THE BOOK OFIRISiiAMERICAN

from the Eighteenth Centuryto the Present

editedby DANIEL TOBIN

University of Notre Dame Press

Notre Dame, Indiana

CONTENTS

Introduction: Irish American Poetry and the Question of Tradition xxxiii

P A R T O N E . A F L U E N T D R I F T

GEORGE BERKELEY (1685-1753)Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America 3

MATHEW CAREY (1760-1839)(from) The Porqupiniad 5

JAMES ORR (1770-1816)

Song Composed on the Banks of Newfoundland 10

THOMAS BRANAGAN (1774-1843)(from) Avenia 12

JAMES MCHENRY (1785-1845)The Haunts of Lame 29

SARAH HELEN WHITMAN (1813-1878)

Don Isle 31

HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862)I Am the Little Irish Boy 33

WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892)Old Ireland 35

ALICE CARY (1820-1871)

The Bridal Veil 36Snowed Under 38

CHARLES G. HALPINE (1829-1868)(from) On Raising a Monument to the Irish Legion 39

JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY (1844-1892)At Fredericksburg 41The Exile of the Gael 43Crispus Attucks 45

JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE (1847-1908)Persepolis 50Netchaieff 51

DANIEL O'CONNELL (1848-?)Monterey 53The Workers 54

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY (1849-1916)John Boyle O'Reilly 56

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN (1852-1924)Maurice De Guerin 57

LOUISE IMOGENE GUINEY (1861-1920)Gloucester Harbor 58An Epitaph for Wendell Phillips 60Two Irish Peasant Songs 60The Wild Ride 62Monochrome 63

KATE MCPHELIM CLEARY (1863-1905)The Fettered 64

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON (1869-1935)Shadrach O'Leary 65A Song at Shannons 66The Dark Hills 66The Sheaves 67

P A D R A I G O ' H E I G E A R T A I G H (1871-1936)Ochon! A Dhonncha (My Sorrow, Donncha) 68

viu

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872-1906)John Boyle O'Reilly 72

P A R T T W O . MODERN TIDE

LOLA RIDGE (1873-1941)(from) The Ghetto 75Brooklyn Bridge 80The Edge 81To Larkin 82(from) Death Ray 83

ROBERT FROST (1874-1963)The Cow's in the Corn 84

OLIVER ST. JOHN GOGARTY (1878-1957)To a Friend in the Country 86

WALLACE STEVENS (1879-1955)Our Stars Come from Ireland 87The Irish Cliffs ofMoher 89

PADRAIC COLUM (1881-1972)Hawaiian 90A Rann of Exile 91

JOHN GOULD FLETCHER (1886-1950)(from) Sand and Spray: A Sea Symphony 92(from) Elegy in a Civil War Graveyard 94

SHAEMUS O'SHEEL (1886-1954)

They Went Forth to Battle hut They Always Fell 95

ROBINSON JEFFERS (1887-1962)Continent's End 96Shane O'Neill's Cairn 97The Broadstone 97Antrim 98

Iona: The Graves of the Kings 99An Irish Headland 100The Stone Axe 100Carmel Point 103Patronymic 103

MARIANNE MOORE (1887-1972)The Fish 105The Pangolin 107Spenser's Ireland 110

ERNEST WALSH (1895-1926)Irish 113Saint Patrick's Day, 1926 116Poem 117Poem for a Negro Voice 118

LOUISE BOGAN (1897-1970)Medusa 120Women 121Cassandra 122Hypocrite Swift 122Zone 123

H O R A C E GREGORY (1898-1982)Longface Mahoney Discusses Heaven 125Among the Shades I Heard My Father's Father 127(from) Fortune for Mirabel 128Seascape at Evening: Cape Ann 129On a Celtic Mask by Henry Moore 130

ROBERT FRANCIS (1901-1987)The Celt 131Hermit 131Ireland 132Cromwell 133Sf. Brigid's 133

KAY BOYLE (1902-1992)

A Poem of Gratitude 136The New Emigration 137To America 139

ROBERT FITZGERALD (1902-1985)Phrase 140Atlantic Song 141History 142

BRIAN COFFEY (1905-1995)from Missouri SequenceNightfall, Midwinter, Missouri 144Muse, June, Related 150Missouri, Midsummer, Closure 152

