Planting a Mailbox. This poem signals the move, in early April of 1957, from 153 West Thirteenth Street, New York City, to Ipswich, Massachusetts. The box was planted at the corner of Essex and Heartbreak Roads.
The Menagerie at Versailles in 1775. A “found” poem; this passage may be located, in prose and punctuated a bit differently, on pages 555–56 of the Modern Library Giant edition of Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson.
Deities and Beasts. All rockets and missiles, in the Cold-War springtide of the late Fifties.
Agatha Christie and Beatrix Potter, line 13. Originally read, “God bless you, girls,” which has become very politically incorrect, though at the time it seemed harmless.
Upon Learning That a Town Exists in Virginia Called Upperville. The humor of it considerably depended upon my name following the final line, in staid New Yorker fashion.
I Missed His Book, but I Read His Name. Written as if the name were pronounced iambically, Anantanarayanan. An Indian in an audience before which I had read these verses came up afterwards and very politely told me that it is pronounced Anantanarayanan, dactylically, the last syllable scarcely audible and certainly unfit to bear all my thumping rhymes. I will never read the poem aloud again, but here it is, as an offering for the eye.
Exposure. A souvenir of my one academic stint. In the summer of 1962, the office of the English Department at Harvard, in Warren House, had acquired a brand-new IBM Selectric, with its magical twirling alphabet ball. Testing my prerogatives as a summer-school teacher of creative writing, I sat down at the department’s marvellous new machine and typed this poem on it. The poem had come into my head while I was driving into Cambridge, and I had scrawled it on the back of a tune-up receipt. The presence of “Aunt Flo” consigns it to the light-verse category.
Insomnia the Gem of the Ocean and To a Waterbed. The water-bed inspiration, intended for one poem, split, like a watery amoeba, into two.
Authors’ Residences, lines 14–17. See “Note to the Previous Tenants”: same place, the only place, strange to say, where I have ever lived alone, without progenitors, roommates, spouses, dependents, or pets. The high point of my tenancy was reached the winter night when I forgot my key and, with the compliance of the two bachelor girls in the apartment above, climbed out on the dizzyingly rickety fire escape and—while other tenants of the building, mistaking me for a cat burglar, screamed with alarm behind their locked windows—crept along and down to my own window, which was unlocked. The sublime moment of dropping like an intruder into the welcoming space of one’s own habitual existence: it’s enough to make one believe in the transmigration of souls.
Sin City, D.C. Scorn not as contemptibly trivial these verses’ crystallized inkling that some valuable secret lurks beneath a confluence of headline names. Other men look for a mysterious pattern in prime numbers or the extended digits of pi. At the height of our national discontent in 1968, I wrote:
Poor people’s march, Rustin quit it;
In Boston, Raskin was acquitted.
In Washington, Rusk took the rostrum
To swear that Rostow has the nostrum;
Reston writes about it all—
Black Power,
the Resistance,
the Red Menace.
Ruskin wrote The Stones of Venice.
Self-Service. Marking the late-Seventies moment, long dissolved in history’s shimmering vapors, when self-service gasoline pumps were a novelty.
Energy: A Villanelle. More gasoline. We were obsessed with it, evidently, back in the Carter era.
On the Recently Minted Hundred-Cent Piece. Our “doll dollar” was issued only in 1979, done in by public repudiation. The silver half-dollar, another vanished coin, used to be roundly called a “fifty-cent piece.”
The Sometime Sportsman Greets the Spring. Like “Island Sun,” written because The New York Times asked me for a seasonal poem. Not the best reason to write a poem, but not the worst, either.
ZIP Code Ode. My own idea, strangely. I am still waiting for a sign of gratitude from the Postmaster General.
Déjà, Indeed, line 2. Or, one could say, Un film français sans Gérard Depardieu. An earlier version went on,
And if by happy chance I do, I swear
The screen will swell with Isabelle Huppert.
But I felt less strongly, finally, about her ubiquité.
Two Limericks for the Elderly. Elicited by The New York Times Book Review, in honor of Edward Lear’s one-hundred-sixty-fifth birthday. The second one, in repeating the first line for the fifth, is more classically Learesque. The best limericks, for this celebration, came from X. J. Kennedy, I must admit.
An Open Letter to Voyager II. This time, Life asked. The Voyager duo and their photographs had already figured in my poetry; lines 24–28 here were prefigured by “The Moons of Jupiter.”
