The Poetry of Men's Lives: An International Anthology
Fred Moramarco and Al Zolynas (eds.)
Moramarco, Fred; Al Zolynas (eds.);
The Poetry of Men's Lives: An International Anthology
University of Georgia Press, 2004, 400 pages
ISBN 0820326496, 9780820326498
topics: | poetry | world | gender | anthology
Book Review
A very global eclectic of the various emotions of manhood, collecting close to three hundred poems, mostly from non-English regions. The global range of experience is particularly appealing - Hungarian Peter Zilahy intertwining his coming of age sexual experiences with the rise and fall of various dictators, Pakistan's Taufiq Rafat reflecting on his forceful circumcision at six, or Egyptian Amal Dunqul's poignant tale of a prostitute searching the hospitals for her brother, missing in war.
More than 250 men poets from across the globe explore questions of manhood, hidden and in the open. Musings include Australian poet Clive James' pre-occupation with "Gabriel Sabatini's sweat" while Bishwabimohan Shreshtha from Nepal worries about his role as breadwinner.
The book is arranged by themes, each further divided by region, so as to bring out the cultural differences in each experience at the same time underlining the shared experience of manhood. The sections are boyhood and youth; views of women; families; cultural, personal and the male identity; men and women; myths and archetypes; spirituality; politics, war, and revolution; sex and sexuality; poets and poetry, artists and art; brothers, friends, mentors, and rivals; work, sports, and games; aging, illness, and death.
On the whole, is generally rewarding on the "where-the-page-falls-open" test. Some of the more extreme selections, such as reveal the Yi Cha's intolerance for his lesbian neighbours, or Clive James's fascination with the sweat of a woman tennis player enliven the poem.
Fred Moramarco, Professor of English at San Diego State University, is the editor Poetry International. Al Zolymas is a professor of English at Alliant International University in San Diego. They are also coeditors of Men of Our Time: An Anthology of Male Poetry in Contemporary America (also published by the University of Georgia Press). [also: review at http://www.southernscribe.com/reviews/poetry/poetrymenslives.htm]
Excerpts
Carlos Drummond de Andrade : Boy Crying in the Night 20
tr. mark strand In the warm, humid night, noiseless and dead, a boy cries. His crying behind the wall, the light behind the window are lost in the shadow of muffled footsteps, of tired voices. Yet the sound of medicine poured into a spoon can be heard. A boy cries in the night, behind the wall, across the street, far away a boy cries, in another city, in another world, perhaps. And I see the hand that lifts the spoon while the other holds the head, and I see the slick thread run down the boy's chin, and slip into the street, only a thread, and slip through the city. And nobody else in the world exists but that boy crying. [source:http://culturalbaggage.blogspot.com/2007/06/carlos-drummond-de-andrade.html|culturalbaggage]
Cees Nooteboom (Netherlands): Midday 88
[tr. Herlinde Spahr and Leonard Nathan]
It takes so little:
An afternoon of burnished hours
that will not fit together
and himself broken up by himself
sitting in various chairs
with almost everywhere a soul or a body.
In one part of the room is night.
In another, time past, vacation and war.
On the ceiling the sea touches the shining beach,
and no hand that controls all this,
no equerry, no computer,
only forever the same self, selfsame he,
someone, somebody scattered,
the uncollected man in converse with himself,
dreaming and thinking
present, invisible.
Someone who was going to eat and sleep later.
Someone with a watch and shoes.
Someone who left.
Someone who was going to leave.
Someone who stayed on for a while.
Cees Nooteboom (1931-) is a noted Dutch author, known mostly for his
novels and travel writing, but he likes to think of himself as a poet first
here he muses on fragmented experiences and what it means to his
uncollected identity.
