Moramarco, Fred; Al Zolynas (eds.);
The Poetry of Men's Lives: An International Anthology
University of Georgia Press, 2004, 400 pages
ISBN 0820326496, 9780820326498
topics: | poetry | world | gender | anthology
A very global eclectic of the various emotions of manhood, collecting close to three hundred poems, mostly from non-English regions. The global range of experience is particularly appealing - Hungarian Peter Zilahy intertwining his coming of age sexual experiences with the rise and fall of various dictators, Pakistan's Taufiq Rafat reflecting on his forceful circumcision at six, or Egyptian Amal Dunqul's poignant tale of a prostitute searching the hospitals for her brother, missing in war.
More than 250 men poets from across the globe explore questions of manhood, hidden and in the open. Musings include Australian poet Clive James' pre-occupation with "Gabriel Sabatini's sweat" while Bishwabimohan Shreshtha from Nepal worries about his role as breadwinner.
The book is arranged by themes, each further divided by region, so as to bring out the cultural differences in each experience at the same time underlining the shared experience of manhood. The sections are boyhood and youth; views of women; families; cultural, personal and the male identity; men and women; myths and archetypes; spirituality; politics, war, and revolution; sex and sexuality; poets and poetry, artists and art; brothers, friends, mentors, and rivals; work, sports, and games; aging, illness, and death.
On the whole, is generally rewarding on the "where-the-page-falls-open" test. Some of the more extreme selections, such as reveal the Yi Cha's intolerance for his lesbian neighbours, or Clive James's fascination with the sweat of a woman tennis player enliven the poem.
Fred Moramarco, Professor of English at San Diego State University, is the editor Poetry International. Al Zolymas is a professor of English at Alliant International University in San Diego. They are also coeditors of Men of Our Time: An Anthology of Male Poetry in Contemporary America (also published by the University of Georgia Press). [also: review at http://www.southernscribe.com/reviews/poetry/poetrymenslives.htm]
tr. mark strand In the warm, humid night, noiseless and dead, a boy cries. His crying behind the wall, the light behind the window are lost in the shadow of muffled footsteps, of tired voices. Yet the sound of medicine poured into a spoon can be heard. A boy cries in the night, behind the wall, across the street, far away a boy cries, in another city, in another world, perhaps. And I see the hand that lifts the spoon while the other holds the head, and I see the slick thread run down the boy's chin, and slip into the street, only a thread, and slip through the city. And nobody else in the world exists but that boy crying. [source:http://culturalbaggage.blogspot.com/2007/06/carlos-drummond-de-andrade.html|culturalbaggage]
[tr. Herlinde Spahr and Leonard Nathan] It takes so little: An afternoon of burnished hours that will not fit together and himself broken up by himself sitting in various chairs with almost everywhere a soul or a body. In one part of the room is night. In another, time past, vacation and war. On the ceiling the sea touches the shining beach, and no hand that controls all this, no equerry, no computer, only forever the same self, selfsame he, someone, somebody scattered, the uncollected man in converse with himself, dreaming and thinking present, invisible. Someone who was going to eat and sleep later. Someone with a watch and shoes. Someone who left. Someone who was going to leave. Someone who stayed on for a while. Cees Nooteboom (1931-) is a noted Dutch author, known mostly for his novels and travel writing, but he likes to think of himself as a poet first here he muses on fragmented experiences and what it means to his uncollected identity. Links: bio: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nooteb.htm wikipedia: Cees Nooteboom poems: http://netherlands.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=4001