Appendix A:
Poems in Previous Collections Omitted
Bestiary (7/21/60, TP)
Cheerful Alphabet of Pleasant Objects, A (8/21/57, CH)
Head of a Girl, at the Met (4/1/84, FN)
Lament of Abrashka Tertz, The (1/66, FN)
Light-Headed in Sweden (11/77, FN)
Love Sonnet (1969?, M)
Ode III.ii: Horace (4?/54, CH)
Poetess (p. 9/53, CH)
Population of Argentina, The (p. 2/53, CH)
Pussy (10/16/75, T&)
Recitative for Sorely Tested Products (11/11/54, CH)
Appendix B:
Poems Published in The New Yorker Omitted
Jack (p. 10/19/57)
Old Copy Desk Editor (p. 7/20/57)
O Leo Leddi (p. 6/1/57)
Quilt: A Patriotic Lullaby [Quilt] (p. 11/16/57)
Reflection [Mirror] (p. 11/30/57)
Solid Comfort [Easy Chair] (p. 2/18/56)
Title (p. 1/31/59)
Index of Titles
Each title is followed by its date of composition. An exact date generally indicates the day of dispatch, when the poem was thought fit to be sent off to a magazine for submission, as duly noted in the upper right corner of my retained copy. Later revisions do not change this notation. In the absence of clues provided by manuscript, memory, or editorial communication, the periodical publication date is given, signified by p. I thank Elizabeth Falsey and Deborah Garrison for helping my search. Previous collections are abbreviated as follows:
CH = The Carpentered Hen and Other Tame Creatures (Harper and Brothers, 1958; reissued, with some revisions, by Alfred A. Knopf in 1982)
TP = Telephone Poles and Other Poems (Knopf, 1963)
M = Midpoint and Other Poems (Knopf, 1969)
T&T = Tossing and Turning: Poems (Knopf, 1977)
FN = Facing Nature: Poems (Knopf, 1985)
U = previously uncollected
Academy (5/11/92, U)
Accumulation (5/20/82, FN)
Aerie (3/25/83, FN)
Agatha Christie and Beatrix Potter (2/28/60, TP)
Airport (1/23/86, U)
Air Show (11/7/66, M)
À l’École Berlitz (5/16/69, T&T)
Amish, The (6/28/66, M)
Amoeba (5/2/66, M)
Angels, The (1/7/67, M)
Another Dog’s Death (1/5/76, FN)
Antigua (3/66, M)
Apologies to Harvard (6/12/73, T&T)
At the End of the Rainbow (4/1/92, U)
Authors’ Residences (6/16/75, T&T)
Average Egyptian Faces Death, The (7/10/68, M)
Azores (11/22/62, M)
Back Bay (6/9/88, U)
Back from Vacation (9/25/91, U)
Bath After Sailing (9/1/67, T&T)
Beautiful Bowel Movement, The (2/13/89, U)
Bendix (12/14/57, TP)
Bicycle Chain, A (10/21/69, T&T)
Bindweed (6/14/91, U)
Bitter Life, A (11/55, CH)
Blessing, The (7/11/62, TP)
Blked (5/4/58, U)
Boil (2/7/62, T&T)
Boston Lying-In (10/21/
77, FN)
Brazil (3/17/92, U)
Burning Trash (3/22/55, U)
Business Acquaintances (6/13/69, T&T)
B.W.I. (2/60, TP)
Calder’s Hands (11/14/76, T&T)
Calendar (9/7/61, TP)
Caligula’s Dream (12/5/57, TP)
Camera (11/64, M)
Capacity (7/56, CH)
Cars in Caracas, The (3/11/72, T&T)
Celery (2/9/92, U)
Charleston (2/13/89, U)
Chloë’s Poem (11/68, M)
Clan, The (10/20/54, CH)
Classical Optical (6/4/91, U)
Cloud Shadows (7?/53, CH)
Code, The (4/24/83, FN)
Commencement, Pingree School (6/22/73, T&T)
Comp. Religion (6/6/60, TP)
Condo Moon (8/8/88, U)
Conversation (1973?, U)
Cosmic Gall (10/13/60, TP)
Courtesy Call (2/26/69, T&T)
Crab Crack (9/5/80, FN)
Cunts (12/29/72, T&T)
Daughter (6/16/66, U)
Dea ex Machina (1/5/62, FN)