Links:
bio: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nooteb.htm
wikipedia: Cees Nooteboom
poems: http://netherlands.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=4001
Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Before you came 128
Before you came things were just what they were: the road precisely a road, the horizon fixed, the limit of what could be seen, a glass of wine no more than a glass of wine. With you the world took on the spectrum radiating from my heart: your eyes gold as they open to me, slate the colour that falls each time I lose all hope. With your advent roses burst into flame: you were the artist of dried-up leaves, sorceress who flicked her wrist to change dust into soot. You lacquered the night black. As for the sky, the road, the cup of wine: one was my tear-drenched shirt, the other an aching nerve, the third a mirror that never reflected the same thing. Now you are here again - stay with me. This time things will fall into place; the road can be the road, the sky nothing but the sky; the glass of wine, as it should be, the glass of wine. see also this alternate translation by Agha Shahid Ali in bookexcerptise: The rebel's silhouette
Sa'Di Yusuf: A Woman p.138
tr. Lena Jayyusi and Naomi Shihab Nye How should I direct my steps to her now? In which land might I find her, on what streets of what city should I ask? Suppose I were to locate the path to her house, even imagining it, would I press the doorbell? And what would I say? How would I greet her,, would I stare into her face, press the glistening wine of her fingers... Would I unload the pain of my years? Once twenty years aog in the air-conditioned train I kissed her the whole night long... [Iraqi poet, b. 1943]
Amal Dunqul : Corner 139
tr. Sharif Elmusa and Thomas G. Ezzy
He sits in the corner,
writes, as the naked woman...
mingles with the nightclub's patrons,
auctions off her beauty.
She asks him how the war is going,
and he answers:
"You needn't worry about the treasures of your body,
our country's enemy
is just like us,
he circumcises males and loves foreign
imports, just like us, he hates por
and pays for guns and hookers."
She cries.
He sits in the corner
as the naked woman passes.
He invites her to his table.
She can't stay long, she says:
since morning she's been combing army
hospitals, searching for her brother,
whose unit was encircled
across the Suez ('The land
returns, her brother doesn't...)
She has had to earn
the bread in her brother's absence.
How she will wear again her modest clothes
when he gets back.
She shows his picture with his children
on a holiday.
She cries.
[Egyptian poet]
Peter Zilahy (Hungary, 1970-) : Dictators 272
My bumpy road to sexual maturity was paved with the deaths of Communist dictators. My first sexual experience coincided with the death of Mao Zedong: I was bitten by a girl called Diana in nursery school. My voice broke when Tito died, and I had my first ejaculation when Brezhnev went. For three days all they played on the radio was classical music, which I thought was rather overdoing it; some schools were even closed. Then for a long time there was nothing. As an experiment, I took a girl to the movies, but the film was too good, and I got a cramp in my hand. Events accelerated at high school. There were only a couple of months between the first kiss and the first frantic fumblings. After Andropov Chernenko quickly checked out. A few more weeks and it was Enver Hoxha’s turn, but I’d rather not go into that. I first found out about the G-spot when Ceauescu was executed. Kim Il Sung cast new light on my broadening horizons. Luckily, the charges were dropped. Now as for Fidel . . . (online source: http://www.zilahy.net/media/excerpts/giraffe_english.pdf) (this is a different translation, but very close, and perhaps a little easier, than the one in the book.)
Clive James : Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini 282
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini
For I know it tastes as pure as Malvern water,
Though laced with bright bubbles like the aqua minerale
That melted the kidney stones of Michelangelo
As sunlight the snow in spring.
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini
In a green Lycergus cup with a sprig of mint,
But add no sugar -
The bitterness is what I want.
If I craved sweetness I would be asking you to bring me
The tears of Annabel Croft.
I never asked for the wrist-bands of Maria Bueno,
Though their periodic transit of her glowing forehead
Was like watching a bear's tongue lap nectar.
I never asked for the blouse of Francoise Durr,
Who refused point-blank to improve her souffle serve
For fear of overdeveloping her upper arm -
Which indeed remained delicate as a fawn's femur,
As a fern's frond under which cool shadows gather
So that the dew lingers.
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini
And give me credit for having never before now
Cried out with longing.
Though for all the years since TV acquired colour
To watch Wimbledon for even a single day
Has left me shaking with grief like an ex-smoker
Locked overnight in a cigar factory,
Not once have I let loose as now I do
The parched howl of deprivation,
The croak of need.