PHYLLIS MCGINLEY (1905-1978)June in the Suburbs 155Blues for a Melodeon 156

Louis MACNEICE (1907-1963)Last before America 157

JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN (1908-2003)

Mr. Mahoney 158First Woman 159Voyage 160

THEODORE ROETHKE (1908-1963)Gob Music 161The Shy Man 163

CHARLES OLSON (1910-1970)Pacific Lament 164Enniscorthy Suite 165The Grandfather-Father Poem 168

J.V. CUNNINGHAM (1911-1985)

Agnosco Veteris Vestigia Flammae 1"You Have Here No Otherness" 175Montana Fifty Years Ago 176

CZESLAW MlLOSZ (19H-2OO5)To Robinson Jeffers 177

XI

JOHN BERRYMAN (1914-1972)

(from) The Dream Songs 179

RANDALL JARRELL (1914-1965)A Rhapsody on Irish Themes 185

JAMES LAUGHLIN (1914-1997)Martha Graham 189

EUGENE MCCARTHY (1916-2005)No Country for the Young 190

THOMAS MCGRATH (1916-1990)Ode for the American Dead in Asia 192The End of the World 193Columbus 194The Topography of History 195Love in a Bus 197

GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917-2000)Bronzeville Woman in a Red Hat 198

ROBERT LOWELL (1917-1977)For Eugene McCarthy 201Milgate 202

REED WHITTEMORE (1919- )

The Storing of the Soul 204Let It Blow 205

ANN DARR (1920- )

Gaelic Legacy 207Flying the Zuni Mountains 209

JAMES SCHEVILL (1920- )

For the Old Yeats 211

DANIEL BERRIGAN (1921- )The Big Wind 212Dachau Is Now Open for Visitors 213Immanence 213

Xl l

HAYDEN CARRUTH (1921- )Her Song 214

ALAN DUGAN (1923-2003)

The So-Called Wild Horses of the Water 215Mockery Against the Irish Censorship 216Sailing to Jerusalem 217On Voyage 218Note: The Sea Grinds Things Up 218

JOHN LOGAN (1923-1986)

At Drumcliffe Churchyard, County Sligo 220Dublin Suite: Homage to James Joyce 222

JAMES SCHUYLER (1923-1991)Our Father 228Poem 230Salute 231

Louis SIMPSON (1923- )The Peat-Bog Man 232The Middleaged Man 233

PHILIP WHALEN (1923-2002)Homage to St. Patrick, Garcia Lorca, & the Itinerant Grocer 234

PADRAIC FIACC (1924- )Our Father 235Brendan Gone 236Old Poet 237

A.R. AMMONS (1926-2001)The Pieces of My Voice 240Hymn 241Expressions of Sea Level 242Passage 245Easter Morning 246Night Finding 249Feel Like Traveling On 250

ROBERT CREELEY (1926-2005)Theresa's Friends 251An Irishman's Lament on the Approaching Winter 252Water 252For Ted Berrigan 253America 254For My Mother: Genevieve Jules Creeley 254

FRANK O'HARA (1926-1966)A Note to Harold Fondren 259Walking with Larry Rivers 260On a Passage in Beckett's Watt & About Geo. Montgomery 261Ode: Salute to the French Negro Poets 261The Day Lady Died 263

GALWAY KINNELL (1927- )Goodbye 264(from) The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the

New World 265The Shoes of Wandering 269

LEO CONNELLAN (1928-2001)

York Maine 274Jazz 275Oscar Wilde Lament 276Dark Horses Rushing 278

X.J. KENNEDY (1928- )In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus One Day 280Aunt Rectita's Good Friday 282Celebrations After the Death of John Brennan 282Ool About to Proclaim a Parable 286

THOMAS KINSELLA (1928- )

The Good Fight 287

JOHN MONTAGUE (1929- )

The Cage 299A Muddy Cup 300

xiv

A Christmas Card 303A Flowering Absence 304The Locket 307All Legendary Obstacles 309

NED O'GORMAN (1929- )

