Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems Book

Lucky House: New Poems (1999-2007)

Lucky House 3

The White Couch 5

Honeymoon 11

Cairo, NY 12

First Nights 14

Handymen 17

The Hammer 18

Migration 21

Recycling 23

Hardheaded Weather 24

Pre-War 26

Outside 26

Lucky House 27

Our House Is Yours 28

Digging Out 29

The Brakes 29

The Tenants 32

Translation 35

Feast 36

Test Drive 38

Walk 40

The Way a Long Dress Turns a Corner 43

Communion 45

Nina's Blues 46

The Later Songs of Billie Holiday 47

John Henry's Hammer 48

A Small Story That Involves Me 48

Dead Man Rides Subway 49

Manchild 49

How to Do 50

Nature Poem 53

The Ghost, the Mountain 56

From Kartunes (1980)

Discourse of the Young Poet 63

The Thief 64

Testimony of the Drunk Asleep on the Couch 65

Success 66

The Van Gogh Variation 66

The Idiot Falls in Love 67

Hawker 68

From The Modern World (unpublished manuscript, 1981)

The Professor Tries to Inspire His Poetry Students 73

Knowledge 75

Living with Genius 76

White Socks 77

The Corpse Before the Library of Knowledge 79

Charlie Chaplin Impersonates a Poet 80

Insomnia 81

An Uncomfortable Moment with Eve 82

Newborn 83

U.S. Involvement in "Latin America" 84

The House of Misfits 85

Amelia Earhart in Paradise 87

Thomas Edison, Trying to Prevent the Bottling of His Last Breath 88

Atomic Prayer 89

The Revisionist 90

From Victims of the Latest Dance Craze (1986)

Dance at the Amherst County Public Library 95

April 97

November 98

January 99

Piano Concert 100

Crows in a Strong Wind 101

Jack Johnson Does the Eagle Rock 102

The Dance 103

Aerial Ballet 104

Miss Johnson Dances for the First Time 105

Johnny Laces Up His RedShoes 107

Radio 108

The Good Look 109

My Mother, If She Had Won Free Dance Lessons 111

The Poetic Interpretation of the Twist 113

Jazz Dancer 115

Victims of the Latest Dance Craze 117

From The Gathering of My Name (1991)

The Grin 123

The Wrong Street 124

Why Do So Few Blacks Study Creative Writing? 125

Song 126

Sherbet 128

Alabama, c. 1963: A Ballad by John Coltrane 131

Leadbelly 132

Muddy Waters & the Chicago Blues 133

Thelonious Monk 133

William Carlos Williams 135

The Supremes 135

Gratitude 137

From You Don't Miss Your Water (1995)

I Know (I'm Losing You) 147

A Little Bit of Soap 147

One Kind Favor 148

Soothe Me 149

A Rag, a Bone, and a Hank of Hair 149

All God's Dangers 150

Money (That's What I Want) 151

Motherless Children 151

Papa Was a Rolling Stone 152

The Chapel of Love 153

I Just Wanna Testify 154

Deuce and a Quarter 155

You Don't Miss Your Water 156

From The Autobiography of a Jukebox (1997)

I'm a Fool to Love You 161

Almost Grown 162

Leavin' Trunk 163

Santa Claus (come straight to the ghetto) 164

Why Was I Born? A Duet Between John Coltrane & Kenny Burrell 165

Photo of Miles Davis at Lennie's-on-the-Turnpike, 1968 166

Chuck Berry 167

Youngblood 169

From Brutal Imagination (2001)

Brutal Imagination 177

How I Got Born 179

My Heart 179

Who Am I? 180

Sightings 181

My Face 183

Where Am I? 184

The Law 185

One True Thing 186

Composite 187

Charles Stuart in the Hospital 188

Uncle Tom in Heaven 190

What I'm Made Of 191

What the Sheriff Suspects 192

Next of Kin 193

What Is Known About the Abductor 194

What Isn't Known About the Abductor 195

Sympathy 196

Confession 197

Birthing 199