Selected Poems
Other books by James Tate
The Lost Pilot
The Oblivion Ha-Ha
Hints to Pilgrims
Absences
Hottentot Ossuary
Viper Jazz
Riven Doggeries
Constant Defender
Reckoner
Distance from Loved Ones
Dreams of a Robot Dancing Bee
Lost River
James Tate
SELECTED POEMS
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Middletown, Connecticut
Published by
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Middletown, CT 06459
© 1991 by James Tate
All rights reserved
Originally produced in 1991 by
Wesleyan/University Press of New England
Hanover, NH 03755
Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8
CIP data appear at the end of the book
The Lost Pilot, Yale University Press, 1967; Ecco Press, 1982; included by permission of Ecco Press. The Oblivion Ha-Ha, Unicorn Press, 1970; included by permission. Hints to Pilgrims, University of Massachusetts Press, 1971; included by permission. Absences, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1972; Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1990. Hottentot Ossuary, Temple Bar Press, 1974. Viper Jazz, Wesleyan University Press, 1976; included by permission. River Doggeries, Ecco Press, 1979; included by permission. Constant Defender, Ecco Press, 1983; included by permission. Reckoner, Wesleyan University Press, 1986; included by permission.
COVER ILLUSTRATION: The Herald of Autumn by Paul Klee, 1922. Watercolor and pencil on laid Ingres paper. Yale University Art Gallery; Gift of Collection Société Anonyme.
Contents
Coming Down Cleveland Avenue 5
In a Town for Which I Know No Name 10
Why I Will Not Get Out of Bed 13
Intimidations of an Autobiography 17
Tragedy Comes to the Bad Lands 26
II from The Oblivion Ha-Ha (1970)
Poem (High in Hollywood Hills a door opens) 37
Rape in the Engineering Building 38