Before you came things were just what they were: the road precisely a road, the horizon fixed, the limit of what could be seen, a glass of wine no more than a glass of wine. With you the world took on the spectrum radiating from my heart: your eyes gold as they open to me, slate the colour that falls each time I lose all hope. With your advent roses burst into flame: you were the artist of dried-up leaves, sorceress who flicked her wrist to change dust into soot. You lacquered the night black. As for the sky, the road, the cup of wine: one was my tear-drenched shirt, the other an aching nerve, the third a mirror that never reflected the same thing. Now you are here again - stay with me. This time things will fall into place; the road can be the road, the sky nothing but the sky; the glass of wine, as it should be, the glass of wine. see also this alternate translation by Agha Shahid Ali in bookexcerptise: The rebel's silhouette
tr. Lena Jayyusi and Naomi Shihab Nye How should I direct my steps to her now? In which land might I find her, on what streets of what city should I ask? Suppose I were to locate the path to her house, even imagining it, would I press the doorbell? And what would I say? How would I greet her,, would I stare into her face, press the glistening wine of her fingers... Would I unload the pain of my years? Once twenty years aog in the air-conditioned train I kissed her the whole night long... [Iraqi poet, b. 1943]
tr. Sharif Elmusa and Thomas G. Ezzy He sits in the corner, writes, as the naked woman... mingles with the nightclub's patrons, auctions off her beauty. She asks him how the war is going, and he answers: "You needn't worry about the treasures of your body, our country's enemy is just like us, he circumcises males and loves foreign imports, just like us, he hates por and pays for guns and hookers." She cries. He sits in the corner as the naked woman passes. He invites her to his table. She can't stay long, she says: since morning she's been combing army hospitals, searching for her brother, whose unit was encircled across the Suez ('The land returns, her brother doesn't...) She has had to earn the bread in her brother's absence. How she will wear again her modest clothes when he gets back. She shows his picture with his children on a holiday. She cries. [Egyptian poet]
My bumpy road to sexual maturity was paved with the deaths of Communist dictators. My first sexual experience coincided with the death of Mao Zedong: I was bitten by a girl called Diana in nursery school. My voice broke when Tito died, and I had my first ejaculation when Brezhnev went. For three days all they played on the radio was classical music, which I thought was rather overdoing it; some schools were even closed. Then for a long time there was nothing. As an experiment, I took a girl to the movies, but the film was too good, and I got a cramp in my hand. Events accelerated at high school. There were only a couple of months between the first kiss and the first frantic fumblings. After Andropov Chernenko quickly checked out. A few more weeks and it was Enver Hoxha’s turn, but I’d rather not go into that. I first found out about the G-spot when Ceauescu was executed. Kim Il Sung cast new light on my broadening horizons. Luckily, the charges were dropped. Now as for Fidel . . . (online source: http://www.zilahy.net/media/excerpts/giraffe_english.pdf) (this is a different translation, but very close, and perhaps a little easier, than the one in the book.)
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini For I know it tastes as pure as Malvern water, Though laced with bright bubbles like the aqua minerale That melted the kidney stones of Michelangelo As sunlight the snow in spring. Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini In a green Lycergus cup with a sprig of mint, But add no sugar - The bitterness is what I want. If I craved sweetness I would be asking you to bring me The tears of Annabel Croft. I never asked for the wrist-bands of Maria Bueno, Though their periodic transit of her glowing forehead Was like watching a bear's tongue lap nectar. I never asked for the blouse of Francoise Durr, Who refused point-blank to improve her souffle serve For fear of overdeveloping her upper arm - Which indeed remained delicate as a fawn's femur, As a fern's frond under which cool shadows gather So that the dew lingers. Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini And give me credit for having never before now Cried out with longing. Though for all the years since TV acquired colour To watch Wimbledon for even a single day Has left me shaking with grief like an ex-smoker Locked overnight in a cigar factory, Not once have I let loose as now I do The parched howl of deprivation, The croak of need. Did I ever demand, as I might well have done, The socks of Tracy Austin? Did you ever hear me call for the cast-off Pumas Of Hana Mandlikova? Think what might have been distilled from these things, And what a small request it would have seemed - It would not, after all, have been like asking For something so intimate as to arouse suspicion Of mental derangement. I would not have been calling for Calting Bassett's knickers Or the tingling, Teddy Tinting B-cup brassiere Of Andrea Temesvari. Yet I denied myself. I have denied myself too long. If I had been Pat Cash at that great moment Of triumph, I would have handed back the trophy Saying take that thing away And don't let me see it again until It spills what makes this lawn burst into flower: Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini. In the beginning there was Gorgeous Gussie Moran And even when there was just her it was tough enough But by now the top hundred boasts at least a dozen knock-outs Who make it difficult to keep one's tongue From lolling like a broken roller blind. Out of deference to Billie-Jean I did my best To control my male chauvinist urges - An objectivity made easier to achieve When Betty Stove came clumping out to play On a pair of what appeared to be bionic legs Borrowed from Six Million Dollar Man. I won't go so far as to say I harbour Similar reservations about Steffi Graf- I merely note that her thigh muscles when tense Look interchangeable with those of Boris Becker Yet all are agreed that there can be no doubt About Martina Navratilova: Since she lent her body to Charles Atlas The definition of the veins on her right forearm Looks like the Mississippi river system Photographed from a satellite, And though she may unleash a charming smile When crouching to dance at the ball with Ivan Lendl, I have always found to admire her yet remain detached Has been no problem. But when the rain stops long enough for the true beauties To come out swinging under the outshone sun The spectacle is hard for a man to take, And in the case of this supernally graceful dish Likened to a panther by slavering sports reportcrs Who pitiably fail to realise that any panther With a top-spin forehand line drive like hers Would be managed personally by Mark McCormack - I'm obliged to admit defeat. So let me drink deep from the bitter cup. Take it to her between any two points of a tie break That she may shake above it her thick black hair A nocturne from which the droplets as they fall Flash like shooting stars - And as their lustre becomes liqueur Let the full calyx be repeatedly carried to me. Until I tell you to stop Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini. (online source: npr: + 1 poem) Australian-born poet, longtime resident in UK (1939-) Poet Links: poems: windows is shutting down (poem on grammar) bio: http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/jamesc/jamesc.html wikipedia : Clive James interview : Decca Aitkenhead in the guardian
from http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/booksea.cgi?ISBN=0820323519 Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix
Asia Anzai Hitoshi: New Made 2 Shuja Nawaz: The Initiation 3 From the day he could talk, the son asked about his father and got no answer. ... each year's questions were laid to rest like a still-born child, unlamented. Till at fifteen someone slapped his face with word of his father's unavenged murder. That night he took out the family rifle, received blessings from his mother and left. when the wailing arose from the other village, the elders saw the rifle he carried and pointed him out as Sherdil Khan's son. Taufiq Rafat: Circumcision 4 Having hauled down my pajamas they dragged me, all legs and teeth, .... [to a barber] I did not like his mustachios Europe Mario Benedetti: The Magnet 5 Ciaran Berry: Uascan 6 Ussin Kerim: Mother 8 Ivan Matanov: Still l see in front of me 9 Valeri Petrov: A Cry from Childhood 10 Peter Redgrove: My Fathers Trapdoors 11 Jean-Pierre Rosnay: Piazza San Marco 16 James Sacré: A Little Boy, I'm Not Sure Anymore 17 South America Carlos Drummond De Andrade: Boy Crying in the Night 20 Central America and the Caribbean Norberto James: I Had No Books 21 Mervyn Morris: The Pond 22