Looking Upward at a Waterford Glass Chandelier 310The Harvesters' Vase 311

Wittgenstein Reads Finnegans Wake in Provence:A Pauline Reflection 312

The Five Seasons of Obsession 312

DIANA O 'HEHIR (1929- )Spell for Not Dying Again 314Empty God 315Some of Us Are Exiles from No Land 315

KNUTE SKINNER (1929- )The Cold Irish Earth 317Location 318The Beautiful White Cow 319

JOHN ENGELS (1931- )

Walking to Cootehill 321Saying the Names 323The Storm 325

TED BERRIGAN (1934-1983)Frank O'Hara 327Heloise 328

CATHARINE SAVAGE BROSMAN (1934- )Indian Paintbrush 329Into the Wind 330Sunset, with Red Rain 331

JAMES LIDDY (1934- )

A White Thought in a White Shade 333I Hear the Wife of the Governor of Wisconsin Singing 334Lines for Gareth and Janet Dunleavy 336

xv

Wonderful Tennessee 338Gold Set Dancing 339

JERI MCCORMICK (1934- )The Magpies of Dublin 340

WALT MCDONALD (1934- )My Father on His Shield 342The Waltz We Were Born For 343Heirlooms 344

TED MCNULTY (1934-1998)Good Sweat 346The Immigrant 347

GEORGE STANLEY (1934- )In Ireland 348Veracruz 350

JEAN VALENTINE (1934- )Pilgrims 351The River at Wolf 352To Ireland 352Eighteen 353

ROBERT KELLY (1935- )

Haruspex 355A Woman from Connaught 356Towards the Day of Liberation 358Poem for the Jews 360

ANNE KENNEDY (1935-1998)With One Continuous Breath 361Burial Instructions 362

JAMES J. MCAULEY (1936- )A Famine Field 364Sea Writer: Sands 365

xvi

P A R T T H R E E . F U R T H E R H A R B O R S

BRENDAN GALVIN (1937- )My Grandmother Steals Her Last Trout 369A Holy Well 370Carrowkeel 372Hearing Irish Spoken 373

1847 374Brother Francisco Anthony Eats an Apple yj

RENNY GOLDEN (1937- )

Letter to Maryknoll 379

SUSAN HOWE (1937- )

(from) Hinge Picture 382Closed Fist Withholding an Open Palm 383

SABRA LOOMIS (1938- )

The Alphabet of Singing 386Etruscan 387The Ship 388

MICHAEL COADY (1939- )The Letter 389

PHILIP DACEY (1939- )

Inheriting the Gift of Blarney 393Why Jesus Was Crucified 394Portrait, with Lightning Rod 396

SUSAN DONNELLY (1939- )The House of My Birth 397The Tile Setter 399The Gospel Singer Testifies 401

STEPHEN DUNN (1939- )Regardless 402The Resurrection 403Oklahoma City 404

xvii

Something Like Happiness 405Afterlife 406

IRENE MCKINNEY (1939- )Twilight in West Virginia: Six O'clock Mine Report 408Visiting My Gravesite: Talbott Churchyard, West Virginia 409

JAMES MCMICHAEL (1939- )(from) The Begotten 410

PETER COOLEY (1940- )

Ararat 415The Soul 416For Jay Gatsby 417

JOHN DONOGHUE (1940- )Revision 418Space 419

FANNY HOWE (1940- )

Seven Poems 420

FRED MARCHANT (1940- )Directions Down 423The Afterlife on Squaw Peak 424St. John's Point 425

SEAN O'DWYER (1940- )The Big House 427

TOM SEXTON (1940- )

The Alaska Range 432Homecoming 433

RICHARD TILLINGHAST (1940- )A Quiet Pint in Kinvara 434A Backward Glance at Galway 435

KAREN BRENNAN (1941- )

My Mother and the Shepherdess 437Grandfather 438

xvin

TOM CLARK (1941- )The Black Weir 440Prolepsis 440

BILLY COLLINS (1941- )Tourist: Dromahair, Co. Sligo 442Afternoon with Irish Cows 443Home Again 444Design 445Questions About Angels 445The Afterlife 447

EAMON GRENNAN (1941- )Traveller 449Men Roofing 450Walk, Night Falling, Memory of My Father 451Levitations 453

DEREK MAHON (1941- )Global Village 455Beauty and the Beast 456Key West 458'To Mrs. Moore at Inishannon 460

