Table Of Contents:
Editor's Guide xli

Sheri L. Vandermolen
Introduction lvii

Louis Daniel Brodsky

Catering to the Ethnic Trade 67(1)

Hellfire 67(1)

Tiger, Tiger 68(2)

A Morning Convergence 70(1)

Sinking Sensation 71(1)

Survival of the Fittest 72(1)

Saying No: Expatiations in Chablis 73(3)

Plea Before Boarding 76(1)

In Flight 77(1)

Crusades: The Return Journey 78(1)

Ancient Dwellers 79(1)

Cafe des Beaux-Arts 80(1)

Pariah 81(1)

The Punishment 82(1)

Oedipal Regressions 83(2)

The ''Victims'' 85(1)

Designing to Scale 86(1)

[From my stiff-back booth seat] 87(2)

Toward a Newer Humanism 89(2)

Saying No, Again 91(1)

Morty Horowitz, Field Rep: A Family Man 92(1)

The Aldermen of Sodom and Gomorrah 93(2)

Coincidences 95(1)

Metamorphosis 96(1)

Rushing to Conclusions 97(1)

The Drift of Things 98(1)

Sun-Crazed 99(1)

Hopgrassers and Flutterbies 100(1)

Exhortation 101(2)

Warring Fantasies 103(1)

O Ye Eidolons! 104(1)

A Change of Dreams 105(2)

Satirist 107(1)

Assessing Failure 108(1)

Katy Station's Poet-in-Residence 109(1)

Looking Ahead 110(2)

Messianic Vestiges 112(3)

The Bereaving 115(1)

Intimations of Teufelsdrockh 116(2)

Be Still 118(1)

Moses Meursault 118(2)

Points of No Return 120(1)

A Lowly Provider's Last Ride 121(1)

Succubus 122(2)

Registration in Purple and Pink 124(2)

Lazarus 126(1)

The Rachel's Captain 127(2)

Edifice Rex 129(1)

Nigger in the Woodpile 130(2)

[They say he's a superstitious son-of-a-bitch,] 132(1)

[If you didn't know] 132(1)

Sundogs and Moondogs 133(1)

Flying Fish 133(2)

Salvation on a Per Diem Basis 135(1)

A Get-Well/Birthday Card 136(1)

[Just now, the moment contains us] 137(1)

Making the Trip, Alone 138(1)

[With euphemistic subterfuge] 139(1)

Cataracts 140(1)

Keeping the Vows 141(1)

Hunting Rabbits and Rabbits 142(1)

Calling Home 143(1)

Hammurabian Reprisals 144(1)

Prevail, Prevail 145(1)

Turning Forty 146(1)

Recorder of Deeds, Pro Tem 147(2)

Sailing Toward Ararat 149(1)

[We synthesize our inextricable lives] 150(1)

Shadowboxing 150(3)

Something 153(1)

Poetical Geometrics 153(1)

Intimations in Spring 154(1)

In Retreat 155(2)

Departures 157(1)

Spatial Cliches 158(2)

Speaking in Tongues 160(1)

On Visiting ''Do'' Commins 161(1)

''Do'' 162(1)

Hardening of the Arteries 163(1)

Crack Salesman 163(3)

Scrollwork 166(1)

Sea Captain's Valedictory 167(1)

Trilogy's Seventh Birthday 168(1)

When the Old Spark Is Gone 169(1)

Family Ties 170(1)

The Ascension 171(2)

The Poet Ponders His Parents' Departure 173(1)

Still Growing 174(1)

Feinstein the Clothier 175(2)

Saying No 177(1)

Galactic Explorer 178(1)

The Thorough Earth 179(1)

Programmer 180(1)

Resurrection 181(1)

Aging Troubadour 182(1)

Paradox 183(1)

The Lesser of the Evils 184(2)

Ephemeralities 186(1)

Sculptor and Sculptress 187(1)

[The whole notion of growing up,] 188(1)

Monday Mornings Are for Shit 189(1)

Beware: Turtle Crossing 190(1)

Tree House 191(1)

Ineffectual Spectator 192(1)

Moses Unloosed 193(1)

Shipwreck 194(1)

Doomsayer 195(1)

Wishful Thinking 196(2)

Writing in Flight 198(1)

Invisible Man 199(1)

God in Three Persons: Ahab, Ishmael, and Me 200(2)

Fashioning Word-Chimes 202(1)

Willy's Terminal Condition 202(1)

Tamer of Wild Beasties 203(1)

Katy Station 204(1)

Alfresco 205(1)

Mystical Fix 206(1)

