From 'Planting the children' (1983). Nursery rhyme : numbers (starting p. 13) --
Grandmother speaks of the old country (starting p. 14) --
Aquarium (starting p. 15) --
Children, stop us (starting p. 16) --
From 'Castings' (1984). In each of my fingers (starting p. 19) --
If you stroke my back (starting p. 20) --
Speaking with Lucy (d. 1736) : her answers (starting p. 21) --
From 'Julia Stranahan (1880-1970)'. A study in time (starting p. 22) --
Thoughts while teaching grammar (starting p. 23) --
Imagined family photograph : double exposure (starting p. 24) --
The phonograph arrives, 1904 (starting p. 25) --
The white curtains blow (starting p. 26) --
Nightly he pumps at my dry well (starting p. 27) --
Teaching the Miccosukkee : later (starting p. 28) --
On their opposition to education (starting p. 29) --
From 'Jane Marshall (1835-1910).' Dedication : Lola to Jane (starting p. 30) --
I may not yet write (starting p. 31) --
Surely there must be others (starting p. 32) --
My fingers are mending (starting p. 33) --
Becky's in the sweet corn running (starting p. 34) --
Robbie coughs blood roses (starting p. 35) --
Winston, you were wrong (starting p. 36) --
I have grown plump and settled these months (starting p. 37) --
My dear, today we sold the last pig (starting p. 38) --
From 'Patsy, property of George Sherman (1816-1856).' Mama said it was thundering (starting p. 39) --
Patsy sees a ghost (starting p. 40) --
Patsy speaks of the master (starting p. 41) --
Patsy jumps over the broom (starting p. 42) --
Supper (starting p. 44) --
He is beginning to complain (starting p. 45) --
Cleaning cotton at night (starting p. 46) --
Breaking master's leg (starting p. 47) --
Pasty is over (starting p. 48) --
From 'Across her broad lap something wonderful' (1989). Things (starting p. 51) --
The old cat (starting p. 52) --
Loving a son (starting p. 53) --
A confluence (starting p. 54) --
From 'Forty-four ambitions for the piano' (1990). To play pianissimo (starting p. 57) --
Staccato (starting p. 58) --
Octave (starting p. 59) --
Accidentals (starting p. 60) --
Grace notes (starting p. 61) --
True legato (starting p. 62) --
The prodigy (starting p. 63) --
Why performers wear black (starting p. 64) --
Fortissimo (starting p. 65) --
Adagio (starting p. 66) --
Ritardando (starting p. 67) --
Technique (starting p. 68) --
Sight-reading (starting p. 69) --
The uses of the metronome (starting p. 70) --
The power of the right foot (starting p. 71) --
Some members of the chord family --
The major (starting p. 72) --
Minor, his wife (starting p. 73) --
Diminished, their daughter (starting p. 74) --
Modulation (starting p. 75) --
Fermata (starting p. 77) --
Playing Hiroshima (starting p. 78) --
The pianist's next day (starting p. 79) --
The pianist who keeps a loaded gun on her piano when she practices (starting p. 80) --
From 'Hunger' (1993). The cow (starting p. 83) --
Farm wife (starting p. 84) --
Elegy (starting p. 85) --
At eighty (starting p. 86) --
The dresser (starting p. 87) --
The laws of women (starting p. 88) --
Flood (starting p. 89) --
On passing forty (starting p. 90) --
For someone considering death (starting p. 91) --
Mary attends a ball (1830) (starting p. 92) --
Mary in love (1832) (starting p. 93) --
Mary, waking (1833) (starting p. 94) --
His breakfast plate : the litter of Mr. Peake (1835) (starting p. 95) --
Mary's duties (1836) (starting p. 96) --
The very Reverend Charles Easton (1836) (starting p. 97) --
Sweet pea embroidery in rose and heliotrope (starting p. 99) --
How to cut and dry : study of marriage (starting p. 100) --
Cookery : to truss small birds (starting p. 101) --
Secrets of the fur trade (starting p. 102) --
Fashion : how to wear the veil (starting p. 103) --
Room 1 (Mexico, oils 1969-71) : avenida (starting p. 104) --
Room 1 (Mexico, oils 1969-71) : fabrica (starting p. 105) --
Room 2 (Mexico, watercolours 1972-73) : view of Dzbilchaltun (starting p. 106) --
Room 3 (London, various media 1974-79) : night cove (watercolour) (starting p. 108) --
Room 3 (London, various media 1974-79) : nude (pencil) (starting p. 109) --
1712 : he comes to the house (starting p. 110) --
1715 : they have held the assize of bread (starting p. 111) --
1716 : the maids have carried off the mutton (starting p. 112) --
1720 : Elizabeth Danby I am (starting p. 113) --
1723 : the comfort is damp to the skin (starting p. 114) --
1724 : Jennet stirs in so frail sleep (starting p. 115) --
New poems. Sleep positions (starting p. 119) --
Grass (starting p. 120) --
Epitaph for a poet (starting p. 121) --
The teacher (starting p. 121) --
Youth (starting p. 121) --
Crying (starting p. 122) --
Love (starting p. 122) --
Love and cancer (starting p. 122) --
Longing (starting p. 123) --
Lillian (starting p. 123) --
You're dreaming (starting p. 124) --
Love story (starting p. 125) --
Pastoral (starting p. 127) --
The dream penitentiary (starting p. 128) --
The composer interviews her piece (starting p. 129) --
Appoggiatura and fermata (starting p. 130) --
Composition (starting p. 131) --
Daddy's writing (starting p. 132) --
Dogwood, December (starting p. 133) --
For mother, after the vision fire (starting p. 134) --
The .38 (starting p. 135) --
Anger : five plays (starting p. 137) --
Night waking (starting p. 139) --
Times (starting p. 140) --
Dearborn North Apartments (starting p. 141) --
Words (starting p. 142) --
How do you reconcile teaching computer science with being a poet? (starting p. 143) --
How I became an engineer (starting p. 144) --
The seed road (starting p. 144) --
The engineers hear from the public (starting p. 145) --
Highways (starting p. 145) --
She drives (starting p. 146) --
Interstate dreams (starting p. 147) --
Desire lines (starting p. 149)