Did I ever demand, as I might well have done,
The socks of Tracy Austin?
Did you ever hear me call for the cast-off Pumas
Of Hana Mandlikova?
Think what might have been distilled from these things,
And what a small request it would have seemed -
It would not, after all, have been like asking
For something so intimate as to arouse suspicion
Of mental derangement.
I would not have been calling for Calting Bassett's knickers
Or the tingling, Teddy Tinting B-cup brassiere
Of Andrea Temesvari.
Yet I denied myself.
I have denied myself too long.
If I had been Pat Cash at that great moment
Of triumph, I would have handed back the trophy
Saying take that thing away
And don't let me see it again until
It spills what makes this lawn burst into flower:
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini.
In the beginning there was Gorgeous Gussie Moran
And even when there was just her it was tough enough
But by now the top hundred boasts at least a dozen knock-outs
Who make it difficult to keep one's tongue
From lolling like a broken roller blind.
Out of deference to Billie-Jean I did my best
To control my male chauvinist urges -
An objectivity made easier to achieve
When Betty Stove came clumping out to play
On a pair of what appeared to be bionic legs
Borrowed from Six Million Dollar Man.
I won't go so far as to say I harbour
Similar reservations about Steffi Graf-
I merely note that her thigh muscles when tense
Look interchangeable with those of Boris Becker
Yet all are agreed that there can be no doubt
About Martina Navratilova:
Since she lent her body to Charles Atlas
The definition of the veins on her right forearm
Looks like the Mississippi river system
Photographed from a satellite,
And though she may unleash a charming smile
When crouching to dance at the ball with Ivan Lendl,
I have always found to admire her yet remain detached
Has been no problem.
But when the rain stops long enough for the true beauties
To come out swinging under the outshone sun
The spectacle is hard for a man to take,
And in the case of this supernally graceful dish
Likened to a panther by slavering sports reportcrs
Who pitiably fail to realise that any panther
With a top-spin forehand line drive like hers
Would be managed personally by Mark McCormack -
I'm obliged to admit defeat.
So let me drink deep from the bitter cup.
Take it to her between any two points of a tie break
That she may shake above it her thick black hair
A nocturne from which the droplets as they fall
Flash like shooting stars -
And as their lustre becomes liqueur
Let the full calyx be repeatedly carried to me.
Until I tell you to stop
Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini.
(online source: npr: + 1 poem)
Australian-born poet, longtime resident in UK (1939-)
Poet Links:
poems: windows is shutting down (poem on grammar)
bio: http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/jamesc/jamesc.html
wikipedia : Clive James
interview : Decca Aitkenhead in the guardian
Contents
from http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/booksea.cgi?ISBN=0820323519 Acknowledgments xvii Introduction xix
Boyhood and youth
Asia
Anzai Hitoshi: New Made 2
Shuja Nawaz: The Initiation 3
From the day he could talk, the son asked
about his father and got no answer.
... each year's questions were laid to rest
like a still-born child, unlamented.
Till at fifteen someone slapped his face
with word of his father's unavenged murder.
That night he took out the family rifle,
received blessings from his mother and left.
when the wailing arose from the other
village, the elders saw the rifle he carried
and pointed him out as Sherdil Khan's son.