WESLEY MCNAIR (1941- )To My Father, Dying in a Supermarket 462Blame 463History by George B. Yeaton 464

GIBBONS RUARK (1941- )Words for Unaccompanied Voice at Dunmore Head 467Working the Rain Shift at Flanagan's 468With Thanks for a Shard from Sandycove 470The Enniskillen Bombing 471Miles from Newgrange at the Winter Solstice 473

MICHAEL HEFFERNAN (1942- )Kennedy 475To Cathleen at Patricktide 476

xix

The Atonement 477A Rhetoric Upon the Window 477A Highway Brook in Dingle 478Merciless Beauty 479

MICHAEL LALLY (1942- )(from) The South Orange Sonnets 480

KATHY CALLAWAY (1943- )Love in the Western World 482

TESS GALLAGHER (1943- )Still Moment at Dun Laoghaire 483Second Language 484Disappearances in the Guarded Sector 486The Ballad ofBallymote 488Lie Down with the Lamb 489

KATHLEEN LYNCH (1943- )Hanging Family Photographs 491

LINDA MCCARRISTON (1943- )

To Judge Faolain, Dead Long Enough: A Summons 493October 1913 495Local 497

MAUREEN OWEN (1943- )She had her socks rolled up over her pants

like an Irish brat.

Anonymous 498"Can I Still Love You & Hate the Word Husband?" 499

EAVAN BOLAND (1944- )

The Emigrant Irish 501In a Bad Light 502Home 503In Exile 505

xx

KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER (1944- )Lineage 507Alma 508The Ballad Singers 509Backwater 511

JAMES CHAPSON (1944- )

Farewell to My Protestant Cousins at Inch 513Wilton Castle, County Wexford 514

THOMAS DILLON REDSHAW (1944- )Rowen 515Lius 516Yarrow Charm 517

BEN HOWARD (1945- )

(from) The Mother Tongue 518(from) The Holy Alls 520

J. D. MCCLATCHY (1945- )Irish Prospects 525

G. E. MURRAY (1945- )

Caitlin's Poem 528On Laying Keel 530

MICHAEL D. RILEY (1945- )Passage Graves 532In the Garden 533

BETSY SHOLL (1945- )

Sweeney at Prayer 535Two Worlds 537The Past 539

TERENCE WINCH (1945- )A Short History of 20th-century Irish Music in America 541Shadow Grammar 543Noise Under Glass 544

xxi

CHRISTOPHER JANE CORKERY (1946- )The Annunciation 545Magdalen's Song 546Water 547

ED COX (1946-1992)The Other Side 548

DENNIS FINNELL (1946- )The Irish Wilderness 550Tongue. The End of the World Is Roadless. Exile 551The Cloud of Unknowing 554

VICKI HEARNE (1946-2001)Soliloquy of the Irish Poet 555The American Dream 556

JOAN HOULIHAN (1946- )Somnambulist 557Waked by wind, sea talk 558

PATRICIA MONAGHAN (1946- )What the Wind Said 559Kevin Barry Gave His Young Life 560

MICHAEL RYAN (1946- )The Pure Loneliness 562The Past 563God Hunger 563Switchblade 564A Version of Happiness 566God 568

M A U R A S T A N T O N (1946- )Elegy for Snow 569The Tidal Wave 570Ode to Berryman 572Croagh Patrick 575

SUSAN WOOD (1946- )

Geography 577

xxii

KEVIN BOWEN (1947- )

Inchemekinna 579A Granite Stairway: St. Joseph's School for Boys 580Sailing to Thai Binh 581

MICHAEL CASEY (1947- )A Bummer 582Learning 583

GERALDINE CONNOLLY (1947- )Our Mother Tongue 584Procession of All Souls 585

JOHN MALONEY (1947- )Steady Dreamers 586Lace Stone Walls 587

MAUREEN SEATON (1947- )Vows of Chastity and Indulgence 588

Saved 589After Sinead O'Connor Appears on Saturday Night Live, the Pope 591

R.T. SMITH (1947- )

Waterford 592Leabai 593Passage to Kilronin 594Road Fever 595

NATHALIE ANDERSON (1948- )Slow Airs 598Feis 599Country Night, County Donegal 600

SUSAN FIRER (1948- )

