Love SpeaksIts Name

Gay and Lesbian Love Poems

Selected and edited by

J. D. McClatchy

E V E R Y M A N ' S L I B R A R Y

P O C K E T P O E T S

Alfred A. Knopf- New Tork • Toronto

CONTENTS

Foreword 13

LONGING

SAPPHO "Be kind to me" 21

SAPPHO Prayer to My Lady of Paphos 22

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonne t 29 24

C H R I S T O P H E R M A R L O W E From E d w a r d I I . . . . 2 5

RICHARD BARNFIELD Sonnet 26

VIRGIL Second Eclogue 27

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI Love Misinterpreted 32

"H. D." (HILDA DOOLITTLE) At Baia 34

VITA SACKVILLE-WEST No Obligation 35

AMY LOWELL The Letter 36

FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA The Poet Speaks with

His Beloved on the Telephone 37

FEDERICO GARCI'A LORCA Sonnet of the

Garland of Roses 38

w. H. AUDEN "What's in your mind, my dove" . . 39

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY He Asked About the

Quality 40

JAMES BALDWIN Munich, Winter 1973 42

JAMES SCHUYLER Sunday 46

A. E. HOUSMAN From Last Poems (XXVI) . . . . 47

A. E. HOUSMAN From A Shropshire Lad (XI) . . 48

NOEL COWARD Mad About the Boy . . . - . - . . . . 49

FRANK O'HARA Poem 50

JAMES MERRILL The Kimono 52

MAY SWENSON Symmetrical Companion . . . . 53

MARK DOTY The Death of Antinoiis 57

LORENZ HART Bewitched, Bothered and

Bewildered 59

THOMAS MEYER September 61

LOOKINGRICHARD BARNFIELD Sonnet 65

WALT WHITMAN A Glimpse 66

WALT WHITMAN Among the Multitude 67

AMY LEVY At a Dinner Party 68

OSCAR WILDE Wasted Days 69

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY At the Cafe Door . . . . 70

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY Days of 1908 71

STEFAN GEORGE "Have you his lovely image" . . 73

A. E. HOUSMAN From A Shropshire Lad (XV) . . 74

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS From Epithalamion . . 75

HART CRANE Episode of Hands 78

HENRI COLE The Coastguard Station 80

MURIEL RUKEYSER Looking at Each Other . . . . 82

SANDRO PENNA "The stars don't move" 83

LOVINGMICHELANGELO BUONARROTI Love theLight-Giver 87GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON Stanzas for Music 88

MIKHAIL KUZMIN From Alexandrian Songs . . . . 89

WALT WHITMAN "When I heard at the close

of the day" 90

WALT WHITMAN "We two boys together

clinging" 92

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY The Bandaged Shoulder . . 93

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY Two Young Men, 23 to

24 Years Old 94

"MICHAEL FIELD" Second Thoughts 96

A. MARY F. ROBINSON Rosa Rosarum 98

HART CRANE Voyages, III 100

SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER "Since the first toss

of gale" 101

VALENTINE ACKLAND "The eyes of the body,

being blindfold by night" 103

VALENTINE ACKLAND "When I have said" . . . . 104

WILLA CATHER Evening Song 105

w. H. AUDEN "Fish in the unruffled lakes" . . . . 106

w. H. AUDEN Lullaby 108

COLE PORTER I Get a Kick out of You 110

GERTRUDE STEIN Bundles for Them I l l

JOHN MALCOLM BRINNIN W a i t i n g 112

ELIZABETH BISHOP Rain Towards Morning .. . . 113ELIZABETH BISHOP The Shampoo 114JAMES MERRILL Daysof 1964 115EDGAR BOWERS Living Together 118

MAUREEN DUFFY E v e S O n g . . 1 1 9

NiF.DEI'.S.STAATS U.UN1V.- |

BIFSLIOTHEKGOTTINGKN

FRANK O'HARA T O YOU 120

FRANK O'HARA Having a Coke with You . . . . 122ALLEN GINSBERG Night Gleam 124JAMES SCHUYLER Poem 125WILLIAM MEREDITH Tree Marriage 126MAY SARTON A Light Left On 127JEAN GARRIGUE "Waking, I always waked

you awake" 128MAY SWENSON Neither Wanting More 129NAOMI REPLANSKY The Oasis 131DANIEL HALL The People's Hotel 132RICHARD HOWARD Domesticities 133THOM GUNN The Hug 134