Asia Nobuo Ayukawa: Sister, I'm Sorry 24 Yu Jian: Thank You Father 25 Jayanta Mahapatra: Shadows 28 Wang Xiaolong: In Memoriam: Dedicated to My Father 29 The Middle East Yehuda Amichai: A Flock of Sheep near the Airport 30 Yair Hurvitz: An Autobiographical Moment 31 Shaun Levin: With Your Mother in a Cafe 31 Europe Martin Crucefix: Pieta 33 Michael Donaghy: Inheritance 35 Franco Fortini: The Seed 36 Tonino Guerra: Canto Three 37 Seamus Heaney: In Memoriam M.K.H. 38 Alan Jenkins: Chopsticks 38 Lyubomir Levchev: Cronies 40 Karl Lubomirski: Mother 41 Stein Mehren: Mother, we were a heavy burden 41 Alexander Shurbanov: Attractions 42 Marin Sorescu: Balls and Hoops 43 JAN Erik Vold: Thor Heyerdahl's mother 44 Andrew Waterman: Birth Day 45 Karol Wojtyla: Sister 47 Andrea Zanzotto: From a New Height 48 Africa Ismael Hurreh: Pardon Me 51 South America Narlan Matos-Teixera: My Father's House 52 North America David Bottoms: Bronchitis 53 Jim Daniels: Falling Bricks 55 Philip Levine: Clouds above the Sea 56 Walt Mcdonald: Crossing the Road 57 W.S. Merwin: Yesterday 58 Leonard Nathan: Circlings 60 Jonas Zdanys: The Angels of Wine 61 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand Dimitris Tsaloumas: A Song for My Father 62 Dimitris Tsaloumas: Old Snapshot 63
Asia Nobuo Ayukawa: Love 67 Xue Di: Nostalgia 68 Sunil Gangopadhyay: From Athens to Cairo 69 Liu Kexiang: Choice 70 Harris Khalique: In London 71 Kim Kwang-Kyu: Sketch of a fetish 72 Fei Ma: A Drunkard 73 A.K. Ramanujan: Self-Portrait 74 Suchart Sawadsri: If You Come Close to Me 74 Nguyen Quang Thieu: from "Eleven Parts of Feeling" 75 Tenzin Tsundue: My Tibetanness 78 Ko Un: Headmaster Abe 79 Liang Xiaobin: China, I've Lost My Key 81 Europe Wolfgang Bachler: A Revolt in the Mirror 82 Alan Brownjohn: Sonnet of a Gentleman 83 Robert Crawford: Masculinity 84 Igor Irtenev: Untitled 85 Dmitry Kuzmin: Untitled 86 Michael Longley: Self-Portrait 87 Cees Nooteboom: Midday 88 Vittorio Sereni: Each Time That Almost 89 Vittorio Sereni: First Fear 90 Olafs Stumbrs: Song at a Late Hour 91 Husein Tahmiscic: You're Not a Man If You Don't Die 91 Ulku Tamer: The Dagger 92 John Powell Ward: In the Box 93 Hugo Williams: Making Friends with Ties 95 Africa Frank Aig-Imoukhuede: One Wife for One Man 96 Dennis Brutus: I Am Alien in Africa and Everywhere 97 Jonathan Kariara: A Leopard Lives in a Muu Tree 98 Leseko Rampolekeng: Welcome to the New Consciousness 99 Léopold Sédar Senghor: Totem 101 Ahmed Tidjani-Cissé: Home News 102 South America Juan Carlos Galeano: Eraser 103 Central America and the Caribbean A.L. Hendriks: Will the Real Me Please Stand Up? 104 Evan X Hyde: Super High 106 Derek Walcott: Love after Love 107 North America Robert Bly: The Man Who Didn't Know What Was His 108 Philip Dacey: Four Men in a Car 109 Pier Giorgio Di Cicco: Male Rage Poem 110 Douglas Goetsch: Bachelor Song 113 Yusef Komunyakaa: Homo Erectus 114 Gary Soto Mexicans: Begin Jogging 115 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand Les Murray: Folklore 116 Les Murray: Performance 117 John A. Scott: Man in Petersham 117 Luke Icarus Simon: Ravine 118 Russell Soaba: Looking thru Those Eyeholes 119 Dimitris Tsaloumas: Epilogue 120
Asia Rafiq Azad: Woman: The Eternal 124 Sadhu Binning: Revenge 125 Yi Cha: Neighbors 127 [despises his lesbian neighbours, thinks of them as a "waste", but is depressed to find that they despise men too, calling them "dirty" and "garbage". ] Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Before You Came 128 Huan Fu: Flower 129 tr. Dominic Cheung Give three flowers to a maiden: one on her hair, one on her breast, one on her shame. Then, she is very happy to be a woman — a dream she once had. In the dream, sh feared bearing horrible fruits. She is afraid of fruits. Deep in her eyes afire with love, she refuses all fruits, which is a pronoun, a substitute of virtue