If Youth Knew and Age Could 207(1)

Stalled in Columbia: Friday Night 208(2)

Ghost Writer 210(1)

Two Days in the Life of Willy Sypher, Purveyor 211(2)

[Balding and gray-haired,] 213(1)

Mixed Addictions 213(1)

628 West Columbia 214(1)

Mystical Union: An Adoration 215(2)

Les fleurs du mal 217(1)

[Each sentence gyved to this page,] 217(1)

Charlotte's Comet 218(1)

Mr. Ladd 219(1)

The Natural Progression of Kings 220(1)

Willy in the Wilderness 221(1)

Idle Impressions 222(1)

Navigating by the Stars 223(1)

A Day in the Life of Willy Sypher 224(2)

On the Lecture Circuit: A Poet's Auto-da-Fe 226(1)

Inquiry into the Essence of Existence and Divinity 227(2)

Infatuation 229(2)

Fractionating Atoms 231(1)

''It Seems like Fall'' 232(1)

Practitioners of the Vernacular 233(1)

The Fawns 234(1)

Desert Stirrings 235(1)

[The sheer vacuum in which I fly] 236(1)

Author of the Pentateuch 237(1)

Documentary 238(2)

Going to the City, to Shop 240(1)

[Driving home, alone,] 241(1)

Conception on the Road 242(1)

Intimations of Autumn 243(1)

A Pastoral 243(1)

On Rocks and Other Inanimate Objects 244(1)

Poetic Vectoring 245(1)

On Recapturing Youth 246(1)

Of Elegies and Renascence 247(1)

Sparks Jumping the Gap 248(2)

The Defrocking of Rudy Toothacre, Itinerant Minister of the Universal Gospel of the Synod for All Churches of the What's Happenin' Now 250(1)

The Morning of an Orphan's Birth 251(1)

Transmigrations 252(1)

In Time's Nick 253(1)

A Member of the Road Company 254(2)

Sacerdotal Misgivings 256(1)

Who Holds Our Children Up, If the World's Hope Is on Their Shoulders? 257(1)

The Laureate of Katy Station 258(1)

Lady Magic 259(1)

''Prosecutors Will be Violated'' 260(3)

Keeper of the Keys: Willy Sypher 263(1)

A Public Official Relinquishes His Incumbency 264(2)

Mistress Mississippi 266(1)

Running Scared 267(1)

[The sweetest music dissipates.] 268(1)

[I enter your house, not a stranger] 268(2)

[Mustard and turnip greens,] 270(1)

Wind Devils 270(1)

A Universal Speck 271(1)

Goldenrods 272(1)

[A lusty breeze] 273(1)

Song of Soaring 274(1)

Shopping the Line 275(1)

[For two days and nights straight,] 276(1)

Sand Crab 277(1)

Evolution 278(1)

A Curse on My Father's Successors 279(1)

Our Town: An Acrid Approximation 280(1)

The Necromancer 281(2)

Generation Gap 283(1)

In Defense of Physical Manifestations 284(1)

Sky-Robes 285(1)

Exhortation in Praise of Spontaneity 285(2)

Cosmic Consolations 287(1)

Even the Highway Is My Crucifix 287(1)

Rummaging in the Attic 288(1)

Arrested 289(1)

Life Everlasting 290(1)

Takes Its Toll 291(2)

A Nocturne 293(1)

Dreaded Silence 293(1)

The Salesman Performs His Own Last Rites 294(2)

The Alchemist 296(1)

Time-and-Motion Analysis 297(1)

Migrant Farmer 298(1)

The Man Who Conceived Himself God 299(3)

Held Accountable 302(1)

[Even as I enter the Capital Cafe,] 303(2)

Carrying Five Lines 305(1)

[My boy, Troika, and I,] 306(1)

Roads Lined with Wind-Trees 306(1)

Hanging Out the Wash 307(1)

Time's Harvest 308(1)

Elegy South 308(1)

Reverend Whitfield's Apostasy 309(1)

Doom Cloud 310(1)

Sleight of Hand 311(1)

[If ever the principal draftsmen and architects] 312(1)

[Breakfast at the Capital is not exactly] 312(2)

Going Cold 314(1)

Stargazers 314(1)

Thanksgiving 1981 315(1)

Pyrrhic Victories 316(1)

A Solitary Lemming 317(1)

Metapoetics 318(1)

[My words converged, this early morning,] 319(2)

[At 7:16 a.m.,] 321(1)

Prairie Town --- Jacksonville, Illinois: Looking West, Along Morton 322(1)

Near Helicon 323(1)