Taufiq Rafat: Circumcision 4
Having hauled down my pajamas
they dragged me, all legs and teeth,
.... [to a barber]
I did not like his mustachios
Europe
Mario Benedetti: The Magnet 5
Ciaran Berry: Uascan 6
Ussin Kerim: Mother 8
Ivan Matanov: Still l see in front of me 9
Valeri Petrov: A Cry from Childhood 10
Peter Redgrove: My Fathers Trapdoors 11
Jean-Pierre Rosnay: Piazza San Marco 16
James Sacré: A Little Boy, I'm Not Sure Anymore 17
South America
Carlos Drummond De Andrade: Boy Crying in the Night 20
Central America and the Caribbean
Norberto James: I Had No Books 21
Mervyn Morris: The Pond 22
Families
Asia
Nobuo Ayukawa: Sister, I'm Sorry 24
Yu Jian: Thank You Father 25
Jayanta Mahapatra: Shadows 28
Wang Xiaolong: In Memoriam: Dedicated to My Father 29
The Middle East
Yehuda Amichai: A Flock of Sheep near the Airport 30
Yair Hurvitz: An Autobiographical Moment 31
Shaun Levin: With Your Mother in a Cafe 31
Europe
Martin Crucefix: Pieta 33
Michael Donaghy: Inheritance 35
Franco Fortini: The Seed 36
Tonino Guerra: Canto Three 37
Seamus Heaney: In Memoriam M.K.H. 38
Alan Jenkins: Chopsticks 38
Lyubomir Levchev: Cronies 40
Karl Lubomirski: Mother 41
Stein Mehren: Mother, we were a heavy burden 41
Alexander Shurbanov: Attractions 42
Marin Sorescu: Balls and Hoops 43
JAN Erik Vold: Thor Heyerdahl's mother 44
Andrew Waterman: Birth Day 45
Karol Wojtyla: Sister 47
Andrea Zanzotto: From a New Height 48
Africa
Ismael Hurreh: Pardon Me 51
South America
Narlan Matos-Teixera: My Father's House 52
North America
David Bottoms: Bronchitis 53
Jim Daniels: Falling Bricks 55
Philip Levine: Clouds above the Sea 56
Walt Mcdonald: Crossing the Road 57
W.S. Merwin: Yesterday 58
Leonard Nathan: Circlings 60
Jonas Zdanys: The Angels of Wine 61
Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand
Dimitris Tsaloumas: A Song for My Father 62
Dimitris Tsaloumas: Old Snapshot 63
Identities: cultural, personal, male
Asia
Nobuo Ayukawa: Love 67
Xue Di: Nostalgia 68
Sunil Gangopadhyay: From Athens to Cairo 69
Liu Kexiang: Choice 70
Harris Khalique: In London 71
Kim Kwang-Kyu: Sketch of a fetish 72
Fei Ma: A Drunkard 73
A.K. Ramanujan: Self-Portrait 74
Suchart Sawadsri: If You Come Close to Me 74
Nguyen Quang Thieu: from "Eleven Parts of Feeling" 75
Tenzin Tsundue: My Tibetanness 78
Ko Un: Headmaster Abe 79
Liang Xiaobin: China, I've Lost My Key 81
Europe
Wolfgang Bachler: A Revolt in the Mirror 82
Alan Brownjohn: Sonnet of a Gentleman 83
Robert Crawford: Masculinity 84
Igor Irtenev: Untitled 85
Dmitry Kuzmin: Untitled 86
Michael Longley: Self-Portrait 87
Cees Nooteboom: Midday 88
Vittorio Sereni: Each Time That Almost 89
Vittorio Sereni: First Fear 90
Olafs Stumbrs: Song at a Late Hour 91
Husein Tahmiscic: You're Not a Man If You Don't Die 91
Ulku Tamer: The Dagger 92
John Powell Ward: In the Box 93
Hugo Williams: Making Friends with Ties 95
Africa
Frank Aig-Imoukhuede: One Wife for One Man 96
Dennis Brutus: I Am Alien in Africa and Everywhere 97
Jonathan Kariara: A Leopard Lives in a Muu Tree 98
Leseko Rampolekeng: Welcome to the New Consciousness 99
Léopold Sédar Senghor: Totem 101
Ahmed Tidjani-Cissé: Home News 102
South America
Juan Carlos Galeano: Eraser 103
Central America and the Caribbean
A.L. Hendriks: Will the Real Me Please Stand Up? 104
Evan X Hyde: Super High 106
Derek Walcott: Love after Love 107
North America
Robert Bly: The Man Who Didn't Know What Was His 108
Philip Dacey: Four Men in a Car 109
Pier Giorgio Di Cicco: Male Rage Poem 110
Douglas Goetsch: Bachelor Song 113
Yusef Komunyakaa: Homo Erectus 114
Gary Soto Mexicans: Begin Jogging 115
Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand
Les Murray: Folklore 116
Les Murray: Performance 117
John A. Scott: Man in Petersham 117
Luke Icarus Simon: Ravine 118
Russell Soaba: Looking thru Those Eyeholes 119
Dimitris Tsaloumas: Epilogue 120
Men and women
Asia
Rafiq Azad: Woman: The Eternal 124
Sadhu Binning: Revenge 125
Yi Cha: Neighbors 127
[despises his lesbian neighbours, thinks of them as
a "waste", but is depressed to find that they despise
men too, calling them "dirty" and "garbage". ]
Faiz Ahmed Faiz: Before You Came 128
Huan Fu: Flower 129
tr. Dominic Cheung
Give three flowers to a maiden: one on her hair, one on her
breast, one on her shame. Then, she is very happy to be a
woman — a dream she once had. In the dream, sh feared
bearing horrible fruits. She is afraid of fruits. Deep in
her eyes afire with love, she refuses all fruits, which is a
pronoun, a substitute of virtue for scandal.
