Lines scribbled on an envelope
Subtitle: and other poems.
Contributors: Jacket design by Cynthia Krupat
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Published: 1969
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 81
First sentence: Poetry, at least the king I write, is written out of immediate need; it is written out of pain, joy, and experience too great to be borne until it is ordered into words.
Description: Fourty-four poems whose subject matter is as far-ranging as their form, these poems, many of which are revealingly personal, speak of myth, history, love, religion, and the world as we find it today. In a short preface the author says, "Poetry, at least the king I write, is written out of immediate need; it is written out of pain, joy, and experience too great to be borne until it is ordered into words. And then it is written to be shared. If something  has happened to me, and I am driven to express it in particular words, then perhaps my experience will awaken a response in others who have had like experiences." (From front flap)
Table of contents: pagenum: 3
title: To a Long-loved Love; pagenum: 5
title: The Mermaid; pagenum: 7
title: Lines cribbled on an envelope while riding the 104 Broadway bus; pagenum: 9
title: Shout Joy!; pagenum: 11
title: Body, the black horse and the white; pagenum: 12
title: Medusa; pagenum: 13
title: Lines after Sir Thomas Browne; pagenum: 14
title: The Unicorn; pagenum: 16
title: Abraham's Child; pagenum: 19
title: The Promise; pagenum: 21
title: Primate; pagenum: 23
title: Testament; pagenum: 25
title: People in Glass Houses; pagenum: 27
title: The Phoenix; pagenum: 29
title: Moses; pagenum: 32
title: From St. Luke's Hospital (1); pagenum: 33
title: Passion Play; pagenum: 36
title: For Dana: 4th November; pagenum: 37
title: The Roc; pagenum: 39
title: Instruments (1); pagenum: 41
title: Instruments (2); pagenum: 42
title: The Baby in the Bath; pagenum: 45
title: The Sea Monster; pagenum: 47
title: We Make Bold to Say...; pagenum: 49
title: The Birth of Love; pagenum: 50
title: Fire by Fire; pagenum: 51
title: Summer City; pagenum: 54
title: Word; pagenum: 55
title: From St. Luke's Hospital (2); pagenum: 56
title: The Monkey; pagenum: 57
title: Act III, scene ii; pagenum: 58
title: Tree at Christmas; pagenum: 60
title: The winter is cold, is cold; pagenum: 62
title: Epithalamion; pagenum: 63
title: Burn, Charity; pagenum: 65
title: The Dragon; pagenum: 67
title: From St. Luke's Hospital (3); pagenum: 68
title: Within this strange and quickened dust; pagenum: 69
title: Song of Simeon; pagenum: 71
title: The Parrot; pagenum: 72
title: From St. Luke's Hospital (4); pagenum: 74
title: Lines after M. B.'s funeral; pagenum: 75
title: The Sea Bishop; pagenum: 76
title: Confession shortly before the forty-eighth birthday; pagenum: 77
title: Index of first lines