Post Office Yehuda Amichai 391 'The Rustle of History's Wings,' as They Used to Say Then Yehuda Amichai 392 Jerusalem James Fenton 392 Jerusalem Mahmoud Darwish 395 In This Land Moniza Alvi 395 The Sari James Fenton 396 Wind 9 Mad World Robert Pinsky 398 ABC Gerald Stern 398 The Dog Emily Dickinson 399 'I reason, Earth is short...' William Stafford 400 Earth Dweller Hans Magnus Enzensberger 400 The End of the Owls Miroslav Holub 401 The end of the world Edwin Muir 402 The Horses Vijay Seshadri 403 The Disappearances W.H. Auden 405 The Shield of Achilles Edwin Brock 407 Five Ways to Kill a Man Tadeusz Rózewicz 408 Pigtail Primo Levi 409 Shemà Tadeusz Rózewicz 410 The survivor (attr.) Martin Niemöller 411 'First they came for the Jews...' Erich Fried 411 What Happens Adrian Mitchell 412 To Whom It May Concern W.H. Auden 414 'When Statesmen gravely say...' Hans Magnus Enzensberger 414 Explaining the Declaration Aleksandar Ristovic 415 Untitled Bertolt Brecht 415 War Has Been Given a Bad Name Mahmoud Darwish 416 He Embraces His Murderer Bertolt Brecht 417 from A German War Primer Heberto Padilla 417 Song of the Juggler Erich Fried 418 Conversation with a Survivor Jackie Kay 419 Twelve Bar Bessie Adrienne Rich 420 from An Atlas of the Dif?cult World Genevieve Taggard 421 At Last the Women Are Moving Carole Satyamurti 421 Ourstory Marge Piercy 422 The low road Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy 423 Revenge Czeslaw Milosz 424 Dedication Douglas Dunn 425 Ratatouille Paul Durcan 426 In Memory: The Miami Showband - Massacred 31 July 1975 James Merrill 427 Casual Wear Yehuda Amichai 428 The Diameter of the Bomb Norman MacCaig 428 The Red and the Black Sinéad Morrissey 429 The Wound Man John Burnside 430 History C.K. Williams 432 The Hearth W.H. Auden 434 Musée des Beaux Arts Wislawa Szymborska 435 Reality Demands Adam Zagajewski 436 Try to Praise the Mutilated World Faiz Ahmed Faiz 437 A Prison Evening Adrienne Rich 438 To the Days Sheenagh Pugh 439 Sometimes Eva Salzman 439 Spells Helen Dunmore 440 Glad of these times Jen Had?eld 441 Staple Island Swing 10 Ends and Beginnings Philip Larkin 444 The Trees M.R. Peacocke 444 Late Snow C.P. Cavafy 445 Candles Saadi Youssef 446 Night in Al-Hamra Helen Dunmore 446 Candle poem Mark Strand 447 A Piece of the Storm Bernard O'Donoghue 448 Going Without Saying Patrick Kavanagh 448 Wet Evening in April W.S. Merwin 448 For the Anniversary of My Death Adrienne Rich 449 Final Notations Raymond Carver 450 Gravy Jane Kenyon 450 In the Nursing Home Jo Shapcott 451 Lovebirds Sharon Olds 451 Beyond Harm Roy Fisher 452 The Entertainment of War Seamus Heaney 453 Mid-Term Break Robert Kroetsch 454 Sounding the name Stephen Dobyns 455 When a Friend Edwin Brock 456 And another thing... Michael Longley 457 Detour Paul Durcan 458 Tullynoe: Tête-à-Tête in the Priest's Parlour Bernard O'Donoghue 458 Concordiam in Populo Elizabeth Smither 459 A cortège of daughters Meg Bateman 460 After the Funeral Virginia Hamilton-Adair 460 A Last Marriage Anne Stevenson 461 Musician's Widow Lauris Edmond 462 Anniversary R.S. Thomas 463 A Marriage Carol Muske-Dukes 463 Love Song Ruth Stone 464 Poems Antonio Machado 465 The Eyes Ruth Stone 465 Curtains Elizabeth Jennings 466 Not at Home Jane Hirsh?eld 467 A Room Brendan Kennelly 468 We Are Living Marie Howe 469 What the Living Do Norman Nicholson 470 Sea to the West Lauris Edmond 471 Girls Czeslaw Milosz 472 A Mistake Tony Hoagland 472 Migration Michael Hartnett 473 A Prayer for Sleep Ruth Pitter 474 The Task James K. Baxter 474 from Autumn Testament Mary Oliver 476 Some Questions You Might Ask M.K. Joseph 476 A Riddle: Of the Soul Michael Hartnett 477 'There will be a talking...' Gary Snyder 478 For the children Ruth Stone 478 In the Next Galaxy Jane Kenyon 479 Let Evening Come T.S. Eliot 480 from Four Quartets 484 Further reading 487 Acknowledgements 496 Index of writers 502 Index of titles and first lines

Back