[...]
a flower on her hair. A flower on her breast. A flower on...
She again removes the last flower, reconstructing once again the
entire universe.
Hung Hung: A Hymn to Hualien 129
Nadir Hussein: A Wedding 130
Takagi Kyozo: How to Cook Women 131
Yang Mu: Let the Wind Recite 132
Shuntaro Tanikawa: Kiss 134
The Middle East
Adonis : A Woman and a Man 135
Yehuda Amichai: An Ideal Woman 136
Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati: Secret of Fire 137
Sa 'Di Yusuf: A Woman 138
Amal Dunqul: Corner 139
Salman Masalha: Cage 140
Nizar Qabbani: The Fortune Teller 140
Europe
Radu Andriescu: The Apple 142
Roberto Carifi: Untitled 144
Jose Manuel Del Pino: Doré V 145
Arnljot Eggen: He called her his willow 146
Kjell Hjern: To My Love 147
Vladimir Holan: Meeting in a Lift 147
Vladimir Holan: She Asked You 148
Tasos Leivaditis: Eternal Dialogue 148
Virgil Mihaiu: The Ultimate Luxury woman 149
Czeslaw Milosz: After Paradise 150
Pentti Saarikoski: Untitled 151
Marin Sorescu: Don Juan (after he'd consumed tons of 152
lipstick...)
Mustafa Ziyalan: Night Ride on 21 153
Africa
Chinua Achebe: Love Cycle 154
Ko Jo Laing: I am the freshly dead husband 155
Taban Lo Liyong: 55 157
Taban Lo Liyong: 60 158
South America
Antonio Cisneros: Dedicatory (to My wife) 159
Carlos Drummond De Andrade: Ballad of Love through the Ages 159
Oscar Hahn: Good Night Dear 161
Oscar Hahn: Little Phantoms 162
Oscar Hahn: Candlelight Dinner 162
Sergio Kisielewsky: Cough Drops 163
Marco Martos: Casti Connubi 164
Central America and the Caribbean
Lord Kitchener: Miss Tourist 165
Roberto Fernandez Retamar: A Man and a woman 166
Jaime Sabines: I Love You at Ten in the Morning 167
North America
Leonard Cohen: Suzanne 168
Galway Kinnell: The Perch 170
Charles Simic: At the Cookout 172
Quincy Troupe: Change 173
Al Zolynas: Whistling Woman 174
Myth, archetypes, and spirituality
Asia
Chairil Anwar: Heaven 176
Chairil Anwar: At the Mosque 177
Tsujii Takashi: Woman Singing 178
The Middle East
Admiel Kosman: Something Hurts 179
Europe
Risto Ahti: The Beloved's Face 180
Peter Armstrong: Sunderland Nights 181
Mircea Cartarescu: A happy day in my life 182
Carlos Edmundo De Ory: Silence 189
Herbert Gassner: Fear 190
Primo Levi: Samson 191
Primo Levi: Delilah 192
Harry Martinson: Santa Claus 192
Semezdin Mehmedinovic: An Essay 193
Peter Reading: Fates of Men 193
Mihai Ursachi: A Monologue 195
Africa
Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali: A Voice from the Dead 200
Al-Munsif Al-Wahaybi: The Desert 201
South America
Juan Carlos Galeano: Tree 202
Central America and the Caribbean
Jorge Esquinca: Fable of the Hunter 203
Evan Jones: Genesis 204
Dennis Scott: Uncle Time 206
North America
Michael Blumenthal: The Forces 207
Stephen Dobyns: Why Fool Around? 208
Stephen Dunn: Odysseus's Secret 209
Fred Moramarco: Clark Kent, Naked 211
Marco Morelli: A Volunteer's Fairy Tale 211