Dozing Off 324(1)

The Seven Senses 325(1)

Homeward Looking 326(1)

Navigating a Brain-Rain 327(1)

[Dear Mr. and Mrs. Claus,] 327(1)

Supermen 328(1)

Drafting 329(1)

Witnessing the Spirit's Death 330(1)

Seeking Asylum in Silence 331(1)

Guest Speaker 332(1)

Winter's First Storm 333(1)

Ice Storm 334(1)

[Already, we've seen snow and ice] 335(1)

A Christmas Day Hymn 335(1)

[If youth is wasted on the young,] 336(1)

[I've listened to too many symphonies] 336(1)

A Belated Gift 337(1)

Son of the Ex-Boss 338(1)

Too Many Irons in the Fire: A Valedictory 339(1)

Prizefight 339(1)

Paean to Joshua Lionel Cowen 340(1)

Word-Falls 341(1)

Just ''Desserts'' 342(1)

The Battle of the Books: Ancients vs. Moderns 343(1)

Dr. Zhivago 344(1)

Kyrie eleison 345(1)

Frozen Pipes 346(1)

Willy in vincoli 347(1)

Artisan 348(1)

Eskimo Love 349(1)

Self-Reflexives 350(1)

The Arctic Heart 351(1)

Her First Bunking Party 352(1)

On Heroes and Heroines 353(1)

Between Snows 354(1)

Of Fishes and Fishers 355(1)

Painting Himself into a Corner 356(1)

Sonne-set 357(1)

Franz 357(2)

Trooper Breen, Car 279, Missouri Highway Patrol, Boone County, Meets Mr. Ladue 359(1)

Dinner in the Boxcars 360(1)

Katy Station's Stained-Glass Fanlights 361(1)

Interregnum: After Sylvia 362(1)

Men-strual Cycles 363(1)

Willy Joins the Road Show 364(1)

New Snow 365(1)

Trinitarians 366(1)

[I never realized how cold] 367(1)

The Surprise 367(1)

Becoming Mundane 368(1)

Where Snow Comes From 369(1)

In Search of Maidens to Save 370(1)

All in a Fog 371(1)

[Man is a paltry thing.] 371(1)

Safeguarding Freedoms 371(1)

Lion Day 372(1)

Illusionist 373(1)

Watching Myself Watching Myself Being Passed 374(1)

Dr. Eckleburg Takes to the Road 375(1)

Outshouting 376(1)

The Tall Convict 376(1)

Feeding Time 377(1)

Stirrings in the Attic 378(1)

King Willy 378(2)

Watched Over 380(1)

38 380(1)

The Jettisoning Begins 381(2)

Of Fishes and Bears: An Elegy 383(1)

Brailling the Sun 384(1)

Intimations of Immortality, in Spring 384(1)

An Old Road Peddler Grows Sullen, over Supper 385(1)

Gone Fishing 386(1)

The Profligate 387(1)

Cloven-Hoofed Goat 388(1)

Road Games 389(1)

April's Fool 390(1)

Botticelli's Birth of Venus 391(1)

An Apologia at Passover and Easter 392(1)

Change of Hands 392(1)

Going Out with a Bang 393(1)

Incarnations of a Prospector 394(1)

The Incivilities of Civil Law 395(1)

Through a Glass Clearly 396(1)

Erudition 397(1)

Troika's Dad, the Pants Peddler 397(1)

A Failure to Exorcise Demons 398(1)

Hallucinating Himself Home 399(1)

Whitmanesque Confession 400(1)

[How do the birds fly so effortlessly,] 401(1)

Contemplating a Break 401(1)

Post-Giraffic 402(2)

Committed 404(1)

Equestrian Peddler 405(1)

Ennui 406(1)

In the Name of All That's Sacred 407(2)

Keeper of the Word-Hoard 409(1)

Alternatives 409(1)

Trilogy Is Eight, Today 410(1)

Yearnings of a Taciturn Man 411(1)

Monday Morning: Coming Alive 412(1)

In Search of Lost Citizenship Papers 413(1)

Willy Loses His Sense of Direction 413(2)

Hearing the Music of the Spheres 415(1)

Neuroses 416(1)

Willy's Day of Reckoning 417(1)

Killer Sun 418(1)

A Devotee of the Southern Way of Making Love 419(1)

Log-Thoughts South 420(1)

Tete-a-tete 421(1)

Freeing Genies 422(1)

Katy Muse 423(1)

Age Is Wasted on the Young 424(2)

For Annie Ruh, Violinist Extraordinaire 426(1)

[Tonight, a serene, peaceful feeling] 426(1)

