Contents
Introduction by David Lehman xv
[organized chronologically by year of poet's birth]
francis scott key (1780-1843)
"On a Young Lady's Going into a Shower Bath" 1
edgar allan poe (1809-1849)
"Song" ["I saw thee on thy bridal day"] 2
walt whitman (1819-1892)
"I Sing the Body Electric" 3
george henry boker (1823-1890)
from Sonnets: A Sequence on Profane Love 11
emily dickinson (1830-1886)
"Come slowly -- Eden!" (#211) 12
"Wild Nights -- Wild Nights!" (#249) 13
"He fumbles at your Soul" (#315) 14
"I groped for him before I knew" (#1555) 15
"In Winter in my Room" (#1670) 16
emma lazarus (1849-1887)
"Assurance" 18
edith wharton (1862-1937)
"Terminus" 19
robert frost (1874-1963)
"The Subverted Flower" 22
amy lowell (1874-1925)
"Anticipation" 25
gertrude stein (1874-1946)
from Lifting Belly 26
wallace stevens (1879-1955)
"Peter Quince at the Clavier" 32
william carlos williams (1883-1963)
"Young Sycamore" 35
conrad aiken (1889-1973)
"Sea Holly" 36
edna st. vincent millay (1892-1950)
Sonnet ["I too beneath your moon, almighty Sex"] 38
e. e. cummings (1894-1962)
"as / we lie side by side / my little breasts [...]" 39
h. phelps putnam (1894-1948)
"Sonnets to Some Sexual Organs" 40
hart crane (1899-1932)
"Episode of Hands" 42
langston hughes (1902-1967)
"Desire" 43
kenneth rexroth (1905-1982)
from The Love Poems of Marichiko 44
w. h. auden (1907-1973)
"The Platonic Blow" 48
elizabeth bishop (1911-1979)
"It Is Marvellous..." 53
j. v. cunningham (1911-1985)
"It Was in Vegas" 54
tennessee williams (1911-1983)
"Life Story" 55
muriel rukeyser (1913-1980)
"What I See" 57
may swenson (1913-1989)
"A New Pair" 58
isabella stewart gardner (1915-1981)
"The Milkman" 59
ruth stone (born 1915)
"Coffee and Sweet Rolls" 60
thomas mcgrath (1916-1990)
from Letter to an Imaginary Friend 62
robert duncan (1919-1988)
"The Torso" (Passage 18) 64
charles bukowski (1920-1994)
"Hunk of Rock" 67
hayden carruth (born 1921)
"Assignment" 75
richard wilbur (born 1921)
"A Late Aubade" 76
james schuyler (1923-1991)
"A photograph" 78
louis simpson (born 1923)
"Summer Storm" 80
robin blaser (born 1925)
"2nd Tale: Return" 81
kenneth koch (1925-2002)
"To Orgasms" 83
a.r. ammons (1926-2001)
"Their Sex Life" 85
paul blackburn (1926-1971)
"The Once-Over" 86
allen ginsberg (1926-1997)
"Love Poem on Theme by Whitman" 88
james merrill (1926-1995)
"Peeled Wands" 89
frank o'hara (1926-1966)
"To the Harbormaster" 90
david wagoner (born 1926)
"Trying to Write a Poem While the Couple in the Apartment Overhead Make Love" 91
galway kinnell (born 1927)
"Last Gods" 92
donald hall (born 1928)
"When I Was Young" 94
anne sexton (1928-1974)
"December 11th" 95
richard howard (born 1929)
"Move Still, Still So" 96
adrienne rich (born 1929)
"(The Floating Poem, Unnumbered)" 103
sylvia plath (1932-1963)
"The Beekeeper's Daughter" 104
john updike (born 1932)
"Fellatio" 105
mark strand (born 1934)
"The Couple" 106
ted berrigan (1934-1983)
"Dinner at George and Katie Schneeman's" 110
russell edson (born 1935)
"Conjugal" 111
lucille clifton (born 1936)
"to a dark moses" 112
frederick seidel (born 1936)
"Heart Art" 113
marge piercy (born 1936)
"Salt in the Afternoon" 115
c. k. williams (born 1936)
"Ethics" 116
charles simic (born 1938)
"Breasts" 118
billy collins (born 1941)
"Pinup" 121
stephen dobyns (born 1941)
"Desire" 123
robert hass (born 1941)
"Against Botticelli" 126
linda gregg (born 1942)
"Kept Burning and Distant" 128
sharon olds (born 1942)
"The Sisters of Sexual Treasure" 129
louise glück (born 1943)
"The Encounter" 130
sandra alcosser (born 1944)
"By the Nape" 131
paul violi (born 1944)
"Resolution" 132
robert olen butler (born 1945)
