Reflections by R. S. Thomas The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address Even the clearest water, if deep enough can drown. Never think to surprise them. 1 6
In and Out of Time by Maya Angelou The sun has come. The mist has gone. We see in the distance... our long way home. I was always yours to have. 15 33
To the Sea by Philip Larkin To step over the low wall that div Road from concrete walk above the Brings sharply back something know The miniature gaiety of seasides. Everything crowds under the low ho 9
When I Think About Myself by Maya Angelou When I think about myself, I almost laugh myself to death, My life has been one great big jok A dance that’s walked A song that’s spoke, 21 60
Going, Going by Philip Larkin I thought it would last my time— The sense that, beyond the town, There would always be fields and f Where the village louts could clim Such trees as were not cut down; 4 11
You Have No Enemies by Charles Mackay You have no enemies, you say? Alas! my friend, the boast is poor He who has mingled in the fray Of duty, that the brave endure, Must have made foes! If you have 6
The Strongest of the Strange by Charles Bukowski you won’t see them often for wherever the crowd is they are not. those odd ones, not 3 28
Journey to the Interior by Margaret Atwood There are similarities I notice: that the hills which the eyes make flat as a wall together, open as I move to let me through; become 8 25
Celia, Celia by Adrian Mitchell When I am sad and weary When I think all hope has gone When I walk along High Holborn I think of you with nothing on 1 15
Come, and Be my Baby by Maya Angelou The highway is full of big cars going nowhere fast And folks is smoking anything that Some people wrap their lies around And you sit wondering 5 15
The Figure a Poem Makes by Robert Frost Abstraction is an old story with t Granted no one but a humanist much Then there is this wildness whereo It should be of the pleasure of a No tears in the writer, no tears i 1
“Doubt thou the stars are fire” by William Shakespeare Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love. 1 13
“My Son, my Executioner” by Donald Hall My son, my executioner, I take you in my arms, Quiet and small and just astir And whom my body warms. Sweet death, small son, our instru 1 5
The Pig by Ogden Nash The pig, if I am not mistaken; Supplies us sausage, ham, and baco Let others say his heart is big— I call it stupid of the pig. 1
The Skunk by Seamus Heaney Up, black, striped and demasked li At a funeral mass, the skunk’s tai Paraded the skunk. Night after ni I expected her like a visitor. The refrigerator whinnied into sil 2 2
The Jaguar by Ted Hughes The apes yawn and adore their flea The parrots shriek as if they were Like cheap tarts to attract the st Fatigued with indolence, tiger and Lie still as the sun. The boa-con 5
Friendly advice to a lot of young men by Charles Bukowski Go to Tibet. Ride a camel. Read the Bible. Dye your shoes blue. Grow a Beard. 16 42
Bone by Mary Oliver Understand, I am always trying to what the soul is, and where hidden, and what shape and so, last week, 5
We Had Him by Maya Angelou Beloveds, now we know that we know Without notice, our dear love can In the instant that Michael is go Though we are many, each of us is Only when we confess our confusion
The Phoenix by Sylvia Townsend Warner Many authorities on bird life had It was a remarkably fine phoenix, It costs a great deal of money to For quite a while Mr. Poldero con But then business slackened. The 1 1
Seven Stanzas at Easter by John Updike Make no mistake: if He rose at al it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall. 1 2
Eurydice by Margaret Atwood He is here, come down to look for It is the song that calls you back a song of joy and suffering equally: a promise: that things will be different up t
White Flowers by Mary Oliver Last night in the fields I lay down in the darkness to think about death, but instead I fell asleep, 1 4
A Flea and a Fly in a Flue by Ogden Nash A flea and a fly in a flue Were imprisoned, so what could the Said the fly, “let us flee!” “Let us fly!” said the flea. So they flew through a flaw in the
Born Yesterday by Philip Larkin Tightly-folded bud, I have wished you something None of the others would: Not the usual stuff About being beautiful, 5
Where Does the Dance Begin, Where Does It End? by Mary Oliver Don’t call this world adorable, or It’s frisky, and a theater for mor The eyelash of lightning is neithe The struck tree burns like a pilla But the blue rain sinks, straight 3 2
Fifth Philosopher’s Song by Aldous Huxley A million million spermatozoa All of them alive; Out of their cataclysm but one poo Dare hope to survive. And among that billion minus one 1 4
To a Man by Maya Angelou My man is Black Golden Amber Cha Warm mouths of Brandy Fine Cautious sunlight on a patterned r Coughing laughter, rocked on a whi Graceful turns on woolen stilts S 12
Five A.M. in the Pinewoods by Mary Oliver I’d seen their hoofprints in the deep needles and knew they ended the long night under the pines, walking 3 4
Toads by Philip Larkin Why should I let the toad work Squat on my life? Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork And drive the brute off? Six days of the week it soils 1
The Soldier, His Wife and the Bum by Charles Bukowski I was a bum in San Francisco but to go to a symphony concert along and the music was good but somethi audience was not and something about the orchestra 10
On this Island by W. H. Auden Look, stranger, on this island now The leaping light for your delight Stand stable here And silent be, That through the channels of the e 1 3
The Blackbird of Glanmore by Seamus Heaney On the grass when I arrive, Filling the stillness with life, But ready to scare off At the very first wrong move. In the ivy when I leave. 3 4