Tipton's ''Hidden'' Treasures 427(1)

Tempus Is Fugiting 428(1)

[The less geopolitical mess] 428(1)

The Man Who Could Do Anything 429(1)

Lay Herpetologist 430(1)

Sales Meeting: Spring '83 430(1)

Total Eclipse 431(1)

Marking Time 432(1)

Fancy's Flight 433(1)

Heading Home 433(1)

Boon Hogganbeck 434(1)

Voices Within Fortune Cookies 435(1)

Jogging Bailey's Woods 436(2)

Strangulation 438(1)

Tours de Force 438(1)

Taking a Bad Fall 439(1)

The Wandering Jew Returns 439(2)

Wrangling with the Nemesis 441(1)

A Road Peddler's Lament 442(1)

Day's Tripper 442(1)

Saying No, Again 443(1)

Under the Stars 444(1)

''The Worm at the Core'' 445(1)

An Eye for an Eye 446(2)

Boxcars 448(1)

Bodily Functions 449(1)

[Over the years,] 449(1)

The Birds and the Trees 449(1)

Coleus 450(1)

Breezes, Birds, and Bees 451(1)

Ilpenseroso and L'allegro 452(1)

Perseus Subdued 453(1)

Off Again, On Again 454(1)

Members of the Cast 455(1)

Working the Promised Land 456(2)

West Helena's West Side 458(1)

Earthly Rewards 459(2)

Extravagant Fancies of an H.M.S. Bounty Deck Hand 461(1)

Polar Poet 462(1)

Legacies 463(1)

Silkscreen 464(1)

Cartographer 465(1)

Called Away Suddenly 466(1)

Incarnations of the Pawnbroker 467(1)

In Irons, at Katy Station 468(1)

High-School Sweetheart 469(2)

Turkey Truck 471(1)

Trapping Moles 471(1)

The Birth of Venus 472(1)

Darwinian Intimations 473(1)

Images, Symbols, and Signs 474(2)

Seeking Help 476(1)

Metaphysical Inquisitions 477(1)

An Autumnal 478(1)

Imminences 478(2)

Backlash 480(1)

Outsmarted 480(2)

Going to a Colloquium at Ole Miss 482(1)

Implacable Impasse 483(1)

A Chance Encounter 483(2)

[The courthouse does not squat obliviously,] 485(1)

The Circus: Between Stops 485(1)

Morte d'Arthur 486(2)

The Birthmark 488(1)

Adopting Orphans 488(1)

Horses of the Same Color 489(1)

[Something erudite, esoteric, absurd] 490(1)

Remembering Eden 490(1)

[He passes, through October's glorious corridor,] 491(2)

Watching for Snakes, in the Forest 493(1)

Ministering to the Fish 494(1)

Quarterly Board Meeting 494(2)

The Last Movement 496(1)

Dissolution 496(1)

Costumes 497(1)

[''Indian moon,'' my little fella named it.] 498(1)

Hayride Halloween 498(1)

On the Lamb 498(1)

Even Chickens Fly 499(1)

Beyond Halloween 500(1)

November 2, 1982 500(1)

Manny Bernstein 501(2)

[Dear Lord,] 503(1)

Bardic Apostle 503(1)

The Duelists 504(1)

[I rummage, this gray, drizzle-dreary day,] 504(1)

Twyla's Own Language 505(1)

Looking Backward, 2002 506(1)

The Day After Thanksgiving 507(1)

Creative-Writing Instructor 507(2)

Twilight --- Midnight --- Sunrise 509(1)

Filing a Flight Plan 509(1)

Keats's Urn-Turning Lovers 510(1)

Autobiographia Literaria 511(1)

Rep for the Mid-South 512(1)

Abnegating Fate 513(1)

A Latter-Day de Leon 514(1)

Apologia pro vitae suae 515(1)

[He envies, to maddening distraction,] 516(1)

In the Scuppers, with a Hose-Pipe On 517(1)

Nepotism, Sinecures, and Honorary Positions 518(1)

Faulkner's Unravished Brides of Quietness 518(2)

Prometheus Bound 520(1)

On the Passing of Laureates 521(1)

Getting Our Tree 522(1)

One-Room School 523(1)

Trilogy Solos 524(1)

Disappearing Acts 525(1)

[He rises, robotically, from his bed,] 525(2)

Don Jewan of Malta 527(1)

[Sparrows tear frosty morning's air,] 528(1)

Mystic Dissolution 529(1)

Willy Takes an Unscheduled Inventory 529(1)

Trance-Dance 530(1)