for scandal. [...] a flower on her hair. A flower on her breast. A flower on... She again removes the last flower, reconstructing once again the entire universe. Hung Hung: A Hymn to Hualien 129 Nadir Hussein: A Wedding 130 Takagi Kyozo: How to Cook Women 131 Yang Mu: Let the Wind Recite 132 Shuntaro Tanikawa: Kiss 134 The Middle East Adonis : A Woman and a Man 135 Yehuda Amichai: An Ideal Woman 136 Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati: Secret of Fire 137 Sa 'Di Yusuf: A Woman 138 Amal Dunqul: Corner 139 Salman Masalha: Cage 140 Nizar Qabbani: The Fortune Teller 140 Europe Radu Andriescu: The Apple 142 Roberto Carifi: Untitled 144 Jose Manuel Del Pino: Doré V 145 Arnljot Eggen: He called her his willow 146 Kjell Hjern: To My Love 147 Vladimir Holan: Meeting in a Lift 147 Vladimir Holan: She Asked You 148 Tasos Leivaditis: Eternal Dialogue 148 Virgil Mihaiu: The Ultimate Luxury woman 149 Czeslaw Milosz: After Paradise 150 Pentti Saarikoski: Untitled 151 Marin Sorescu: Don Juan (after he'd consumed tons of 152 lipstick...) Mustafa Ziyalan: Night Ride on 21 153 Africa Chinua Achebe: Love Cycle 154 Ko Jo Laing: I am the freshly dead husband 155 Taban Lo Liyong: 55 157 Taban Lo Liyong: 60 158 South America Antonio Cisneros: Dedicatory (to My wife) 159 Carlos Drummond De Andrade: Ballad of Love through the Ages 159 Oscar Hahn: Good Night Dear 161 Oscar Hahn: Little Phantoms 162 Oscar Hahn: Candlelight Dinner 162 Sergio Kisielewsky: Cough Drops 163 Marco Martos: Casti Connubi 164 Central America and the Caribbean Lord Kitchener: Miss Tourist 165 Roberto Fernandez Retamar: A Man and a woman 166 Jaime Sabines: I Love You at Ten in the Morning 167 North America Leonard Cohen: Suzanne 168 Galway Kinnell: The Perch 170 Charles Simic: At the Cookout 172 Quincy Troupe: Change 173 Al Zolynas: Whistling Woman 174
Asia Chairil Anwar: Heaven 176 Chairil Anwar: At the Mosque 177 Tsujii Takashi: Woman Singing 178 The Middle East Admiel Kosman: Something Hurts 179 Europe Risto Ahti: The Beloved's Face 180 Peter Armstrong: Sunderland Nights 181 Mircea Cartarescu: A happy day in my life 182 Carlos Edmundo De Ory: Silence 189 Herbert Gassner: Fear 190 Primo Levi: Samson 191 Primo Levi: Delilah 192 Harry Martinson: Santa Claus 192 Semezdin Mehmedinovic: An Essay 193 Peter Reading: Fates of Men 193 Mihai Ursachi: A Monologue 195 Africa Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali: A Voice from the Dead 200 Al-Munsif Al-Wahaybi: The Desert 201 South America Juan Carlos Galeano: Tree 202 Central America and the Caribbean Jorge Esquinca: Fable of the Hunter 203 Evan Jones: Genesis 204 Dennis Scott: Uncle Time 206 North America Michael Blumenthal: The Forces 207 Stephen Dobyns: Why Fool Around? 208 Stephen Dunn: Odysseus's Secret 209 Fred Moramarco: Clark Kent, Naked 211 Marco Morelli: A Volunteer's Fairy Tale 211 Howard White: The Men There Were Then 214 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand Peter Skrzynecki: Buddha, Birdbath, Hanging Plant 215
Asia Kriapur: Men on Fire 218 Shin Kyong-Nim: Yollim Kut Song 219 U Sam Oeur: The Loss of My Twins 221 Edwin Thumboo: The Exile 222 The Middle East Mahmud Darwish: Give Birth to Me Again That I May Know 224 Mahmud Darwish: On a Canaanite Stone in the Dead Sea 225 Admiel Kosman: Games 230 Salman Masalha: On Artistic Freedom in the Nationalist Era 231 Rami Saari: The Only Democracy (in the Middle East) 233 Tawfiq Zayyad: Here We Will Stay 234 Europe Toma Longinovic: Glorious Ruins 235 Semezdin Mehmedinovic: The Only Dream 237 Ucha Sakhltkhutsishvili: Soldiers 238 Izet Sarajlic: Untitled 239 Aleksey Shelvakh: Veterans 240 Africa Kofi Anyidoho: Desert Storm 241 Breyten Breytenbach: Eavesdropper 244 Frank Chipasula: Manifesto on Ars Poetica 245 Lupenga Mphande: I Was Sent For 246 Tanure Ojaide: State Executive 247 Jorge Rebelo: Poem of a Militant 249 Central America and the Caribbean Ricardo Castillo: Ode to the Urge 250 Fabio Morabito: Master of an Expanse 251 Luis Rogelio Nogueras: A Poem 252
