The Blessing: New and Selected Poems

by Jones, Richard

• ISBN13: 9781556591433
• ISBN10: 1556591438
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-01
• Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist
• More Book Details
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Summary

Gathering over one hundred previously uncollected and new poems, together with four previous books, The Blessing provides a necessary overview of a surprising and deceptively accessible poet. "Skillful, direct, and surprisingly delicate."-The Village VoiceRichard Jones was born in London and educated at the University of Virginia. His first book of poetry, Country of Air (Copper Canyon Press, 1986), won the Posner Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. He published At Last We Enter Paradise in 1991 and Perfect Time in 1994. Jones has edited Poetry East since 1979 and has edited two critical anthologies Poetry and Politics and Of Solitude and Silence: Writings on Robert Bly. He is a professor at DePaul University in Chicago.

Table of Contents

Country of Air (1986)
The Bell	5	(4)
PART ONE: TIMES LIKE THIS
Child in Woods	9	(2)
The Wounded One	11	(2)
The Birds	13	(1)
The Mechanic	14	(1)
The Letter	15	(1)
Mrs. Green	16	(1)
Bread Crumbs	17	(1)
The Spiders	18	(2)
The Idle Fleet	20	(1)
Riding the Train	21	(1)
Times Like This	22	(2)
The Fire	24	(3)
PART TWO: COUNTRY OF AIR
A Suicide	27	(1)
The Gift	28	(1)
The Solipsist's Self-Portraits	29	(3)
Cloudburst	32	(2)
Looking at My Father	34	(1)
Wings	35	(1)
The Danger of Escaping	36	(1)
Waiting	37	(1)
The Insects	38	(1)
For My Friends	39	(1)
Life after Death	40	(3)
PART THREE: PARADISE ON FIRE
A Boy's Body	43	(1)
The Horses	44	(1)
The Miscarriage	45	(1)
The Waiting Room	46	(1)
Love for the Bottle	47	(1)
The Broken Bowl	48	(1)
The Decoy	49	(1)
The Hearing Aid	50	(1)
Portrait of My Father and His Grandson	51	(1)
Apology to Andrew	52	(2)
Leaving Town after the Funeral	54	(2)
For My Sister	56	(1)
Moving Day	57	(1)
Passion	58	(1)
A Beginning	59	(4)
At Last We Enter Paradise (1991)
The Shadow	63	(4)
PART ONE
The Abandoned House	67	(1)
The Dead Calf	68	(1)
Grief, 1942	69	(1)
Twelve-Year-Old Drunk	70	(1)
Girl with Skateboard	71	(1)
Desire	72	(1)
The Wedding Party	73	(1)
The Lullaby	74	(1)
The Loft	75	(1)
The Visit	76	(1)
The Amputee	77	(1)
The Examination	78	(2)
After Making Love, I Tell a Ghost Story	80	(1)
Blackout	81	(1)
Faith	82	(1)
Things	83	(1)
The Lake	84	(1)
Today I Saw My Child	85	(1)
White Towels	86	(1)
The Impossible	87	(1)
Prayer	88	(1)
The Helicopter Pilot	89	(1)
The Mother's Song	90	(2)
The Gift	92	(1)
The Color of Grief	93	(2)
Andrew	95	(1)
The Oriental Carpet	96	(5)
PART TWO
Back Then	101	(4)
Craziness	105	(3)
Wild Guesses	108	(2)
Athens Airport	110	(2)
Certain People	112	(1)
Drinking with My Mother and Father	113	(2)
Letter of Recommendation from My Father to My Future Wife	115	(2)
My Painting	117	(2)
My Father's Buddha	119	(2)
The Poet's Heart	121	(1)
The Fence Painter	122	(1)
The Abandoned Garden	123	(1)
Thanksgiving	124	(1)
Song of the Old Man	125	(1)
A Vision	126	(2)
Boundaries	128	(3)
A Perfect Time (1994)
The Key	131	(3)
Scars	134	(3)
Lanterns	137	(3)
The Mystery	140	(3)
Ice	143	(4)
The Black Hat	147	(3)
If I Should Die	150	(2)
The Remedy	152	(5)
The Suit	157	(3)
The Blacksnake	160	(2)
The Beginning	162	(2)
Sacrifices	164	(2)
My Sister's Garden	166	(3)
Listening	169	(1)
Leaving Los Angeles at Last	170	(3)
The Novel	173	(10)
Cathedral	183	(2)
The White Star of Hope	185	(3)
Mortification of the Flesh	188	(3)
The Cave	191	(4)
Pirandello's Shirt	195	(2)
The Hermit	197	(2)
Dancing	199	(2)
The Siesta	201	(1)
The Temple	202	(1)
The Edge	203	(2)
On Suffering	205	(4)
48 Questions (1998)
How old were you when you wrote your first poem?	209	(1)
What is your favorite color?	210	(1)
What is your house like?	211	(1)
Where did you get the leather bag you carry to your poetry readings?	212	(1)
How did you meet your wife?	213	(1)
In planning a manuscript how do you lay out the arc?	214	(1)