To the Four Corners and Back 531(1)

Crucifishion 532(1)

Bespelling the Speller 533(1)

Throwing Snowballs 534(1)

Willy: A Punctual Man 535(1)

Third-Quarter Report 536(1)

Wayward Willy 537(1)

The Acknowledged Legislators of the World 538(1)

In My Bereavement 539(2)

Keeping the Covenant 541(1)

Grabbing All the Gusto 542(1)

Jumping Freights 543(1)

Voyeur extraordinaire 544(1)

Blitzed Desiderata 545(2)

Between Reincarnations 547(1)

Prologue to a Barnyard Book of Verse 548(1)

Blown into a Snow Zone 548(1)

Happy Hour 549(2)

Katy Station, Friday Night 551(1)

The Last Train Home 552(1)

Trial by Water 553(1)

Roger 554(1)

Biblical Cliffs 554(1)

Wishy-Washy Admonitions 555(1)

Blue-Moody Fugue 556(1)

Mr. No-Name Poet 557(1)

Three Nuns 558(2)

Disenchanted 560(1)

Miscellaneous Man 560(1)

Space Shuttle 561(1)

The First Feathered Bird on Earth 562(2)

Willy's Thousand-and-First Vow 564(1)

Sprung Loose, on Sunday 564(2)

Unloading, at a Sacrifice 566(1)

Regrinding Lenses 567(1)

A Modest Proclamation, for the Record 568(1)

The Route to Auschwitz-Birkenau 569(1)

A Mystical Pit Stop 570(2)

The State of the Art 572(1)

A Mother-Goosed Rhyme 573(1)

Jamaica 573(1)

Jamaica-Bound 574(1)

Break-Fast 575(1)

The Physics of Love 576(1)

Brain-Taint 576(1)

Buck Private Willy Sypher 577(1)

Eliotics 578(1)

A Break in the Routine 579(1)

The Sorcerers 580(1)

Good-Luck Pennies 581(1)

'Round Midnight 582(1)

A Pre-Easter Resurrection, in Thirty-Three Lines 583(1)

Suffering a Reversal 584(1)

An Exotic Species 585(1)

The Death of a Road Peddler 586(1)

United We Fall, Divided We Stood 586(2)

Blanking Out 588(2)

Charlie Cagle, Pornographer Emeritus 590(1)

On the Road, at Passover 591(1)

Alzheimer's Poet 592(1)

Aging Paleontologist 593(1)

A Post-Easter Resurrection 594(2)

Cracow Now 596(1)

Jugiter novus 597(1)

The Untimely Affliction of an O'Neill Poet 598(1)

Making One's Mark 598(1)

Baptismal Rite 599(1)

A Gift of Time 600(1)

Blown off Course 600(1)

In Flood Time 601(2)

Admiration for the Man Who Admired Faulkner 603(1)

Seeking a Change of Venue 604(1)

Wisteria 605(1)

One Out of Six Million 606(1)

[Willy has driven this highway] 607(1)

Seduced by April's Lesbians 608(1)

The Fate of Nations, Their Industry and People 608(1)

Miasmic Chiasmas 609(1)

Between Seasons 610(2)

[Who has ever shared another's solitude?] 612(1)

Objects Oppositely Attracted Positively Repel 613(1)

Guilty Until Proven Innocent 614(1)

Going to Oversee a Store Closing 615(1)

Out of Desperation 615(3)

Inundation 618(1)

May Stocktaking 618(2)

Flying Swine 620(1)

Lines Composed Beside the River Coln, at Bibury 620(2)

Lacock 622(1)

[There is, about this secluded purlieus,] 622(1)

By the Avon, at Salisbury, Being Bespelled 623(1)

The Pilgrim Returns 624(1)

Not Returning Together 625(1)

Willy v. Willy: A Paternity Suit 626(1)

[Lately, the ragged demons] 627(1)

Waiting for Connecting Trains, at Katy Station 627(2)

Prelude to a Little Night Music 629(1)

The Self-Made Son of a Self-Made Man 630(1)

Fleet Summer Showers 631(1)

[Having seen sparks peel off a grinding wheel,] 632(1)

Incarnations 632(1)

Wednesday-Night Patio Party 633(2)

Night Flight 635(1)

Xerox City 635(1)

[Having driven a hundred miles, in a funk,] 636(1)

Street Cleaner 637(1)

Gentle Revolutionaries 638(1)

Fisher Poet 639(1)

El desesperado 639(1)

Road Peddler's Ode 640(1)

Between Grief and Nothing 641(1)

Pharaonic Curse: Megalopolis 641(1)