Asia Rofel G. Brion: Love Song 256 Sunil Gangopadhyay: Blindfold 257 Hung Hung: Helas! 258 George Oommen: A Private Sorrow 259 Vikram Seth: Unclaimed 260 Europe Alain Bosquet: The Lovers 261 Tonino Guerra: Canto Twenty-Four 262 Zbigniew Herbert: Rosy Ear 263 Michael Hulse: Concentrating 265 Alan Jenkins: Street Life 266 Brendan Kennelly: The Swimmer 266 Kemal. Kurt: GYN-astics 268 Henri Michaux: Simplicity 269 Aleksandr Shatalov: Untitled 270 Jon Stallworthy: The Source 271 Péter Zilahy: Dictators 272 Africa Bahadur Tejani: Lines for a Hindi Poet 273 South America Ricardo Feierstein: Sex 275 North America Orlando Ricardo Menes: Sodomy 276 Len Roberts: The Problem 278 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand David Eggleton: Bouquet of Dead Flowers 279 Jonathan Fisher: Six Part Lust Story 280 Clive James: Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini 282 Luke Icarus Simon: Measuring Apollo 285
Asia Cecil Rajendra: Prince of the Dance 288 The Middle East Ahmad Shamlu: Poetry That Is Life 289 Bishwabimohan Shreshtha: Should I Earn My Daily Bread, 290 or Should I Write a Poem? (tr. Michael James Hutt) Europe Evgeny Bunimovich: Excuse and Explanation 293 Theo Dorgan: The Choice 295 Jan Erik Vold: Hokusai the old master, who painted a 296 wave like nobody ever painted a wave before him Zahrad: The Woman Cleaning Lentils 297 Adam Ziemianin: Heart Attack 298 South America Nicholas Maré: You can say that the bird as the saying 299 goes Central America and the Caribbean Hector Avellan: Declaration of Love to Kurt Cobain 300 North America Agha Shahid Ali: Ghazal 302 Virgil Suarez: Duende 304 Simon Thompson: All Apologies to L. Cohen 305
Asia Nobuo Ayukawa: The Last I Heard 308 Europe Vytautas P. Blozé: Beneath the Stars 311 Gudmundur Bodvarsson: Brother 315 Tony Curtis: The Eighth Dream 316 Snorri Hjartarson: House in Rome 318 Hédi Kaddour: Verlaine 319 Lyubomir Levchev: Front Line 320 Dennis O'driscoll: The Lads 321 Donny O'rourke: Algren 323 Rafael Pérez Estrada: My Uncle the Levitator 324 Rafael Pérez Estrada: The Unpublished Man 326 James Simmons: The Pleasant joys of Brotherhood 327 Ivan Slamnig: A Sailor 328 Kit Wright: Here Come Two Very Old Men 328 Africa Kofi Awoonor: Songs of Abuse: To Stanislaus the Renegade 329 Frank Chipasula: My Blood Brother 330 Chirikure Chirikure: This Is Where We Laid Him to Rest 331 South America Gonzalo Rojas: The Coast 333 Central America and the Caribbean Gaspar Aguilera Diaz: Does Anyone Know Where Roque Dalton Spent 334 His Final Night? Antonio Deltoro: Submarine 335 Francisco Hernandez: Autograph 336 North America Charles Bukowski: 3 old men at separate tables 337 Cyril Dabydeen: Hemingway 338 Al Pittman: The Echo of the Ax 340 Alberto Rios: A Chance Meeting of Two Men 341 Len Roberts: Men's Talk 342 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand Les Murray: The Mitchells 343
Asia Iftikhar Arif: The Twelfth Man 346 Moeen Faruqi: The Return 348 Alamgir Hashmi: Pro Bono Publico 349 Europe Kashyap Bhattacharya: The Cricketer 351 John Burnside: The Men's Harbour 353 Gunter Eich: The Man in the Blue Smock 355 Hédi Kaddour: The Bus Driver 356 Donny O'rourke: Clockwork 357 Africa Antonio Jacinto: Letter from a Contract Worker 358 Central America and the Caribbean Luis Miguel Aguilar: Memo, Who Loved Motorcycles 360 Evan Jones: The Lament of the Banana Man 362 North America Robert Francis: The Base Stealer 363 Andrew Hudgins: Tools: An Ode 364 William Matthews: Cheap Seats, the Cincinnati Gardens, 365 Professional Basketball, 1959 Christopher Merrill: A Boy juggling a Soccer Ball 365 Len Roberts: I Blame It on Him 367
Asia Duo Duo: Looking Out from Death 370 Nissim Ezekiel: Case Study 371 Huan Fu: Don't, Don't 372 Kuan Kuan: Autobiography of a Sloppy Sluggard 373 Vikram Seth: Soon 375 The Middle East Buland Al-Haydari: Old Age 376 Ahmad Shamlu: Somber Song 377 Europe Alain Bosquet: An Old Gentleman 378 Alain Bosquet: Celebrities 379 Kjell Hjern: On the Growth of Hair in Middle Age 380 Michael Longley: A Flowering 381 Henrik Nordbrandt: Old Man in Meditation 382 Central America and the Caribbean Juan Sobalvarro: I've Seen a Dead Man 383 North America Raymond Carver: This Morning 384 Peter Cooley: Language of Departure 385 Sky Gilbert: The Island of Lost Tears 386 Steve Kowit: Snapshot 388 Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand Anthony Lawrence: Goanna 389 Translators 391 Credits 393 Index of Poets 497 Index of Titles 413