EditorsMichael Dumanis

Cate Marvin

Legitimate DangersAmerican Poets of the New Century

Sarabande DU BooksL O U I S V I L L E , K E N T U C K Y

Contents

Preface by Mark Doty XXiIntroduction XXXi

Rick BarotMany Are Called . . . . 3Eight Elegies 4Reading Plato 8

Dan Beachy-QuickPrologue 9Unworn 10Psalm (Traherne) . . . 11Afterword 12

Joshua Beckman[Final poem for the gently sifting public begins on the streets...] . . 14[I like your handsome drugs. Your pleasant...] 16[The thirst of the crowd. We laid the surfer down...] 16[The canals. The liquor coming through...] 17Ode to the Air Traffic Controller 17

Josh BellPoem to Line My Casket With, Ramona 19Zombie Sunday (Had We But World Enough and Time) . . . 20Meditation on The Consolation of Philosophy 21Sleeping with Artemis . . . 23

David BermanDemocratic Vistas 25April 13, 1865 26Community College in the Rain 27From His Bed in the Capital City 27

Erica BernheimI Love How Your Eyes Close Every Time You Kiss Me . . . 29Like a Face 30Anne Boleyn 31Pavese Said Death Will Come Bearing Your Eyes 32

Contents vii

Mark BibbinsJust Yesterday 34All but Lost 35Groupie 36Slurry 37

Sherwin BitsuiThe Northern Sun 38Apparition 40Chrysalis 41

Richard BlancoElegant Endings 45We 're Not Going to Malta 46Perfect City Code 46How It Begins | How It Ends 48

Joel BrouwerAesthetics 49Divorce 49Hamartia Symbolized by the Stray 49"Kelly, Ringling Bros. Oldest Elephant, Goes On Rampage" 50The Spots 51

Oni BuchananThe Only Yak in Batesville, Virginia . . . 53The Girls 54The Term 54Room 40 55Transporter 57

Julianne BuchsbaumThrillsville 59The Power Plant 60In Squire Park with M., Esquire 60Phantoms of Utopia 61Slowly, Slowly, Horses 62

Stephen BurtOcean State 64Persephone (Unplugged) 65Paysage Moralise 66Morningside Park 67

viii Contents

Dan ChiassonMy Ravine 68Vermont 69Song for a Play 70Stealing from Your Mother 71The Elephant 72

Carrie St. George ComerLong Goodbye 74Shelburne Falls 75Arbor 78

Olena Kalytiak DavisSweet Reader, Flanneled and Tulled 80Thirty Years Rising 82All the Natural Movements of the Soul 83The Unbosoming 85IfYouAreAsked 85

Monica de la TorreHow to Look at Mexican Highways 88Driven by a Strange Desire 89Golfers in the Family 90

Timothy DonnellyTwenty-Seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebenszeit . . . . 93Three Panels Depending on the Heart 95The New Intelligence 97Birdsong from Inside the Egg 98

Ben DoyleThe War Is Over 100Our Man 101Forensics 102

Thomas Sayers EllisSticks 104Atomic Bride 105Slow Fade to Black 108Zapruder 109

Andrew FeldOn Fire 110

Contents ix

The Boxers 112Intermission 113

Monica FerrellMyths of the Disappearance 115Geburt des Monicakinds 116Stories from the Tower 116

Miranda FieldChildhood's House 119Miraculous Image 120Scold's Mask 120Subway 121Housefire 123

Nick FlynnSwarm 125Hive 126Emptying Town 127Cartoon Physics, part 1 127Cartoon Physics, part 2 128

Katie FordFlesh 130Nocturne 131T h e H a n d s of the B o d y Wi thou t the Body, and N o t h i n g to H o l d . . . . 132C o l o s s e u m 133

Arielle GreenbergAfterward, There Will Be a Hallway 136Berlin Series 137Nostalgia, Cheryl, Is the Best Heroin 138Saints 139Analogies 140

