Table of Contents
Foreword by Dana Gioia
I.
See 1
Histories 2
During the Protests 3
To Ernest Hilbert 4
Reckonings 5
The Recluse 6
In Sickness 7
Agricola: A Song for Planting 8
The Consolation of Oranges 9
II. THE MOUNTAINS OF CHINA
Auden in China 15
An Interlude 16
Bei Dao in Ypsilanti 17
The Wild Geese 18
Sean Golden in Sligo 19
III. WIPED OUT
I. She was a liar—pathological 23
II. She said she was in nursing school: a lie 24
III. I got what her eyes promised, that’s for sure 25
IV. A stripper, that’s what she turned out to be 26
V. You hear sometimes the things a guy believes 27
VI. A man grows used to anything, we say 28
VII. Most nights, if she was dancing, I would sit 29
VIII. Was this a dream? I’d find myself, at night 30
IX. Remember. In the greasy vinyl booth 31
X. Sometimes, I’d try to read, or sit through Mass 32
XI. Just when I thought that I’d been left alone 33
XII. I listened to the callers’ breath, the dark 34
XIII. The bartender stood playing with her black 35
XIV. It will not wash away: all that once flicked 36
IV.
Passover 39
The Scar of Odysseus 41
Bright Apples 43
Dreams that Come Friday 45
The Book of Kings 47
V. THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS
I. Jesus Is Condemned 53
II. Jesus Takes His Cross 54
III. Jesus Falls the First Time 55
IV. Jesus Meets His Mother 56
V. Simon Helps to Carry Jesus’ Cross 57
VI. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus 58
VII. Jesus Falls the Second Time 59
VIII. Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem 60
IX. Jesus Falls a Third Time 61
X. Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments 62
XI. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross 63
XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross 64
XIII. Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross 65
XIV. Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb 66
VI.
In the Village of Berwyn 69
How Many Exiles in the Monastery 70
Epithalamium 71
Laundry and James Tate 72
Ecce Homo 73
After the Ascension 74
Some Will Remember You 75
On this Rich Ground 78
Autumn Road 80
Acknowledgments 83
About the Author 85