Décor (1/3/65, M)
Deities and Beasts (1/4/59, TP)
Déjà, Indeed (12/86, U)
Descent of Mr. Aldez, The (12/20/60, TP)
Dilemma in the Delta (8/54, CH)
Dog’s Death (3/16/65, M)
Dream and Reality (3/5/76, T&T)
Dream Objects (6/10/68, M)
Due Respect (10/4/56, CH)
Duet, with Muffled Brake Drums (6/54, CH)
Dutch Cleanser (3/11/76, T&T)
Dying Phobiac Takes His Fears with Him, The (9/8/82, FN)
Each Summer’s Swallows (10/6/89, U)
Earthworm (5/2/61, TP)
East Hampton-Boston by Air (10/12/81, FN)
Elderly Sex (12/26/91, U)
Elm (6/4/66, U)
Enemies of a House (8/6/88, U)
Energy: A Villanelle (2/21/79, FN)
English Train Compartment (5/55, CH)
Erotic Epigrams (1/8/63, TP)
Eurydice [Subway Love] (6/20/66, M)
Even Egrets Err (12/3/56, CH)
Ex-Basketball Player (7/5/54, CH)
Exposé (12/30/62, M)
Exposure (7/31/62, TP)
Fall (10/20/89, U)
Farewell to the Shopping District of Antibes (1/63, M)
Fargo (10/20/89, U)
February 22 (2/28/60, TP)
Fellatio (12/30/64, M)
Fever (3/61, TP)
Fireworks (7/5/63, M)
Fleckings, The (7/28/81, FN)
Flirt, The (9/5/60, TP)
Flurry (2/6/91, U)
Fly (2/6/91, U)
Food (4/20/84, FN)
Fritillary, The (5/16/59, TP)
From Above (1/23/86, U)
Frost (3/11/89, U)
Furniture, The (3/5/84, FN)
Generic College (1/24/90, U)
Glasses (12/17/56, CH)
Golfers (2/28/75, T&T)
Goodbye, Göteborg (9/8/87, U)
Gradations of Black (1/30/84, FN)
Granite (9/14/90, U)
Great Scarf of Birds, The (10/25/62, TP)
Grief of Cafeterias, The (12/17/76, T&T)
Handkerchiefs of Khaibar Khan, The (10/25/61, U)
Heading for Nandi (3/8/74, T&T)
High-Hearts, The (8/21/61, TP)
Hoeing (4/27/63, TP)
Home Movies (10/4/65, M)
Hot Water (9/15/87, U)
House Growing, The (4/28/72, T&T)
How to Be Uncle Sam (11?/57, TP)
Humanities Course (12/27/54, CH)
Imaginable Conference, An (8/11/54, CH)
I Missed His Book, but I Read His Name (6/27/61, TP)
Indianapolis (4/2/90, U)
In Extremis (4/7/58, M)
In Memoriam (2/7/57, CH)
In Memoriam Felis Felis (7/12/88, U)
In Praise of (C10H9O5)x (1/16/59, TP)
Insomnia the Gem of the Ocean (6/72, T&T)
Iowa (3/16/78, FN)
Island Sun (5/7/83, FN)
Jolly Greene Giant, The (9/14/73, T&T)
July (7/27/91, U)
Kenneths (3/21/58, TP)
Kiev (11/64, M)
Klimt and Schiele Confront the Cunt (4/15/86, U)
L.A. (1/30/82, FN)
Lament, for Cocoa (2/25/55, CH)
Lamplight (1/3/64, M)
Landing in the Rain at La Guardia (4/14/90, U)
Late January (1/8/65, T&T)
Leaving Church Early (12/75, T&T)
Leningrad (10/64, M)
Light Switches (11/25/90, U)
Literary Dublin (10/20/91, U)
Little Poems (p. 7/21/56, CH)
Living with a Wife (2/26/69, T&T)
Long Shadow (11/9/82, FN)
Maples in a Spruce Forest (8/22/60, TP)
March: A Birthday Poem (12/22/54, CH)
Marching Through a Novel (9/8/70, T&T)
Marriage Counsel (10/19/61, TP)
Mass. Mental Health (4/18/78, FN)
Meditation on a News Item (6/15/60, TP)
Melancholy of Storm Windows, The (11/10/76, T&T)
Melting (1/20/74, T&T)
Menagerie at Versailles in 1775, The (1/24/58, TP)
Miami (11/12/90, U)
Midpoint (4–8/68, M)
Milady Reflects (3/21/59, T&T)
Millipede, The (1/7/90, U)
Mime (2/75, T&T)
Minority Report (12/15/68, M)
Miss Moore at Assembly (3/27/62, M)
Mr. High-Mind (p. 4/28/56, CH)
Mites (4/18/88, U)
Mobile of Birds (8/16/58, TP)