Jennifer GrotzThe Last Living Castrato 142Not Body 143The Wolf 144Kiss of Judas 144

Matthea HarveyAbandoned Conversation with the Senses 146

Contents

Our Square of Lawn 146Ideas Go Only So Far 147Definition of Weather 148Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form 149

Terrance HayesWind in a Box . . r . 151The Blue Terrance 152The Elegant Tongue 153A Postcard from Okemah 154Talk 156

Steve HealeyAs Western Culture Declined Without Its Knowing 158Where Spring Is 160My Wrist Split Open ^ 161

Thomas HeiseCorrections 163MyPieta 163Zombie 164

Brian HenryThe Pyramid 166Skin 167Rooms 167Submarine 168

Christine HumeExplanation: 170Sampler City 171Hume's Suicide of the External World 172Comprehension Questions 175

Major JacksonBlunts 177Euphoria 178Pest 179Don Pullen at the Zanzibar Blue Jazz Cafe 180

Lisa JarnotPoem Beginning wi th a L ine b y F r a n k L i m a . . . 182The N e w Life 183

Contents xi

Song of the Chinchilla 184The United States of America 185The Girl Who Couldn't Be Loved 185

A. Van JordanBeggar's Song 187Kind of Blue 188Public Radio Plays Eddie Harris 190

Ilya KaminskyAuthor ' s Prayer . . . . . . 192Dancing in Odessa . . . 193Maest ro 194

Sally KeithOrphean Song 195Mechanics 196The Gallery 200Subtraction Song 201

Suji Kwock KimOccupation 204Monologue for an Onion 205On Sparrows 206

James KimbrellEmpty House 210Letters to a Vanishing Fiancee 210Salvation 212My Psychic 213

Joanna KlinkAnd Having Lost Track 216Porch in Snow 217Mariana Trench 218Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes 218

Noelle KocotBadAliens 222An Ordinary Evening 224Gypsy Summer 226Civilization Day 227I Am Like a Desert Owl, an Owl Among the Ruins 229

Contents

Katy LedererSympathy and Envy 231A Dream of Mimesis 232In Las Vegas 233

Dana LevinArs Poetica (the idea) 235Chill Core 235Glass Heart 236Cinema Verite 237

Maurice ManningFirst 241A Condensed History of Beauty 242On Death 242On God 243"[0 boss of ashes boss of dust...]" 244

Sabrina Orah MarkHello 245The Babies 245The Mustache 246Transylvania, 1919 247The Experiments Lasted Through the Winter 247

Corey MarksPortrait of a Child 249Three Bridges 250After the Shipwreck 251

Khaled MattawaI Was Buried in Janzoor 254Growing Up With a Sears Catalog in Benghazi, Libya 255Echo & Elixir 1 257Echo & Elixir 2 258

Jeffrey McDanielLogic in the House of Sawed-Off Telescopes . 260Lineage 261Opposites Attack 262The Archipelago of Kisses 263Dear America 264

Contents xiii

Joyelle McSweeneyStill Life W/Influences 266The Wind Domes 267Persuasion 268

Sarah MesserLook, 271With This Change to Indoor Lighting 272Rendered Dog 273Marriage Proposal 274

Ethan PaquinHearing Music Through Dark Trees 276Capstone 277Where Were You 278

Alan Michael ParkerDriving Past My Exit 281The Vandals 282The Vandals Dying 283Practicing Their Diffidence, The Vandals 284

D.A. Powell[when you touch down upon this earth.little reindeers] 286[sleek mechanical dart: the syringe noses into the blue

vein marking the target of me] 287[tall and thin and young and lovely the michael

with kaposi's sarcoma goes walking] 288[writing for a young man on the redline train:

"to his boy mistress"] 289[coda & discography] 290

Kevin PruferFor the Unfortunates 291The End of the City 291A Car Has Fallen from a Bridge 292The Rise of Rome 293On Finding a Swastika Carved on a Tree

in the Hills Above Heidelberg 294

Srikanth ReddyCorruption 296Scarecrow Eclogue 296

xiv Contents

Second Circle 297Evening with Stars 298Burial Practice 299

Spencer ReecePortofino 301Autumn Song 301The Clerk's Tale : . 302

Paisley RekdalStrawberry 305Stupid : 306What Was There to Bring Me to Delight But to