Spring '84 Sales Meeting: Presentation of the Tailored-Suit Line 642(1)

Our Credo, Spring '84 643(1)

[Century-old companies file for bankruptcy.] 643(1)

[I leave Farmington, at 5:55.] 644(1)

You Can't Go Back, Exactly 644(1)

[Pine cones and chipmunks,] 645(1)

Hiatus 645(1)

The Motion of Heavenly Bodies 646(1)

Viewing the Pageant 646(1)

The Empress of Popcorn 647(1)

Calibrating My Days 648(1)

Willy: Fisher of Men 649(1)

A Toss of the Coin 650(1)

Moon's-Day Morning 650(1)

Obsolete Equipment 651(1)

Unassimilated 651(1)

Proposition to a Lady of Propriety 652(1)

Daddies' Girls 653(1)

Contrary to Human Nature 654(1)

Limbo Now 655(1)

Willy's Southern Route 656(1)

A Renewal of Faith 657(1)

The Warehouse, Friday Night 658(1)

It Was the Summer of the Snakes, and She Ran 659(1)

Amicable Separation 660(1)

Katy's Tatterdemalion 661(1)

The Man on the Lawn, in His Pajamas 662(1)

Premonitions 663(1)

The ''Dude'' Introduces His Boy, Troika, to Katy Station 664(1)

Foregone Illusions 665(1)

The Floating of Davy Jones's Bones 666(1)

Electric Incantations 667(1)

Lady Grace, Manslayer 668(1)

Sunset over an Anchored Schooner, in an Ancient Lagoon, Detained 669(1)

Taking Communion 670(1)

Doing Translations 671(1)

Half-Lives: Willy in Flight 672(1)

Ritual Disappearance 673(1)

Awakening Sleeping Dragons 674(1)

Browning and Barrett: A Meeting South 675(2)

Regional Supervisor 677(1)

Outpatient 677(1)

Homecoming Bonfire 678(1)

[Prepositions and indefinite articles] 679(1)

Antique Locomotives 680(1)

The Sizing Up of Willy Sypher 681(2)

In the Beginning 683(1)

Ahab Makes a Sighting 684(1)

Autumn's Eulogy 685(1)

Mortis spiriti 685(1)

Shiftings 686(1)

A Night in the Burying Place 687(1)

Traveling to the State Capital 688(1)

Attending a Lecture 689(1)

Wind Instruments 689(1)

The Bell Ringer 690(1)

Groping for Tropes 691(1)

[Off to my right, this impatient twilight,] 691(1)

Lexical Senescence 692(1)

In Retirement 692(1)

The Elephant Man 693(1)

Reinstating Claims 694(1)

Tension Is the Father 695(1)

Death's Messenger 696(1)

La vida es sueno 697(1)

The Powers That Be 698(1)

A Christmas Card for My Parents 699(1)

The Fish 699(1)

Death of a Backwoods Man 700(1)

Booking Passage 701(1)

Cobra and Mongoose 701(1)

Viewing a Gauguin Retrospective, at Katy Station 702(1)

A Break in the Routine 702(2)

Lady Snow 704(1)

The Conventional Wisdom 705(1)

Willy's Notion of Stewardship 705(2)

Yen Ching 707(1)

Form Follows Function 707(1)

Leaving Them 708(1)

Suffering a Head-Snake 709(1)

[Faces arrested in spontaneity's mesh] 710(1)

A Delay in Takeoff: Prolonged Taxiing 711(1)

Portrait of Painter and Poet, on a Snowy Morning 712(1)

Having the First and the Last Say 713(1)

Donating a Library 714(2)

Even the Seekers Hide 716(1)

An Unaborted Distortion 716(1)

Welfare State 717(1)

Mysterious Disappearance 718(1)

Conflict of Interest 719(1)

Jesus, You're Forty, Jan! Rejoice! Rejoice! 719(2)

[Incised on his stony face was this epitaph:] 721(1)

Prehistoric Presences 721(1)

The Spirit of St. Louis: Poet in Flight 722(1)

Of Earthly Vessels 723(1)

[Tyranny and outrage --- standard brain-patterns ---] 723(1)

The Poet's Bone Marrow 724(1)

Ageless Sage 725(1)

Le vedute, Piranesi Style 725(2)

Scavengers 727(1)

A Springtide Nocturne 728(1)

Rush-Hour Convert 729(1)

[It tends to end. Even straight lines bend,] 730(1)

Moby Quixote 731(1)

Sir Galwyn of Arthgyl 732(1)

[Day dwindles like a Chardonnay bouquet] 733(2)