Moderate, The (10/21/58, TP)
Modest Mound of Bones, A (8/19/54, CH)
Modigliani’s Death Mask (11/25/59, TP)
Moons of Jupiter, The (1/3/81, FN)
Moscow (10/64, M)
Mosquito (7/19/59, TP)
Mountain Impasse (p. 4/53, CH)
Mouse Sex (7/2/90, U)
Movie House (3/1/62, TP)
Munich (4/23/85, U)
My Children at the Dump (10/23/62, M)
Naked Ape, The (p. 2/3/68, M)
Natural Question (5/31/82, FN)
Nature (12/28/80, FN)
Neoteny (12/26/91, U)
Neuen Heiligen, Die (1/27/62, TP)
Newlyweds, The (10/11/55, CH)
News from the Underworld (1/6/75, T&T)
Night Flight, over Ocean (9/15/70, T&T)
No More Access to Her Underpants (9/9/82, FN)
Note to the Previous Tenants (9/74, T&T)
November (11/7/90, U)
Nuda Natens (1964?, M)
Oddly Lovely Day Alone, An (1/18/79, FN)
Ode, An (p. 10/15/55, CH)
Ode to Entropy (4/84, FN)
Ode to Growth (3/84, FN)
Ode to Healing (4/84, FN)
Ode to Rot (3/84, FN)
Ohio (9/30/77, FN)
Old-Fashioned Lightning Rod (6/17/61, TP)
Omega (1/67, M)
On an Island (2/24/70, T&T)
One-Year-Old, The (2/28/56, CH)
On the Inclusion of Miniature Dinosaurs in Breakfast Cereal Boxes (7/19/61, M)
On the Recently Minted Hundred-Cent Piece (7/22/79, FN)
On the Way to Delphi (11/19/78, FN)
Open Letter to Voyager II, An (9/18/89, U)
Origin of Laughter, The (1/22/68, M)
Orthodontia (8/7/88, U)
Oxford, Thirty Years After (4/1/86, U)
Pain (7/15/83, FN)
Painted Wives (12/1/68, T&T)
Pale Bliss (10/9/74, T&T)
Party Knee (10/8/58, TP)
Pear like a Potato, A (9/25/85, U)
Penumbrae (1/10/80, FN)
Perfection Wasted (1/24/90, U)
Phenomena (5/20/71, T&T)
Philological (4/9/56, CH)
Pillow (9/19/88, U)
Planting a Mailbox (4/2?/57, CH)
&n
bsp; Planting Trees (5/9/81, FN)
Player Piano (7/19/54, CH)
Plow Cemetery (2/18/82, FN)
Poem for a Far Land (1/3/65, M)
Poisoned in Nassau (2/75, T&T)
Pompeii (10/13/67, M)
Pooem (5/11/55, CH)
Pop Smash, Out of Echo Chamber (4/55, TP)
Popular Revivals 1956 (8/14/56, CH)
Postcards from Soviet Cities (10–11/64, M)
Publius Vergilius Maro, the Madison Avenue Hick (2/4/56, CH)
Query (5/74, T&T)
Rack of Paperbacks, A (11/26/56, CH)
Raining in Magens Bay (11/75, T&T)
Rats (10/22/76, T&T)
Recital (4/5/61, TP)
Reel (3/5/58, TP)
Relatives (9/25/90, U)
Report of Health (6/11/63, M)
Returning Native (11/17/86, U)
Revelation (1/30/80, FN)
Richmond (11/28/83, FN)
Rio de Janeiro (3/13/92, U)
Rockettes, The (9/8/82, FN)
Roman Portrait Busts (12/30/64, M)
Room 28 (3/22/56, CH)
Sails on All Saints’ Day (11/3/87, U)
Saints Nouveaux, Les (10/25/60, TP)
Sand Dollar (12/5/67, T&T)
Sāo Paulo (3/8/92, U)
Seagulls (12/5/59, TP)
Sea Knell (12/13/63, M)
Seal in Nature (8/66, M)
Seattle Uplift (11/21/88, U)
Scenic (7/6/56, CH)
Self-Service (11/26/78, FN)
Sensualist, The (p. 2/16/57, CH)
Seven New Ways of Looking at the Moon (7/21/69, T&T)
Seven Odes to Seven Natural Processes (3–4/84, FN)
Seven Stanzas at Easter (1/10/60, TP)
Shaving Mirror (12/77, FN)
Shillington (11/15/58, TP)
Shipbored (9/2/54, CH)
Short Days, The (12/61, TP)
Shuttle, The (5/11/80, FN)
Sin City, D.C. (6/76, T&T)
Skyey Developments (1/17/69, T&T)
Sleeping with You (9/24/83, FN)
Sleepless in Scarsdale (6/4/74, T&T)
Small-City People (12/18/81, FN)
Snapshots (8/9/54, CH)