Poems List
Explore poems from our collection
The Lesson
The Lesson
I keep on dying again.
Veins collapse, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
…
Still I Rise
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll…
Passing Time
Passing Time
Your skin like dawn
Mine like musk
One paints the beginning
of a certain end.
The other, the end of …
Refusal
Refusal
Beloved,
In what other lives or lands
Have I known your lips
Your Hands
Your Laughter brave
Irreverent. <…
Momma Welfare Roll
Momma Welfare Roll
Her arms semaphore fat triangles,
Pudgy hands bunched on layered hips
Where bones idle under years of fatback
And lima…
Men
Men
When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old men.
Young men shar…
Insomniac
Insomniac
There are some nights when
sleep plays coy,
aloof and disdainful.
And all the wiles
that I employ to win
…
California Prodigal
California Prodigal
FOR DAVID P—B
The eye follows, the land
Slips upward, creases down, forms
The gentle buttocks of a young
Alone
Alone
Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
…
A Conceit
A Conceit
Give me your hand
Make room for me
to lead and follow
you
beyond this rage of poetry.
L…
These are not the only wonders of the world
These are not the only wonders of the world
When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb…
Winter garden
Winter garden
Winter garden,
the moon thinned to a thread,
insects singing.
Translated by Robert Hass
The squid seller's call
The squid seller's call
The squid seller's call
mingles with the voice
of the cuckoo.
Translated by Robert Hass
What fish feel
What fish feel
What fish feel,
birds feel, I don't know--
the year ending.
Translated by Robert Hass
The dragonfly
The dragonfly
The dragonfly
can't quite land
on that blade of grass.
Translated by Robert Hass
The oak tree
The oak tree
The oak tree:
not interested
in cherry blossoms.
Translated by Robert Hass
Staying at an inn
Staying at an inn
Staying at an inn
where prostitutes are also sleeping--
bush clover and the moon.
Translated by Robert Hass
Taking a nap
Taking a nap
Taking a nap,
feet planted
against a cool wall.
Translated by Robert Hass
In this world of ours,
In this world of ours,
Yo no naka wa kutte hako shite nete okite
Sate sono ato wa shinuru bakari zo
In this world of ours,
We eat only to cast ou…
Moonlight slanting
Moonlight slanting
Moonlight slanting
through the bamboo grove;
a cuckoo crying.
Translated by Robert Hass
Heat waves shimmering
Heat waves shimmering
Heat waves shimmering
one or two inches
above the dead grass.
Translated by Robert Hass
Fleas, lice
Fleas, lice
Fleas, lice,
a horse peeing
near my pillow.
Translated by Robert Hass
Don't imitate me
Don't imitate me
Don't imitate me;
it's as boring
as the two halves of a melon.
Translated by Robert Hass
First snow
First snow
First snow
falling
on the half-finished bridge.
Translated by Robert Hass