[It is an evening of serene honeysuckle.] 735(1)

[Not Bierstadt, Church, Heade, or] 736(1)

In a Drunk Funk 736(1)

Migrating Turtles 737(1)

[Vague, translucent shades] 738(1)

Crossing the Galactic Time Zone: Heading Home, for the Day 739(1)

Discontinuing Passenger Service 739(1)

An Air-Conditioned Premonition 740(1)

Hush...Hush...He's Almost Here 740(1)

A Lost Tribe's Latter-Day Scribe 741(1)

Initiating an Action, in the Southern Sector 742(1)

Rehearsing in Mississippi 743(1)

Making Berth at Oxford 744(2)

On the Virtues of Being a Man of Action 746(1)

Saturday-Morning Auguries 747(1)

Kryptopterus bicirrhis 748(1)

Landlocked in a Writer's Block, Driving West 749(1)

An Exhortation 750(1)

[It used to be,] 750(4)

Outbound 754(1)

On the Demise of an Egyptian King of the First Dynasty, in His Infancy 754(1)

The Doomsday Haze 755(1)

Willy's Last Season 756(2)

[This day is a chambered nautilus.] 758(1)

At the Head of a Cortege of One, Riding South 758(1)

Labors of Love 759(1)

Creating Vacuums Within Vacuums 760(1)

Night Vipers 760(1)

Vague Lady from Holly Springs 761(1)

Skimming Mississippi's Urn 762(1)

The Peabody 762(1)

Margie's Parting 763(1)

Sunday Departures 763(1)

A Better Day Ahead 764(1)

At Tuesday's Precipice 765(1)

Frau Victoria 766(1)

Bearing Grudges 767(1)

To His Distant Mistress: A Loose Persuasion, After Marvell 767(1)

Collision Course 768(1)

[A very rare and daring sharing] 769(1)

DNA Strands 769(1)

Postmodernist Myths Persist 770(1)

Oedipal Wellsprings 770(1)

Death Comes to a Family Man 771(1)

Outpost Observers 771(1)

His One Son's Son 772(1)

Naming the Muse 773(1)

A Day at the Races 774(1)

Wind Instruments 775(1)

Tied to Our Tides 776(1)

Transfiguring Wishes 776(1)

[By degrees, as I slide south, out of the city,] 777(1)

Matriarchy 778(1)

Monday-Morning Launch 778(1)

On the Way to the Country Churchyard 779(1)

The Irretrievable 780(1)

Vexatious Integrations 781(1)

Aubade 782(1)

Fall Callings 782(1)

Rosh Hashanah for One Fallen from Grace 783(1)

A Day at the Zoo: Watching the Gorillas 784(1)

Byhalia 785(1)

Willy Sypher: A Company Man 786(2)

Premon-hiss-ions 788(1)

Intimations of Psychic Dissolution 788(1)

Hobo-Poet 789(2)

Following the River South 791(1)

Mizpah 791(1)

Foggy Connections 792(1)

Willy's Mosaical Robe 793(1)

''Higher'' Learning 794(1)

Snake Charmer 794(1)

Morning Flight 795(1)

A Wedding Toast 795(1)

Ill penseroso 796(1)

Presentiments Come to a Highway Surveyor 797(1)

An Ode to the Westerly Wind 798(1)

Carpe diem: A Nocturne 799(1)

Willy Suffers a Loss of Heart 800(1)

Unexpected Awakening 801(1)

Plague: Contagion and Conflagration 802(1)

Apparitions 803(1)

Reveries Thawing from the First Frost 804(1)

Paean to Final Flourishes 805(1)

Transfiguring Silence 805(1)

Young Willy Is Chosen to Work an Important Account 806(1)

The Dioscuri 807(1)

Under the River's Stern Surveillance 808(1)

Incarnations of a Stillbirth 809(1)

[All in the same day,] 810(1)

Wordsworthian Echoes 811(1)

Willy's Icarus Complex 811(1)

After a Long Black Lapse, Snow 812(1)

December Phoenix 813(1)

Statue of a Fawn and Piping Satyr 813(1)

Spider Bites 814(1)

[Finally, every line of poetry he composed] 815(1)

Mother's Boy 815(1)

New Year's Eve Day 1984 816(1)

Collapsing Time 817(2)

Transporter 819(1)

[The moon-orbited Earth] 820(1)

Spectator at the Games 820(1)

Cycles 821(1)

Pyromaniac 821(1)

Willy Declines His Hard-Earned Promotion 822(1)

Troika's Poems 823(1)