My Mothers' Rosaries 602The Lives of the Saints 603

RICHARD KENNEY (1948- )The Uilleann Pipes 605(from) The Invention of the Zero 606

XXUl

MARY LEADER (1948-)

Among Things Held at Arm's Length 608Madrigal 610

THOMAS LYNCH (1948- )

The Moveen Notebook 611A Rhetoric Upon Brother Michael's Rhetoric Upon the Window 621

HEATHER MCHUGH (1948- )Faith 622Message at Sunset for Bishop Berkeley 623A Physics 624Nano-Knowledge 624

RICHARD BRODERICK (1949- )Johnny Broderick 626

LARRY LEVIS (1949- )

Irish Music 628Bunny Mayo in the New World 630

MICHAEL WATERS (1949- )The Mystery of the Caves 632Mythology 633Brooklyn Waterfall 635Christ at the Apollo, 1962 637

CAROLYNE WRIGHT (1949- )Ancestress 638In the Yeats Class, Summer Term 639Clairvoyant's Reading 640

THEODORE DEPPE (1950- )Translations from the Irish 642

Midsummer's Night, Cape Clear 643

MARIE HOWE (1950- )

The Dream 645From Nowhere 645Encounter 646

XXIV

MEKEEL MCBRIDE (1950- )Metaphor for the Past 648Transmigration 649Strauss and the Cows of Ireland 651

ROBERT MCNAMARA (1950- )Sati, Seventh Month, By the Sea 652On the '7' Train 653

MARY SWANDER (1950- )Lynch's Window 654For Mary Lynch 656Scales 657Swift 658Succession 659

EDWARD BYRNE (1951- )Homecoming 660Listening to Lester Young 662

DAVID CAVANAGH (1951- )It's So Much Like Missiles 664The Middleman 665

PETER FALLON (1951- )from The Deerfleld SeriesBloody Brook 667Mehuman Hinsdale 668Strength of Heart 669

JAMES GALVIN (1951- )Navigation 670For Our Better Graces 671Misericord 672Materialism 673

BRIGIT PEGEEN KELLY (1951- )The Place of Trumpets 674Of Ancient Origins and War 676Song 677

XXV

ETHNA MCKIERNAN (1951- )CeiliMdr 679To Inishmore 680Driving the Coast Road to Dingle 681

LYNNE MCMAHON (1951- )Wedding Ring 682We Take Our Children to Ireland 683Glasnevin 684In Love With It, If It Requires No Tending 686

JAMES MCMANUS (1951- )Two Songs for Hendrix 687The Unnamable 691

PAUL MULDOON (1951- )Immrama 693Promises, Promises 694(from) 7, Middagh Street 695Milkweed and Monarch 698

HARRY CLIFTON (1952- )Euclid Avenue 700Absinthe at New Orleans 701

ALICE FULTON (1952- )

Everyone Knows the World Is Ending 704Days Through Starch and Bluing 705 \Maidenhead 706Industrial Lace 711

JULIE KANE (1952- )

Connemara 714Ode to the Big Muddy 715

MARY LOGUE (1952- )

Song in Killeshandra 717

JAMES SILAS ROGERS (1952- )

Three Things Remembered from a Life of Georgia O'Keeffe 718

XXVI

ALAN SHAPIRO (1952- )from After the DiggingRandolph Routh to Charles Trevelyan 720Memorandum 722The Dublin Evening Mail 723(from) Passage Out 724

ELIZABETH SPIRES (1952- )The Travellers 727

KlLLARNEY CLARY (l953~ )(from) Who Whispered Near Me 729(from) By Common Salt 730

ROBERT MCDOWELL (1953- )The Islander 732Prayers That Open Heaven 734

KEVIN BOYLE (1954- )The Lullaby of History 735

MICHAEL CAREY (1954- )The Islandman 7^7

Aubade for Allihies, County Cork 738

MICHAEL COFFEY (1954- )Mid-life, Looking North 740The Saranac River 741

MICHAEL DONAGHY (1954-2004)City of God 742

The Classics 743

Pentecost 744

Reliquary 745

Caliban's Books 745

Exile's End 747

MICHAEL MCFEE (1954- )Family Reunion Near Grape Creek Church,

Four Miles West of Murphy, N.C., 1880 748

XXVll

The Family Laugh 749The All-Dog Siren Choir 751

JANICE FITZPATRICK SIMMONS (1954- )The Sirens 752Where the Roads Lead 753

NUALA ARCHER (1955- )Emigrant 755Between Swilly and Sewanee 756

JULIE O'CALLAGHAN (1955- )The Long Room Gallery 757The Great Blasket Island 758Home 759

