Gathers poems about slavery and freedom, home and family, and the past by America's youngest poet laureate Introduction xix Rita Dove THE YELLOW HOUSE ON THE CORNER I This Life 4(1) The Bird Frau 5(1) Robert Schumann, Or: Musical Genius Begins with Affliction 6(1) Happenstance 7(1) Small Town 8(1) The Snow King 9(1) Sightseeing 10(2) Upon Meeting Don L. Lee, In a Dream 12(1) ``Teach Us to Number Our Days'' 13(1) Nigger Song: An Odyssey 14(2) II Five Elephants 16(1) Geometry 17(1) Champagne 18(1) Night Watch 19(1) The Secret Garden 20(8) A Suite for Augustus 1963 21(1) D.C. 22(1) Planning the Perfect Evening 23(1) Augustus Observes the Sunset 24(1) Wake 25(1) Back 26(2) III Belinda's Petition 28(1) The House Slave 29(1) David Walker (1785-1830) 30(1) The Abduction 31(1) The Transport of Slaves From Maryland to Mississippi 32(2) Pamela 34(1) Someone's Blood 35(1) Cholera 36(2) The Slave's Critique of Practical Reason 38(2) Kentucky, 1833 40(2) IV Adolescence---I 42(1) Adolescence---II 43(1) Adolescence---III 44(1) The Boast 45(1) The Kadava Kumbis Devise a Way to Marry for Love 46(1) Spy 47(1) First Kiss 48(1) Then Came Flowers 49(1) Pearls 50(1) Nexus 51(3) V Notes from a Tunisian Journal 54(1) The Sahara Bus Trip 55(2) For Kazuko 57(1) Beauty and the Beast 58(1) His Shirt 59(2) Great Uncle Beefheart 61(1) The Son 62(1) Corduroy Road 63(1) O 64(5) MUSEUM I The Hill Has Something to Say The Fish in the Stone 69(1) The Ants of Argos 70(1) Pithos 71(1) Nestor's Bathtub 72(2) The Hill Has Something to Say 74(2) The Copper Beech 76(1) Tou Wan Speaks to Her Husband, Liu Sheng 77(2) Catherine of Alexandria 79(1) Catherine of Siena 80(1) Receiving the Stigmata 81(1) Boccaccio: The Plague Years 82(1) Fiammetta Breaks Her Peace 83(4) II In the Bulrush November for Beginners 87(1) Reading Holderlin on the Patio with the Aid of a Dictionary 88(1) Shakespeare Say 89(3) Three Days of Forest, a River, Free 92(1) Banneker 93(2) In the Bulrush 95(1) Delft 96(1) Ike 97(1) Agosta the Winged Man and Rasha the Black Dove 98(3) At the German Writers Conference in Munich 101(4) III My Father's Telescope Grape Sherbet 105(1) Roses 106(2) Sunday Night at Grandfather's 108(1) Centipede 109(1) My Father's Telescope 110(1) Song. Summer 111(1) Anti-Father 112(2) To Bed 114(1) A Father out Walking on the Lawn 115(4) IV Primer for the Nuclear Age The Sailor in Africa 119(5) Early Morning on the Tel Aviv-Haifa Freeway 124(1) Why I Turned Vegetarian 125(1) Eastern European Eclogues 126(2) Flirtation 128(1) Exeunt the Viols 129(1) The Left-Handed Cellist 130(1) Lines Muttered in Sleep 131(1) Primer for the Nuclear Age 132(1) Parsley 133(8) Notes 136(5) THOMAS AND BEULAH I Mandolin The Event 141(2) Variation on Pain 143(1) Jiving 144(1) Straw Hat 145(1) Courtship 146(2) Refrain 148(2) Variation on Guilt 150(1) Nothing Down 151(3) The Zeppelin Factory 154(2) Under the Viaduct, 1932 156(1) Lightnin' Blues 157(1) Compendium 158(1) Definition in the Face of Unnamed Fury 159(1) Aircraft 160(1) Aurora Borealis 161(1) Variation on Gaining a Son 162(1) One Volume Missing 163(1) The Charm 164(1) Gospel 165(2) Roast Possum 167(2) The Stroke 169(1) The Satisfaction Coal Company 170(2) Thomas at the Wheel 172(3) II Canary in Bloom Taking in Wash 175(1) Magic 176(1) Courtship, Diligence 177(1) Promises 178(1) Dusting 179(2) A Hill of Beans 181(2) Weathering Out 183(2) Motherhood 185(1) Anniversary 186(1) The House on Bishop Street 187(1) Daystar 188(1) Obedience 189(1) The Great Palaces of Versailles 190(2) Pomade 192(2) Headdress 194(1) Sunday Greens 195(1) Recovery 196(1) Nightmare 197(1) Wingfoot Lake 198(2) Company 200(1) The Oriental Ballerina 201(2) Chronology 203(2) Index of Titles 205