The Kingfisher poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
In a year the nightingales were said to be so loud they drowned out slumber, and peafowl strolled screaming beside the ruined nunnery, through the long evening of a dazzled pub crawl, the halcyon color, portholed by those eye-spots’ stunning tapestry, unsettled the pastoral nightfall with amazements opening. Months later, intermission in a […]
The Cooling Tower poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
By night a laddered diagram seen from the windows of this bedroom town-rayflowcrs of dread ascending and descending- identifies the cooling tower, insomniac vision revealed by day as a grayed obese archangel, its twiddled dirk of ash and rhinestone a metronomic rerun of some half obliterated last nightmare of Eden in the West: […]
Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
In those days the oatfields’ fenced-in vats of running platinum, the yellower alloy of wheat and barley, whose end, however gorgeous all that trammeled rippling in the wind, came down to toaster-fodder, cereal as a commodity, were a rebuke to permanence-to bronze or any metal less utilitarian than the barbed braids that marked […]
Stacking The Straw poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
In those days the oatfields’ fenced-in vats of running platinum, the yellower alloy of wheat and barley, whose end, however gorgeous all that trammeled rippling in the wind, came down to toaster-fodder, cereal as a commodity, were a rebuke to permanence-to bronze or any metal less utilitarian than the barbed braids that marked […]
Gradual Clearing poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
Late in the day the fog wrung itself out like a sponge in glades of rain, sieving the half-invisible cove with speartips; then, in a lifting of wisps and scarves, of smoke-rings from about the islands, disclosing what had been wavering fishnet plissé as a smoothness of peau-de-soie or just-ironed percale, with a […]
Brought From Beyond poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
The magpie and the bowerbird, its odd predilection unheard of by Marco Polo when he came upon, high in Badakhshan, that blue stone’s embedded glint of pyrites, like the dance of light on water, or of angels (the surface tension of the Absolute) on nothing, turned, by processes already ancient, into pigment: ultramarine, […]
A Hairline Fracture poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
Whatever went wrong, that week, was more than weather: a shoddy streak in the fabric of the air of London that disintegrated into pollen and came charging down by the bushelful, an abrasive the color of gold dust, eroding the tearducts and littering the sidewalks in the neighborhood of Sloane Square, where the […]
A Cure At Porlock poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
For whatever did it-the cider at the Ship Inn, where the crowd from the bar that night had overflowed singing into Southey’s Corner, or an early warning of appendicitis- the remedy the chemist in the High Street purveyed was still a dose of kaopectate in morphine-the bane and the afflatus of S.T.C. when […]
Women’s Song Of The Corn poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
How beautiful are the corn rows, Stretching to the morning sun, Stretching to the evening sun. Very beautiful, the long rows of corn. How beautiful is the white corn, I husk it, I grind it. Very beautiful, my white corn. How beautiful is the red corn, I gather it and make fine meal, […]
Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
I am waving a ripe sunflower, I am scattering sunflower pollen to the four world-quarters. I am joyful because of my melons, I am joyful because of my beans, I am joyful because of my squashes. The sunflower waves. So did the corn wave When the wind blew against it, So did my […]
Women’s Song Of The Corn poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
How beautiful are the corn rows, Stretching to the morning sun, Stretching to the evening sun. Very beautiful, the long rows of corn. How beautiful is the white corn, I husk it, I grind it. Very beautiful, my white corn. How beautiful is the red corn, I gather it and make fine meal, […]
Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
I am waving a ripe sunflower, I am scattering sunflower pollen to the four world-quarters. I am joyful because of my melons, I am joyful because of my beans, I am joyful because of my squashes. The sunflower waves. So did the corn wave When the wind blew against it, So did my […]
White Currants poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Shall I give you white currants? I do not know why, but I have a sudden fancy for this fruit. At the moment, the idea of them cherishes my senses, And they seem more desirable than flawless emeralds. Since I am, in fact, empty-handed, I might have chosen gems out of India, But […]
Vespers poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Last night, at sunset, The foxgloves were like tall altar candles. Could I have lifted you to the roof of the greenhouse, my Dear, I should have understood their burning.
Two Lacquer Prints poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
The Emperor’s Garden ONCE, in the sultry heat of midsummer, An Emperor caused the miniature mountains in his garden To be covered with white silk, That so crowned, They might cool his eyes With the sparkle of snow. Meditation A wise man, Watching the stars pass across the sky, Remarked: In the upper […]
Twenty-Four Hokku On A Modern Theme poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
I Again the larkspur, Heavenly blue in my garden. They, at least, unchanged. II How have I hurt you? You look at me with pale eyes, But these are my tears. III Morning and evening– Yet for us once long ago Was no division. IV I hear many words. Set an hour when […]
Twenty-Four Hokku On A Modern Theme poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
I Again the larkspur, Heavenly blue in my garden. They, at least, unchanged. II How have I hurt you? You look at me with pale eyes, But these are my tears. III Morning and evening– Yet for us once long ago Was no division. IV I hear many words. Set an hour when […]
The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
GRASS-BLADES push up between the cobblestones And catch the sun on their flat sides Shooting it back, Gold and emerald, Into the eyes of passers-by. And over the cobblestones, Square-footed and heavy, Dances the trained bear. The cobbles cut his feet, And he has a ring in his nose But still he dances, […]
Towns in Colour poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
I Red Slippers Red slippers in a shop-window, and outside in the street, flaws of grey, windy sleet! Behind the polished glass, the slippers hang in long threads of red, festooning from the ceiling like stalactites of blood, flooding the eyes of passers-by with dripping colour, jamming their crimson reflections against the windows […]
To-Morrow To Fresh Woods And Pastures New poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
As for a moment he stands, in hardy masculine beauty, Poised on the fircrested rock, over the pool which below him Gleams in the wavering sunlight, waiting the shock of his plunging. So for a moment I stand, my feet planted firm in the present, Eagerly scanning the future which is so soon […]
To A Husband poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Brighter than fireflies upon the Uji River Are your words in the dark, Beloved.