EAMONN WALL (1955- )Hart Crane's Bridge 760At the Edges of the Nerve: Song for the Americas 761Song at Lake Michigan 762Four Stern Faces/South Dakota 763The Westward Journey 765

CHRIS AGEE (1956- )Thistledown 766Offing 767By the HARP Brewery 769First Light 769

PATRICK DONNELLY (1956-)I am a virus 771How the Age of Iron Turned to Gold 772

MARY JANE NEALON (1956- )Heirlooms Not Relinquished in the Great Depression 773

THOMAS O'GRADY (1956- )East Side Story 775

As in Wild Earth a Grecian Vase 777Exile 779

xxviii

MICHAEL CHITWOOD (1958- )The Great Wagon Road, or How History Knocked the Professor Cold,

or A Storyteller's Story, or Why Appalachians Are Mountainsand a People 780

NICOLE COOLEY (1958- )

Drinking: A Suite 784

GREG DELANTY (1958- )We Will Not Play the Harp Backward Now, No 789On the Renovation of Ellis Island 790The Shrinking World 791Homage to the God of Pollution in Brooklyn 792(from) The Hellbox 793

KATHY FAGAN (1958- )

Migration 795Tympani 796

LAURA MULLEN (1958- )

The Surface 798Long Coat 799

DANIEL TOBIN (1958- )

Double Life 801A Mosque in Brooklyn 802St. John 803

JEAN M O N A H A N (1959- ) \Woman Falls Asleep Doing the Sunday Crossword 807

GERARD DONOVAN (i960- )(from) Columbus Rides Again 809They Write 810On a Trawler to the Mainland 811

JOHN FLYNN (i960- )

Pow Wow at Greenbriar 813

NICK FLYNN (i960- )

The ocean is always looking for a way into your boat 814Father Outside 815

CHRIS FORHAN ( i960- )Family History 817The Vastness. The Distant Twinkling 818The Fidgeting 819

CLAUDIA KEELAN ( i960- )The Secularist 820Ave Verum Corpus 822

CAMPBELL MCGRATH ( i960- )Four Clouds Like the Irish in Memory 823Angels and the Bars of Manhattan 824Sunrise and Moonfall, Rosarito Beach 827

ELIZABETH ONESS ( i960- )Belleek 829

First Frost 831

CHRSITINE CASSON (1961- )Learning Death 832

ANN TOWNSEND (1962- )Pattern for a Sweater 833Irish 834Evening Burning 834

ED MADDEN (1963- )Sacrifice 836

Aisling 837

STEPHEN MCNALLY (1963- )Snow 838The Adventure 839

JENNIFER O'GRADY (1963- )The Miraculous Draft of Fishes 840

Blue Heron 841

MEG KEARNEY (1964- )The Prodigal Father 843

Gin 844

XXX

CHRISTOPHER CAHILL (1965- )Sandalwood 845Lamplighting 846

AlDAN ROONEY (1965- )Safe Haven 847Holy Water 848The Island of Women 849

JOSEPH LENNON (1967-)

(from) 29th Birthday 850

BETH ANN FENNELLY (1971-)The Names of Things 853

JILL MCDONNAGH (1972-)(from) The Execution Sonnets 855

BRENDA SHAUGHNESSY (1972- )

The Question and Its Mark 857

TYLER FARRELL (1973- )Letter from Madeline Island 858

KATHLEEN ROONEY (1980- )

Hometown 860

COLLEEN ABEL (1980- )On Touring the UN. with My Mother-in-Law 861

General Historical Chronology 863

Biographical and Explanatory Notes 868

Bibliography 889

Bibliography for General Reading 899

Permissions and Acknowledgments 901

Index of Poems 916

Index of Poets 923

xxxi