Love and Be Loved? 309a crash of rhinos 310

Matthew RohrerChildhood Stories 312from The World at Night 313My Government 313We Never Should Have Stopped at Pussy Island 314

Tessa RumseyMore Important Than the Design of Cities

Will Be the Design of Their Decay 316Man-Torpedo-Boat 317Assembling My Shepherd 318Never Morocco 319Big Rig the Baroque Sky 320

Robyn SchiffAt Shedd Aquarium 322Chanel No. 5 323Vampire Finch 325Woodpecker Finch 328House of Dior 330

Patty SeyburnThe Alphabetizer Speaks 331First Bookshelf 332What I Disliked About the Pleistocene Era 333

Contents xv

Brenda ShaughnessyYour Name on It 335Epithalament 336Postfeminism 336You Love, You Wonder 337Panopticon 338

Richard SikenBoot Theory 339A Primer for the Small Weird Loves 340Saying Your Names 342

Tracy K. SmithSelf-Portrait as the Letter Y 346History 348Duende 355

Juliana Spahrlocalism or t/here 358December 1, 2002 359December 4, 2002 361January 28, 2003 363

Larissa SzporlukOne Thousand Bullfrogs Rejoice 366Meteor 367Holy Ghost 368Eohippus 369Elsewhere 370

Brian TeareFirst person plural is a house 371Set for a Southern Gothic 372Detail From "Set for a Southern Gothic" 374Dead House Sonnet . 376Trick Noir 376

Ann TownsendThey Call You Moody 379Touch Me Not 380Modern Love 381

xvi Contents

Natasha TretheweyMiscegenation 383Genus Narcissus 384Countess P—'s Advice for New Girls 384Native Guard 385

Pimone TriplettStory for the Mother Tongue 390Next to Last Prayer 391Portraits at the Epicenter 394

Karen Volkman[Now I promise...] 398[If it be event...] 398The Case 399May 399Kiss Me Deadly 400

G.C.WaldrepThe Miracles of St. Sebastian 402What Begins Bitterly Becomes Another Love Poem 403Hotel d'Avignon 404O Canada! 405

Joe WenderothAs Hour and Year Collapsed 407Send New Beasts 409Narrative Poem 410Where I Stand with Regard to the Game 410

Greg WilliamsonItalics, Mine 412Nervous Systems 414Junkyard : 415

Emily Wilson[Wind in bare vines...] 418Relict 418CoalAge 419The Fossil Garden 420

Contents xvii

Suzanne WiseTestimony 421Confession 42250 Years in the Career of an Aspiring Thug . . . . 423Advice 423

Rebecca WolffPress Play 425Sybil 426Lamb, Willow: An Arch Dolefulness Has Taken Me This Far 428

Mark WunderlichAmaryllis 431Voluntary Servitude 432Fourteen Things We're Allowed to Bring to the Underworld 433Predictions About a Black Car 434

Monica YounNaglfar 435Night Ferry to Naxos 1 436Night Ferry to Naxos 2 436Flatlanders 437

C. Dale YoungProximity 440Torn 441Infidelity 442

Kevin YoungSoundtrack 444The Rushes 447Negative 449Song of Smoke 450Errata 451

Matthew ZapruderCanada 453School Street 454Whoever You Are 456

Andrew ZawackiCredo 458Velocity Among the Ruins of Angel Republic 460

xviii Contents

Vertigo 461[from] Viatica 462

Rachel ZuckerDiary (Underworld) 464Not Knowing Nijinsky or Diaghilev 465In Your Version of Heaven I Am Younger 466

Photo Credits 469Further Reading 471Acknowledgments 477Editors' Acknowledgments 489The Editors 491

Contents xix