ADRIENNE RICH From Twenty-One Love Poems(II, III, XVI) 135

AUDRE LORDE Love Poem 138MELVIN DIXON Keeping Time 139HENRI COLE The Roman Baths at Nimes . . . . 140JUDY GRAHN "Ah, Love, you smell of petroleum" 141ESSEX HEMPHILL Black Beans 142ROBIN BECKER Fable 144JUNE JORDAN Poem #6 for b.b.L 146CARL PHILLIPS No Kingdom 147JOAN LARKIN Breathing You In 149JIM POWELL Revisiting The Haight 150u. A. FANTHORPE The Absent-Minded Lover's

Apology 153

WILLIAM DICKEY The Food of Love 155

ECSTASYGERTRUDE STEIN From Lifting Belly (II) . . . . 159RENEE VIVIEN "I love you for being weak" . . . . 161FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA Wounds of Love . . . . 162ROBERT DUNCAN The Torso 163

JAMES SCHUYLER A Photograph 167

BARBARA DEMING From Norma/1933-1934 . . 170

HONOR MOORE Shenandoah 171

HENRI COLE Peonies 173

MAY SWENSON Swimmers 174

ANXIETYSAPPHO "Afraid of losing you" 179MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI Love's Entreaty . . 180

WALT WHITMAN "Hours continuing long" . . . . 181AMY LOWELL The Taxi 183

WILFRED OWEN To Eros 184

w. H. AUDEN "Dear to me now" 185

CHARLOTTE MEW The Pedlar 186

COUNTEE CULLEN Advice to Youth 187

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS You and I 188

LANGSTON HUGHES The Ring 189HOWARD MOSS Rules of Sleep 190

DJUNA BARNES Song in Autumn 191

FRANK O'HARA Nocturne -. . . . . 192

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JAMES MERRILL Between Us 194

JEAN GARRIGUE Suite 195LUIS CERNUDA "The mind is hung with cobwebs" 197PIER PAOLO PASOLINI Part of a Letter to the

Condignola Boy 198JAMES MERRILL A Renewal 200

MAY SARTON From The Autumn Sonnets . . . . 201ELIZABETH BISHOP One Art 202

STEPHEN SONDHEIM Losing My Mind 203A. E. HOUSMAN From More Poems (XI) 205MARILYN HACKER "Five-thirty, little one" . . . . 206TIMOTHY LIU Leaving the Universe 207MELVIN DIXON Turning Forty in the 90's . . . . 208PAUL MONETTE Here 209

AFTERMATHSAPPHO "I have had not one word from her" . . 213WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Sonnet 87 . . 214OSCAR WILDE Apologia 215

PAUL VERLAINE From Lucien Letinois (XXIV) . . 217A. E. HOUSMAN From More Poems (XXX) . . . . 219A. E. HOUSMAN From A Shropshire Lad (xvill) 220A. E. HOUSMAN From Additional Poems (vil) . . 221CONSTANTINE CAVAFY The Next Table 222CONSTANTINE CAVAFY In Despair 223

CONSTANTINE CAVAFY Before Time AlteredThem 224

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WILFRED OWEN Sonnet to My Friend, with anIdentity Disc 225

w. H. AUDEN Funeral Blues 226JOY HARJO Songs from the House of Death,

or How to Make It Through to theEnd of a Relationship 227

MARK DOTY The Embrace 230JEAN GARRIGUE Requiem 232EDGAR BOWERS Amor Vincit Omnia 233DANIEL HALL Love-Letter-Burning 234OLGA BROUMAS Blues/for J. C 235j . D. MCCLATCHY Late Night Ode 237JOHN WIENERS Anniversary 239MURIEL RUKEYSER Then 240

Acknowledgments 241Index of Authors 250

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