[section 1]. From The apple that astonished Paris (1988) --
Another reason why I don't keep a gun in the house --
Walking across the Atlantic --
Plight of the troubadour --
Introduction to poetry --
The Brooklyn Museum of Art --
[section 2]. From Questions about angels (1991) --
Questions about angels --
The wires of the night --
[section 3]. From The art of drowning (1995) --
Sunday morning with the sensational nightingales --
Dancing toward Bethlehem --
[section 4]. From Picnic, lightning (1998) --
Fishing on the Susquehanna in July --
To a stranger born in some distant country hundreds of years from now --
I chop some parsley while listening to Art Blakey's version of "Three blind mice" --
Afternoon with Irish cows --
Shoveling snow with Buddha --
Lines composed over three thousand miles from Tintern Abbey --
Lines lost among trees --
Taking off Emily Dickinson's clothes --
[section 5]. New poems --
Reading an anthology of Chinese poems of the Sung Dynasty, I pause to admire the length and clarity of their titles --
The flight of the reader.