Time's Covenant Book

Preface     13
Bavarian Shrine and other poems (1990)
Starfish     17
Lazarus in Skins     18
Railyard in Winter     19
Bavarian Shrine     20
Forgetful Lazarus     22
Cover the Statues     23
Lazarus and Basements     24
Fetish     25
Lazarus in Sumatra     27
Rites de Passage     28
Lazarus Listens     29
Skunk Cabbage     30
Foundry     31
Moths at Nightfall     32
Precious Vials     33
Wood Fungus     35
Bee Balm     36
Lichens     37
Spiders     38
Statues and Mannequins     40
December     45
Craneworld     46
River Plants     47
White Waterlilies     47
Bullhead Lily     48
Pickerelweed     49
Conch-Shell     50
Fingernails     52
Ears     53
Nose     55
My Mother in Old Age     56
Coastlines (1992)
A Florida Childhood
Horseshoe Crab     59
My First Beach     60
Remembrance     62
Adages of a Grandmother     63
Grackle     65
A Florida Childhood     66
Live Oak, with Bromeliads     67
Fragrances     68
Florida Bay     69
The Way North
Highway Grasses     72
Savannahs     73
Cellar     74
Mullein     75
Childhood House     77
Old Photographs of Children     78
Garter Snake     79
Of Paradise as a Garden     80
The Courtesy of Old Oblivion     81
Halifax     82
The Public Gardens     83
Railway Stanzas     86
Grasses in November     88
Getting Ready for the Night     89
Nova Scotia     90
For A Modest God (1997)
Quark Fog     95
I
Gazing at Waves     97
What It Is Like To Be A Bat     99
The Ant Lion     100
An Oak Skinned by Lightning     101
Rooster     102
A Crow at Morning     104
Flamingos     105
Anhinga     107
Turtle's Skull      108
Coastlines     109
II
Mutanabbi in Exile     112
Mutanabbi Praises the Prince     114
Mutanabbi Remembers his Father     115
The Caliph     117
III
Origins     119
Gravediggers' April     120
Hand-Painted China     122
Spider Silk     123
The Suitors of my Grandmother's Youth     124
The Gossip of the Fire     125
Finding a Portrait of the Rugby Colonists, my Ancestors among them     126
For a Modest God     127
Rain in Childhood     128
IV
Baudelaire to Mme. Aupick at Honfleur (1867)     130
Salle des Martyrs     132
Blood     133
Hate     135
Amber     136
History     137
Araby (2001)
Jaham's Poetic Manifesto     141
The Father of Clouds
Jaham in the Autumn Rains     143
Bald Adham     144
Bald Adham Says his Prayers     146
Jaham Divines     147
An Old Poet Bites     148
Jaham on the Conquests of Childhood     149
Jaham and His Cat     150
Jaham Serenades a Snake     151
The Baboons of Hada     153
The Egyptian Vulture     155
At the Ruins of Recollecton
Bald Adham and Black Mary     157
Adham Sings of Internal Combustion     158
Love Among the Dunes     159
Jaham Deciphers the Script of Insomnia     160
Mrs. Jaham     161
Bald Adham Falls into Heresy     162
Adham Overhauls an Old Caprice     163
Hubble-Bubble     165
The Jinn     166
Jaham Sings of the Fear of the Moon     167
Jaham's Dream Camel     168
Jaham Travels West to Khemisset Oasis     169
At the Ruins of Recollection     170
Last Things
Ramadan     173
Jaham Praises     174
Jaham on the Difficult Beauty of the First White Hair     175
Caliph of Confusion     176
A Duet with the Wolf     177
Adham Atones     179
The Sweat of Adham     180
Adham in the Torments of the Tomb     181
Jaham Curses     184
Allah Answers Jaham in the Days of Dust     185
Jaham Says Adham's Beads     187
The Junkyard Vision of Jaham     188
Jaham Plans for the Disposal of his Remains     189
Jaham's Last Words     190
Daybreak at the Straits (2004)
The Jewel Box     193
I
What the Snow Was Not     195
Another Thing     196
Ant-Lion     197
Dicie Fletcher     199
A Fragrance of Time     203
Childhood Pieties     204
Two Views of My Grandfather's Courting Letters     205
Cremains     207
Little Auguries     208
Mrs. Lazarus     210
Cradle-Song of the Emperor Penguins     211
Rowing into the Glades     212
White Phalaenopsis     214
A Salt Marsh near Truro     215
Daybreak at the Straits     216
A Freshly Whitewashed Room     218
II
Watchdog and Rooster     221
Episode with a Potato     222
Song for an Ironing Board     223
The Song of the Whisk     224
Time as Escargot     225
Vacuum Pantoum     226
The Gorgon in the Urn     227
A Dachshund in Bohemia     228
An Epistle from Rice Point     229
Our Spiders     231
III
Six Sonnets on Sex and Death      233
Microcosm     239
My Grandfather's Pocket Watch     240
Lines Written after Reading Thomas a Kempis     242
Uncollected Poems (1958-2006)
After Becquer     245
Big Toe     246
A House in Winter     247
Milkweed     248
Two Songs of a Jug-Eared Dwarf
Murderous Roundel     249
Against Death     250
To a Bird in Winter     252
Time's Covenant
Prologue     255
The Founding of Covenant     259
The Landscape of Covenant     261
The Crossing     263
Master of the Covenant     266
Albert Milmow's Letters Home     268
Mr. Holgrove, Daguerrotypist     270
James and Virginie: My Great-Grandparents in Daguerrotype     272
"True Manliness"     274
Two Private Prayers of the Rev. Blacklock     276
Eden in Sepia     277
Time's Covenant (2006)     279
Coda     281
Notes     283
Acknowledgements     285