Happy New Year 300
Summer Stock 301
Art for Nothing 302
Things Could Be Worse 303
The Gods’ Own Privilege 307
Souvenir of the Manassah Ball 310
Liquid City 312
[Mister Anderson] 321
I. ANY PLACE YOU’VE EVER BEEN 322
The Kite and the Hawk 323
South St. Blues 324
Please, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood 325
When If the Big Bands Come Back 326
Guerilla Girls 327
Displacement 329
Sentiment 332
Suburban Saturdays 335
Morning Raga 337
The Audie Murphy Game 339
II. RITUALS AND IMPROVISATIONS 340
Destruction of the Seated Man 341
Last Call 343
Excitation 346
Skunk Insulation 351
Grudge Match 353
Lifelong Learning 354
Otis 356
Spirits You All 359
Journey of 1,000 Li 364
Tirade 365
III. THE SIMPLEST OF ALL MYSTERIES 366
Poem in Lieu of the Marriage of Andrew Zolem 367
The Sadness of Space Exploration 369
Quiet Riot 370
Dumb Luck 371
The New South 372
Lights Out 373
No, Don’t Get Up 374
The Failure of Alchemy 375
Working-Class Hero 376
The Gambler 377
Knight to Queen’s Pawn 378
An Old Hand 379
Pornography = Exploitation of Men 380
Now You Can Worry 382
L’Argent 384
IV. RESISTANCE AS MEMORY 385
Thinking in Words 386
Like a Tree 388
Sightseeing in East Texas 390
Psalm 392
Back in the Day 396
Whale Song 398
Songs without Shadows 399
The Marks Are Waiting 402
Dirge for Amadou Diallo 405
An Afternoon with Dr. Blumenbach 408
V. DANGEROUS DOUBTS 410
Dangerous Doubts 411
Lustre 412
Cameo in Sudden Light 413
Country Song 416
Multicultural 417
Low Rider 418
An Even-Tempered Girl Holds Her Breath 419
She Lived to Be 100 420
A Kind of Accounting 421
Cute Girl with a Toy Monkey 422
Flash Point 424
God Sends Love Disguised as Ordinary People 425
Magnetic Charms 427
Equinox 429
Back-Ordered Tears 434
The Black Canaries Weep over Gomorrha 437
South Afrika 439
A Tale of Two Cities 440
Grass 441
West 444
Political Science 445
Enuresis 446
Gilbert and Sullivan 448
Another Abstract Etc 449
The Conscience of Cole Porter 450
The Pornography 451
Linear Variation 452
Nichomachean Ethics 453
Chorus from an Unwritten Greek Play 454
The Color Section 455
The Judgment of Paris 457
The Fall of Paris 458
Robert Williams, Exiled in Cuba 459
Sonnet 460
Life on the Farm 461
Project Blues 462
Secrets of the Samba 467
Modern Plumbing Illustrated 469
The Subway Witnesses 470
Two One-Act Plays 471
Selena 472
From the Working Days 473
The Midnight Sun 475
Good Housekeeping 476
Five Empty Reams 477
Millenarian Joys 478
Walking Vicksburg Blues 479
A Mingus Memory 480
Hollandaise Salsa 481
Diplomacy 483