Howard White: The Men There Were Then 214
Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand
Peter Skrzynecki: Buddha, Birdbath, Hanging Plant 215
Politics, war, revolution
Asia
Kriapur: Men on Fire 218
Shin Kyong-Nim: Yollim Kut Song 219
U Sam Oeur: The Loss of My Twins 221
Edwin Thumboo: The Exile 222
The Middle East
Mahmud Darwish: Give Birth to Me Again That I May Know 224
Mahmud Darwish: On a Canaanite Stone in the Dead Sea 225
Admiel Kosman: Games 230
Salman Masalha: On Artistic Freedom in the Nationalist Era 231
Rami Saari: The Only Democracy (in the Middle East) 233
Tawfiq Zayyad: Here We Will Stay 234
Europe
Toma Longinovic: Glorious Ruins 235
Semezdin Mehmedinovic: The Only Dream 237
Ucha Sakhltkhutsishvili: Soldiers 238
Izet Sarajlic: Untitled 239
Aleksey Shelvakh: Veterans 240
Africa
Kofi Anyidoho: Desert Storm 241
Breyten Breytenbach: Eavesdropper 244
Frank Chipasula: Manifesto on Ars Poetica 245
Lupenga Mphande: I Was Sent For 246
Tanure Ojaide: State Executive 247
Jorge Rebelo: Poem of a Militant 249
Central America and the Caribbean
Ricardo Castillo: Ode to the Urge 250
Fabio Morabito: Master of an Expanse 251
Luis Rogelio Nogueras: A Poem 252
Sex and Sexuality
Asia
Rofel G. Brion: Love Song 256
Sunil Gangopadhyay: Blindfold 257
Hung Hung: Helas! 258
George Oommen: A Private Sorrow 259
Vikram Seth: Unclaimed 260
Europe
Alain Bosquet: The Lovers 261
Tonino Guerra: Canto Twenty-Four 262
Zbigniew Herbert: Rosy Ear 263
Michael Hulse: Concentrating 265
Alan Jenkins: Street Life 266
Brendan Kennelly: The Swimmer 266
Kemal. Kurt: GYN-astics 268
Henri Michaux: Simplicity 269
Aleksandr Shatalov: Untitled 270
Jon Stallworthy: The Source 271
Péter Zilahy: Dictators 272
Africa
Bahadur Tejani: Lines for a Hindi Poet 273
South America
Ricardo Feierstein: Sex 275
North America
Orlando Ricardo Menes: Sodomy 276
Len Roberts: The Problem 278
Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand
David Eggleton: Bouquet of Dead Flowers 279
Jonathan Fisher: Six Part Lust Story 280
Clive James: Bring me the sweat of Gabriela Sabatini 282
Luke Icarus Simon: Measuring Apollo 285
Poets and poetry, Artists and art
Asia
Cecil Rajendra: Prince of the Dance 288
The Middle East
Ahmad Shamlu: Poetry That Is Life 289
Bishwabimohan Shreshtha: Should I Earn My Daily Bread, 290
or Should I Write a Poem? (tr. Michael James Hutt)
Europe
Evgeny Bunimovich: Excuse and Explanation 293
Theo Dorgan: The Choice 295
Jan Erik Vold: Hokusai the old master, who painted a 296
wave like nobody ever painted a wave before him
Zahrad: The Woman Cleaning Lentils 297
Adam Ziemianin: Heart Attack 298
South America
Nicholas Maré: You can say that the bird as the saying 299
goes
Central America and the Caribbean
Hector Avellan: Declaration of Love to Kurt Cobain 300
North America
Agha Shahid Ali: Ghazal 302
Virgil Suarez: Duende 304
Simon Thompson: All Apologies to L. Cohen 305
Brothers, friends, mentors, and rivals
