Dennis Schmitz has provoked praise, delight and amazement among his readers. His complex, energetic poems, diving fearlessly into the physical world in pursuit of spiritual meanings, have proved rich and rewarding to those who have encountered them. This collection, the inaugural work of the FIELD Poetry Series, draws on five previous volumes.
Table of Contents
from WE WEEP FOR OUR STRANGENESS (1969) • Eclogues • If I Could Meet God • Virgil: Georgics, Book IV • from GOODWILL, INC (1975) • Chicago: Near West-Side Renewal • Goodwill, Inc. • Queen of Heaven Mausoleum • The California Phrasebook • Poke-Pole Fishing • Tattoo Artist • from STRING (1980) • Delta Farm • Divining • Infinities • Rabbits • Mile Hill • A Rabbit’s Death • The Man Who Buys Hides • String • Dog • Soup • Arbeit Macht Frei • In Bosch’s World • Wings • Planting Trout in the Chicago River • Making Chicago • from SINGING (1985) • Singing • A Picture of Okinawa • Kindergarten • Stung • Dressing Game • Cutting Out a Dress • A Letter to Ron Silliman on the Back of a Map of the Solar System • Sabotage • News • The Coal Bin Imagined from My Grandmother’s Description • Gill Boy • Attic • Lucky Tiger • 1942 • from EDEN (1989) • Instructions for Finishing the Eel • Bird-Watching • Harness • Good Friday • Driving with One Light • Halloween • The Pour • Climbing Sears Tower • Sterno • Zoo • Halloween-Creature • The Grand Egress • Instructions for Rowing • Matthew’s Lesson • Catfishing • Blue • The Spider • Ladder • La Traviata • So High • Eden • NEW POEMS • About Night • Willensstark • Birds • Eeyore • Anna Karenina • Ball • Rafting • Italy: Carrara #8 • The Ladder: Roger Vail’s Photo of a Rockface in the Carrara (Italy) Marble Quarries • Roger Vail’s Photo of a Worked-Out Mountain in the Carrara (Italy) Marble Quarries • Chicago Plastics, 1960