Do you let go of a poem after it is published?	215	(1)
Where, when, and how do you write?	216	(1)
What do you do when you say ``to hell with it'' and leave your work?	217	(1)
Could you talk about the tension between the concrete and the spiritual?	218	(1)
Comment on this: in the real scheme of things, poetry is marginal.	219	(1)
T.S. Eliot said something to this effect: ``Steal from the best.'' What have you stolen?	220	(1)
Besides books, what do you collect?	221	(1)
Who is your muse?	222	(1)
What effect has your new son had on your writing life?	223	(1)
Who will people read in 100 years?	224	(1)
How do you situate yourself regarding narrative and lyric poetry?	225	(1)
What do you do about dry periods in your writing?	226	(1)
Are there poems you won't publish?	227	(1)
Discuss your childhood experience with language.	228	(1)
Have you written much prose?	229	(1)
What do you think of computers?	230	(1)
What is your favorite body part?	231	(1)
Talk about audience.	232	(1)
What are you not telling us?	233	(1)
What do you think of workshops?	234	(1)
Do you perceive a difference between male and female writers?	235	(1)
What do you do for exercise?	236	(1)
What do you do to get away?	237	(1)
What is your favorite drink?	238	(1)
What is your worst fear?	239	(1)
What have you bought lately?	240	(1)
Which of Superman's powers would you pick for your own?	241	(1)
You paint. What have you been working on recently?	242	(1)
What do you like musically?	243	(1)
Is poetry autobiographical?	244	(1)
Why do poets write?	245	(1)
What has writing in common with dance?	246	(1)
What else would you like to be?	247	(1)
Why do you read?	248	(1)
What major shifts have occurred in your work?	249	(1)
Has teaching affected your love of poetry?	250	(1)
What is the most foolish question you have ever been asked?	251	(1)
How do you begin a poem?	252	(1)
What gives you hope?	253	(1)
How would you like to be remembered?	254	(1)
What do you think of the future?	255	(1)
If you could no longer write, how would you express yourself?	256	(1)
a note about the author	257	(4)
Paintings (2000)
The Painting	261	(1)
Home	262	(1)
Fishing	263	(1)
The Plum Trees	264	(1)
The Doghouse	265	(1)
After Work	266	(1)
The Daughter	267	(1)
Wan Chu's Wife in Bed	268	(2)
The Cripple	270	(1)
Boots	271	(1)
The Piano	272	(2)
After the Divorce	274	(2)
Devil's Quarry	276	(1)
The Empty Room	277	(1)
Family	278	(1)
Early Life	279	(1)
Alienated	280	(1)
The Asylum	281	(1)
The Execution	282	(2)
The Voice	284	(1)
Triolet	285	(1)
Reading with a Hangover	286	(1)
Young Woman, Paris, 1948	287	(1)
Ninety-Year-Old Man	288	(2)
Indolence	290	(1)
The Punishment	291	(1)
House by the Ocean	292	(1)
The Bedroom	293	(1)
The Game	294	(1)
The Test	295	(4)
To My Student's Father	299	(1)
The Scream	300	(1)
The Widower	300	(2)
The Owl	302	(1)
Rain	303	(1)
Summer	304	(1)
The Distance	305	(2)
The Weight	307	(2)
Paris	309	(2)
Compassion	311	(1)
Water	312	(1)
Love	313	(1)
Blackdog's Ashes	314	(1)
The Umbrella	315	(1)
Flying	316	(4)
The Island	320	(2)
Along the Path	322	(2)
The Revelation	324	(5)
The Blessing (2000)
The Freight	329	(2)
The Fear	331	(2)
Father's Day	333	(2)
New Year's Eve	335	(2)
The Keats House	337	(1)
The Poet's Mother	338	(1)
The Roman	339	(1)
The Seal	340	(2)
Rest	342	(1)
Paradise Lost	343	(1)
The Road	344	(1)
God	345	(1)
The Storm	346	(1)
The Sermon	347	(1)
And the Word	348	(1)
The Soldier	349	(1)
``Elegy''	350	(1)
Sunday Night	351	(1)
Thirteen	352	(1)
The Invalid	353	(1)
Easter	354	(1)
The Button	355	(1)
Rented Room, Second Floor	356	(1)
Sicily	357	(2)
After the Storm	359	(1)
The Ruined Church	360	(1)
Two Years after a Death	361	(1)
A Light Rain	362	(2)
Son	364	(1)
The Artist	365	(1)
On the Way to the Museum	366	(1)
The Rights of Man	367	(1)
Painting William's Room	368	(1)
The Catcher's Mask	369	(1)
Noon	370	(1)
The Sweater	371	(1)
Double Doors	372	(1)
The Desk	373	(2)
The Fox	375	(1)
The Rock	376	(1)
The Ceiling Fan	377	(2)
Golf Towels	379	(2)
Tree	381	(2)
Rapture	383	(4)
About the Author	387	(2)
Index of Titles	389	(4)
Index of First Lines	393