Collected Poems by Tom Raworth, (£16.95, Carcanet)

1)
she came in laughing his
shit's blue and red today those
wax crayons he ate last night
            (from 'Morning')

2)
i could not write anything without repeatedly using i someday i would
get over it
            (from 'Six Days')

3)
at last i've done it!
put the white horse inside the carnation
staggering in the heavy air
it vanishes among the petals
            (from 'Who is Hannibal's Descendant...')

4)
once i tried to let a smile be my umbrella.
i got awful wet
            (from 'Love Poem')

5)
that the mind moves, still
in the learned dance of words
seems the interest of the dead
            (from 'The Silken Cord')

6)
trust marginal thoughts
some like shoes will fit
            (from 'How Can You Throw it all Away on This Ragtime')

7)
nobody can understand the writing
in the book they found in the lion's lair
            (from 'Lion Lion')

8)
as in the progress of art the aim is finally
to make rules the next generation can break more cleverly
            (from 'South America')

9)
if you're counting my eyebrows
i can tell you there are two
i took your letter out and read it to the rabbits
            (from 'Claudette Colbert by Billy Wilder')

10)
throwing the strategic bomber at the man in the street
            (from 'You Can Stroke People With Words')

11)
now here comes thought thought
is laughing at language language
doesn't see the joke the joke
wonders why it takes so long
            (from 'Stag Skull Mounted')

12)
the present is surrounded
with the ringing of ings
            (from 'Writers / Riders / Rioters')

13)
Until finally writing becomes the only thing that is not a
petroleum by-product, or a neat capsule available without prescription.
            (from 'Logbook page 301')

14)
his head in silhouette is a dove
landed on his shoulders
            (from 'Surgical Names: Joe')

15)
the albatross drawer
this is where we keep the albatrosses
            ('Taxonomy', entire)

16)
if at death your whole life passes before you think your way out of
that.
            (from 'No + On = Noon [except when reflected]')

17)
poetry is neither swan nor owl
but worker, miner
digging each generation deeper
through the shit of its eaters
to the root ­ then up to the giant tomato
            (from 'Gaslight')

18)
the poor are painted out
the rich, powreful, and famous have their say
tomorrow will be everywhere
so why not call it today?
            (from 'Bounce')

19)
this poem has been removed for further study
            ('University Days',entire)

20)
the narrative line is only as boring
as what's hung on it
one auk a verb met a noun
            (from 'Infinite Variety Stales')

21)
'love is the head of the thumbtack of truth'
            (from 'Out Takes')

22)
we will live through
a long boring time
of everybody having 'insights'
            (from 'The Conscience of aConservative')

23)
'a semiotic gorilla named boko
was thought by its keeper quite loco
when it claimed that the farthes
it released in the barthes
clearly signified "two cups of cocoa" '
            (from 'Catacoustics')

24)
the purple swanbeak of a starfish borage
blue flower
smoked brass
stroking the ochre fur of bees
in the shadow of an echo
            (from 'English Opium')

25)
the meek / inherit / unmarked graves / define meek / over / my / dead / body
            (from 'Juice')


                        © Andy Brown 2003