The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
GRASS-BLADES push up between the cobblestones And catch the sun on their flat sides Shooting it back, Gold and emerald, Into the eyes of passers-by. And over the cobblestones, Square-footed and heavy, Dances the trained bear. The cobbles cut his feet, And he has a ring in his nose But still he dances, […]
The Swans poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
The swans float and float Along the moat Around the Bishop’s garden, And the white clouds push Across a blue sky With edges that seem to draw in and harden. Two slim men of white bronze Beat each with a hammer on the end of a rod The hours of God. Striking a […]
The Starling poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Forever the impenetrable wall Of self confines my poor rebellious soul, I never see the towering white clouds roll Before a sturdy wind, save through the small Barred window of my jail. I live a thrall With all my outer life a clipped, square hole, Rectangular; a fraction of a scroll Unwound and […]
The Pond poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Cold, wet leaves Floating on moss-coloured water And the croaking of frogs- Cracked bell-notes in the twilight.
The Poet poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
What instinct forces man to journey on, Urged by a longing blind but dominant! Nothing he sees can hold him, nothing daunt His never failing eagerness. The sun Setting in splendour every night has won His vassalage; those towers flamboyant Of airy cloudland palaces now haunt His daylight wanderings. Forever done With simple […]
The Letter poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper Like draggled fly’s legs, What can you tell of the flaring moon Through the oak leaves? Or of my uncertain window and the bare floor Spattered with moonlight? Your silly quirks and twists have nothing in them Of blossoming hawthorns, And this paper is dull, […]
The Great Adventure Of Max Breuck poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
1 A yellow band of light upon the street Pours from an open door, and makes a wide Pathway of bright gold across a sheet Of calm and liquid moonshine. From inside Come shouts and streams of laughter, and a snatch Of song, soon drowned and lost again in mirth, The clip of […]
The Garden By Moonlight poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
A black cat among roses, Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon, The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock. The garden is very still, It is dazed with moonlight, Contented with perfume, Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies. Firefly lights open and vanish High as the tip buds of the golden […]
The Dinner-Party poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Fish “So . . .” they said, With their wine-glasses delicately poised, Mocking at the thing they cannot understand. “So . . .” they said again, Amused and insolent. The silver on the table glittered, And the red wine in the glasses Seemed the blood I had wasted In a foolish cause. Game […]
The Cremona Violin poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Part First Frau Concert-Meister Altgelt shut the door. A storm was rising, heavy gusts of wind Swirled through the trees, and scattered leaves before Her on the clean, flagged path. The sky behind The distant town was black, and sharp defined Against it shone the lines of roofs and towers, Superimposed and flat […]
The Country House poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Did the door move, or was it always ajar? The gladioli on the table are pale mauve. I smell pale mauve and blue, Blue soft like bruises-putrid-oozing- The air oozes blue-mauve- And the door with the black line where it does not shut! I must pass that door to go to bed, Or […]
The Artist poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Why do you subdue yourself in golds and purples? Why do you dim yourself with folded silks? Do you not see that I can buy brocades in any draper’s shop, And that I am choked in the twilight of all these colours. How pale you would be, and startling, How quiet; But your […]
Prayer For Lightning poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
My corn is green with red tassels, I am praying to the lightning to ripen my corn, I am praying to the thunder which carries the lightning. Corn is sweet where lightning has fallen. I pray to the six-coloured clouds.
Prayer For A Profusion Of Sunflowers poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Send sunflowers! With my turkey-bone whistle I am calling the birds To sing upon the sunflowers. For when the clouds hear them singing They will come quickly, And rain will fall upon our fields. Send sunflowers!
Orange Of Midsummer poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
You came to me in the pale starting of Spring, And I could not see the world For the blue mist of wonder before my eyes. You beckoned me over a rainbow bridge, And I set foot upon it, trembling. Through pearl and saffron I followed you, Through heliotrope and rose, Iridescence after […]
A Lover poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
If I could catch the green lantern of the firefly I could see to write you a letter.
In Excelsis poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
You – you – Your shadow is sunlight on a plate of silver; Your footsteps, the seeding-place of lilies; Your hands moving, a chime of bells across a windless air. The movement of your hands is the long, golden running of light from a rising sun; It is the hopping of birds upon […]
In A Time Of Dearth poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
Before me, On either side of me, I see sand. If I turn the corner of my house, I see sand, Long, brown Lines and levels of flat Sand. If I could only see a caravan Heave over the edge of it: The camels wobbling and swaying, Stepping like ostriches, With rocking palanquins […]
Granadilla poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
I cut myself upon the thought of you And yet I come back to it again and again, A kind of fury makes me want to draw you out From the dimness of the present And set you sharply above me in a wheel of roses. Then, going obviously to inhale their fragrance, I […]