Asia
Nobuo Ayukawa: The Last I Heard 308
Europe
Vytautas P. Blozé: Beneath the Stars 311
Gudmundur Bodvarsson: Brother 315
Tony Curtis: The Eighth Dream 316
Snorri Hjartarson: House in Rome 318
Hédi Kaddour: Verlaine 319
Lyubomir Levchev: Front Line 320
Dennis O'driscoll: The Lads 321
Donny O'rourke: Algren 323
Rafael Pérez Estrada: My Uncle the Levitator 324
Rafael Pérez Estrada: The Unpublished Man 326
James Simmons: The Pleasant joys of Brotherhood 327
Ivan Slamnig: A Sailor 328
Kit Wright: Here Come Two Very Old Men 328
Africa
Kofi Awoonor: Songs of Abuse: To Stanislaus the Renegade 329
Frank Chipasula: My Blood Brother 330
Chirikure Chirikure: This Is Where We Laid Him to Rest 331
South America
Gonzalo Rojas: The Coast 333
Central America and the Caribbean
Gaspar Aguilera Diaz: Does Anyone Know Where Roque Dalton Spent 334
His Final Night?
Antonio Deltoro: Submarine 335
Francisco Hernandez: Autograph 336
North America
Charles Bukowski: 3 old men at separate tables 337
Cyril Dabydeen: Hemingway 338
Al Pittman: The Echo of the Ax 340
Alberto Rios: A Chance Meeting of Two Men 341
Len Roberts: Men's Talk 342
Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand
Les Murray: The Mitchells 343
Work, sports, and games
Asia
Iftikhar Arif: The Twelfth Man 346
Moeen Faruqi: The Return 348
Alamgir Hashmi: Pro Bono Publico 349
Europe
Kashyap Bhattacharya: The Cricketer 351
John Burnside: The Men's Harbour 353
Gunter Eich: The Man in the Blue Smock 355
Hédi Kaddour: The Bus Driver 356
Donny O'rourke: Clockwork 357
Africa
Antonio Jacinto: Letter from a Contract Worker 358
Central America and the Caribbean
Luis Miguel Aguilar: Memo, Who Loved Motorcycles 360
Evan Jones: The Lament of the Banana Man 362
North America
Robert Francis: The Base Stealer 363
Andrew Hudgins: Tools: An Ode 364
William Matthews: Cheap Seats, the Cincinnati Gardens, 365
Professional Basketball, 1959
Christopher Merrill: A Boy juggling a Soccer Ball 365
Len Roberts: I Blame It on Him 367
Aging, illness, and death
Asia
Duo Duo: Looking Out from Death 370
Nissim Ezekiel: Case Study 371
Huan Fu: Don't, Don't 372
Kuan Kuan: Autobiography of a Sloppy Sluggard 373
Vikram Seth: Soon 375
The Middle East
Buland Al-Haydari: Old Age 376
Ahmad Shamlu: Somber Song 377
Europe
Alain Bosquet: An Old Gentleman 378
Alain Bosquet: Celebrities 379
Kjell Hjern: On the Growth of Hair in Middle Age 380
Michael Longley: A Flowering 381
Henrik Nordbrandt: Old Man in Meditation 382
Central America and the Caribbean
Juan Sobalvarro: I've Seen a Dead Man 383
North America
Raymond Carver: This Morning 384
Peter Cooley: Language of Departure 385
Sky Gilbert: The Island of Lost Tears 386
Steve Kowit: Snapshot 388
Oceania, Australia, and New Zealand
Anthony Lawrence: Goanna 389
Translators 391
Credits 393
Index of Poets 497
Index of Titles 413
amitabha mukerjee (mukerjee [at-symbol] gmail) 2011 Sep 03