House of Affection

by Kwitny, Wendy Wood

• ISBN13: 9781931357142
• ISBN10: 1931357145
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of New England

Summary

House of Affection is a book of lyrics and prose poems on love, on the approaching death and afterdeath of a loved husband and on the birth of his child. "What's new?" you might ask. What's new is the beauty of Wendy Wood's poetry, the richness of life that is in her work and precision of her language and observation. Death, love, birth and motherhood open her to the intense spirituality of her marvelous, everyday experience. Her poetry in its many modes consoles us with a unique grace; her artistry does not sadden us but lifts our spirits.

Author Biography

WENDY WOOD KWITNY was born in Toledo, Ohio educated at Bennington College. She participated in the Academy of American Poets University and College Prize Program and received the George Bogan Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America. She now lives in Princeton with her sons, Woody and Peter.

Table of Contents

One
I turn my head or hide it in my blouse	4	(1)
House of Affection	5	(3)
Piano	8	(1)
January 20, 2000	9	(1)
Ordinary Tine	10	(1)
The Uncountable Tears of the World	11	(1)
In the lower room, in solitude	12	(1)
Planet Cancer	13	(3)
Quatrains	16	(1)
September 4, 2000	17	(1)
You are suddenly pushed	18	(1)
For Susanna	19	(2)
Hop on Pop	21	(2)
When Winter Began	23	(1)
Beyond the Trees	24	(1)
Synecdoche	25	(2)
The Spirituality of Things	27	(2)
Unreal Estate	29	(1)
Ice cream	30	(1)
In America,	31	(1)
October 27, 2000	32	(2)
Poem	34	(2)
Near Haiku	36	(1)
An Ordinary Day	37	(1)
Woody and Peter	38	(1)
The Opening	39	(2)
One Mourning	41	(1)
Tomorrow	42	(2)
Thanksgiving Night, 1998	44	(2)
In Spite	46	(1)
This sadness will not be finished,	47	(1)
November 26, 2000	48	(2)
Two
The birth of Peter	50	(1)
True stories	51	(1)
You have been dropped from the sky	52	(1)
A friend once said	53	(1)
19 July	54	(1)
After talking to the doctor	55	(1)
Doing the dishes	56	(1)
Cuddebackville	57	(1)
By the time you get to the hospital	58	(1)
Most days my mother	59	(2)
It is your forty-first birthday	61	(1)
We live on a quiet street	62	(1)
When you are driving	63	(1)
When your husband dies	64	(1)
Jon had lost	65	(1)
How do I write the empty rooms	66	(1)
I wish I could tell you	67	(1)
What about the other	68	(1)
The week before he died	69	(2)
Without him, there is	71	(1)
Jon wouldn't have written	72	(1)
Today I took the children	73	(1)
A private swim club	74	(1)
According to our vows	75	(1)
When I lifted Woody	76	(1)
So many people carry	77	(1)
I walk around Princeton	78	(1)
In order to survive as an animal	79	(1)
You walk one long beige hall	80	(1)
Black words	81	(1)
You don't lose him once	82	(1)
Since Jon's death	83	(1)
Before Jon got too	84	(1)
The afternoon at first unfolded	85	(1)
Margaret loads the trunk	86	(2)
The morning	88	(2)
1987-1997
Evening's Chair	90	(2)
Gray Poem	92	(2)
Looking Through Eyelashes, I	94	(1)
Looking Through Eyelashes, II	95	(1)
Tin Landscape	96	(1)
This Way to the Egress	97	(1)
Refractions	98	(1)
Verge of Silence	99	(1)
View	100	(1)
February 29	101	(1)
What They Recalled in Two Versions	102	(5)
The Bachelor Room	107	(1)
The Transient Bride	108	(1)
Four Winters	109	(2)
To a Friend On the Occasion of His Fortieth Birthday	111	(2)
The Wendy House	113	(1)
A Brief History	114	(1)
Love Among the Cynics	115	(1)
Pregnant Pause	116	(1)
True Love	117	(1)
The Mountain	118