Moon's Day 823(2)

The Fungusy Mungusy 825(1)

Sick 825(1)

Losing It 825(1)

Secular Rabbi 826(1)

New Orleans Suite 827(4)

Decidedly Not Milton's Adam 831(1)

[''Bastards!'' Willy chastises invisible fates] 832(2)

[Leaving town, fleeing, retreating, compulsively,] 834(1)

Mind-Diamonds 835(1)

Sleepwalker 835(1)

Sunspots 836(1)

On the Efficacy of Making Metaphors 837(1)

Cowpoke with a Slight Hebraic Accent 838(2)

Lifeblood 840(1)

''Losed for the Season'' 841(1)

The Black Pariah 842(2)

Intimations of Dante at Rowan Oak 844(1)

Recent Divorce 845(1)

[I hear them. I hear them so near,] 846(1)

For Willie, in Oxford 847(1)

[Exotic flocks of invisible geese and ducks,] 848(1)

Epithalamion 848(1)

The Relinquishment 849(1)

A Nonconforming Easter Sonnet 850(1)

Ahab off Course 850(1)

Reflexivity 851(1)

[From the antipodes, you and I come,] 852(1)

The Visigoth 852(2)

Older Than His Years 854(1)

Palindrome 854(1)

May Day 855(1)

Visiting the First Grade 856(1)

Happy Accidents 857(1)

Talismanic Auguries 858(1)

Last Day in the Old Capital Cafe 859(1)

On Her Beginning Her Second Decade 859(1)

A Sour Taste in the Mouth 860(1)

Three White Horses 860(2)

The Poet Doubts His Immortality 862(1)

Being Attuned 862(1)

Acid Rain 863(1)

One Long Road 864(1)

A Suspicious Nature 865(1)

Waking Early 866(1)

Greater and Lesser Densities 867(1)

Postmodern Noah 868(1)

Chelmno Rain 868(1)

Oedipus 869(1)

Black Hole-ocaust 870(1)

Hazy Ratiocinations 871(1)

The Playwrights 872(1)

Seeing Stars 872(1)

Earth Mother 873(1)

Calling for Help 874(1)

Courtesans 875(1)

Traveling Home, in a Hearse 875(1)

Marriage 876(1)

Pressing the Button 876(1)

[Who let the cat back into the bag,] 877(1)

One Final Run 877(1)

5:30 Picnic at Rowan Oak 878(2)

Going Home 880(1)

Quincunxes in Everything 880(2)

[Already, a vaguely discernible resignation] 882(1)

[Those of us --- poets, dreamers, winos,] 883(1)

Just Another Fall-Tinged Tuesday in Late August 883(2)

Apocalyptic Ruminations 885(1)

Coexistence 885(1)

An Autumnal Aubade 886(1)

The Day After Labor Day 887(1)

The Troll 887(1)

''Back to School'' 888(2)

[No matter how seemingly mundane,] 890(1)

A Toast to the Forties 890(1)

Choosing a New Place to Die 891(1)

The Caf-fiend 892(1)

[Poems only flow] 893(1)

September Moon Through the Elms: A Nocturne 894(1)

Only at Home on the Range 895(1)

Willy's Lucky Horseshoe 896(1)

Road-sary 897(1)

Overtaken 897(1)

Ghost House 898(1)

[Oxford, Charlottesville, Baton Rouge] 899(1)

Dad in His Empty Country Castle 900(1)

Donne's ''Meditation XVII'': An Oblique Reprise 901(1)

The Dismantling 901(2)

Poet Quixote Conceives His Next Sally 903(1)

Tennyson's Tithonus Lives 904(1)

Absentee Landlord 905(1)

[Exiting southwest, out of Gopher Prairie,] 906(1)

Halloween Prefigurations 906(1)

[Throughout the school, excitement crescendoes.] 907(1)

Commuter's Tribulation 908(1)

The Rime of Ancient Willy 908(3)

Sons of Sonnes of the Sunne 911(1)

Blind Leading the Blind 911(1)

The Manager of Outlets Remembers When 912(1)

Apocalypse Then and Now, and Right Now! 913(2)

Small-Town Origins 915(1)

The Manager of Outlets Takes a Breather 916(1)

Documentus devilmentibus 917(1)

The Peregrine 918(1)

Latchkey Children 918(1)

Infidel 919(1)

[Never has he been able to formulate a set pattern] 920(1)

The Glassworks 920(1)

Dreams Almost Close Enough to Smell 921(1)

Winter Transfigurations 922(1)

[In this remote Midwest Bethlehem,] 923(2)
Index 925