Table of Contents
Prose in a Small Space 1
Time's Arrow
Bellringer 5
Lucille, Post-Operative Years 7
Family Reunion 8
Girls on the Town, 1946 10
Eurydice, Turning 11
Scarf 12
From the Sidelines 13
Mirror 14
Found Sonnet: The Wig 15
Trans- 16
Climacteric 17
Island 18
Vacation 19
A-wing' 20
After Egypt
Little Town 25
Foundry 26
Sarra's Answer 28
Sarra's Blues 29
Aubade: The Constitutional 30
Sketch for Terezín 32
Orders of the Day 35
Transit 36
Declaration of Interdependence 37
Elevator Man, 1949 39
Youth Sunday 40
Aubade East 41
Trayvon, Redux 42
Aubade West 44
Naji, 14. Philadelphia. 45
Ghettoland: Exeunt 46
Spring Cricket
The Spring Cricket Considers the Question of Negritude 49
The Spring Cricket Repudiates His Parable of Negritude 50
The Spring Cricket's Grievance: Little Outburst 52
The Spring Cricket Observes Valentine's Day 53
The Spring Cricket's Discourse on Critics 54
Hip Hop Cricket 55
Postlude 56
A Standing Witness
Beside the Golden Door 59
Your Tired, Your Poor … 60
Bridged Air 61
Giant 62
Huddle 63
Woman, Aflame 64
Mother of Exiles 65
Wretched 66
Limbs Astride, Land to Land 67
World-Wide Welcome 68
Imprisoned Lightning 70
Send These to Me 71
Keep Your Storied Pomp 72
The Sunset Gates 73
Eight Angry Odes
The Angry Odes: An Introduction 77
Pedestrian Crossing, Charlottesville 78
Ode on a Shopping List Found in Last Season's Shorts 79
Insomnia Etiquette 80
Ode to My Right Knee 82
Anniversary 83
Shakespeare Doesn't Care 84
A Sonnet for the Sonnet 86
Little Book of Woe
Soup 89
Pearl on Wednesdays 91
The Terror and the Pity 92
No Color 93
Blues, Straight 94
Borderline Mambo 95
Voiceover 96
Rosary 98
Green Koan 100
Last Words 101
This Is the Poem I Did Not Write 102
Rive d'Urale 103
Mercy 107
Wayfarer's Night Song 108
Notes 109
Acknowledgments 113