"Walter Raleigh, courtier and explorer, beheaded by King James I, 1618" 134
alan feldman (born 1945)
"A Man and a Woman" 135
bernadette mayer (born 1945)
"First turn to me..." 136
honor moore (born 1945)
"Disparu" 139
star black (born 1946)
"The Evangelist" 140
ellen bass (born 1947)
"Gate C22" 141
ai (born 1947)
"Twenty-Year Marriage" 143
jane kenyon (1947-1995)
"The Shirt" 144
yusef komunyakaa (born 1947)
"Lust" 145
molly peacock (born 1947)
"She Lays" 146
james cummins (born 1948)
"The Body Is the Flower" 147
heather mchugh (born 1948)
"Gig at Big Al's" 149
lynn emanuel (born 1949)
"Dreaming of Rio at Sixteen" 150
denis johnson (born 1949)
"Poem" 151
dana gioia (born 1950)
"Alley Cat Love Song" 152
paul jones (born 1950)
"To His Penis" 153
william wadsworth (born 1950)
"The Snake in the Garden Considers Daphne" 155
marc cohen (born 1951)
"It Never Happened" 156
judith hall (born 1951)
"In an Empty Garden" 157
cynthia huntington (born 1951)
from Shot Up in the Sexual Revolution (The True Adventures of Suzy Creamcheese) 159
paul muldoon (born 1951)
"The Little Black Book" 161
bob flanagan (1952-1996)
from Slave Sonnets ["I've been a shit and I hate fucking you now"] 163
dorianne laux (born 1952)
"The Shipfitter's Wife" 164
peter serchuk (born 1952)
"The Naked Women" 165
dennis cooper (born 1953)
"After School, Street Football, Eighth Grade" 166
mark doty (born 1953)
"Lilacs in NYC" 168
tony hoagland (born 1953)
"Visitation" 171
richard jones (born 1953)
"Wan Chu's Wife in Bed" 172
harryette mullen (date of birth unknown)
"Pretty Piece of Tail" 173
kim addonizio (born 1954)
"The Divorcée and Gin" 175
sarah arvio (born 1954)
"Mirrors" 176
dean young (born 1955)
"Platypus" 178
amy gerstler (born 1956)
"Ode to Semen" 179
sarah maclay (born 1956)
"My Lavenderdom" 180
cecilia woloch (born 1956)
"Bareback Pantoum" 181
catherine bowman (born 1957)
"Demographics" 183
ed smith (1957-2005)
"Poem" 185
nin andrews (born 1958)
"How to Have an Orgasm: Examples" 186
carl phillips (born 1959)
"I See a Man" 188
denise duhamel (born 1961)
"House-Sitting" 189
elizabeth alexander (born 1962)
"At Seventeen" 191
olena kalytiak davis (born 1963)
"Francesca Says More" 192
beth gylys (born 1964)
"Preference" 196
lisa williams (born 1966)
"On Not Using the Word 'Cunt' in a Poem" 197
deborah landau (born 1967)
"August in West Hollywood" 199
jeffrey mcdaniel (born 1967)
"When a man hasn't been kissed" 200
richard siken (born 1967)
"Little Beast" 201
jennifer l. knox (born 1968)
"Another Motive for Metaphor" 204
janice erlbaum (born 1969)
"The Temp" 205
jenny factor (born 1969)
"Misapprehension" 207
cate marvin (born 1969)
"Me and Men" 208
catherine wagner (born 1969)
"Lover" 210
c. dale young (born 1969)
"Maelstrom" 211
brenda shaughnessy (born 1970)
"Voluptuary" 213
kevin young (born 1970)
"Étude" 215
jill alexander essbaum (born 1971)
"On Reading Poorly Transcribed Erotica" 216
beth ann fennelly (born 1971)
"Why We Shouldn't Write Love Poems, or If We Must, Why We Shouldn't Publish Them" 217
terrance hayes (born 1971)
"Preface" 219
catherine wing (born 1972)
"Eye-Fucked" 220
ross martin (born 1973)
"Body Cavity" 221
sarah manguso (born 1974)
"Reverence" 224
ravi shankar (born 1975)
"Lucia" 225
laura cronk (born 1977)
"From the Other" 226
danielle pafunda (born 1977)
"Courtesy" 227
michael quattrone (born 1977)
"February" 228
maggie wells (born 1977)
"Sonnet from the Groin" 229
noah michelson (born 1978)
"Valentine" 230
heather christle (born 1980)
"Letter to My Love" 231
rachel shukert (born 1980)
"Subterranean Gnomesick Blues; or, the Gnome Who Whet My Fleshy Tent." 232
Contributors' Notes 235
Acknowledgments 285
Index of Poems 293
Index of Poets 297