Child in amber

89 Pages·1993·0.28 MB·English

by  Stephen McNally

title: Child in Amber
author: McNally, Stephen.
publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
isbn10 | asin: 0870238396
print isbn13: 9780870238390
ebook isbn13: 9780585260808
language: English
subject Poetry.
publication date: 1993
lcc: PS3563.C3C5 1993eb
ddc: 811/.54
subject: Poetry.
Page iii
Child in Amber
Stephen McNally
Page iv
Copyright © 1993 by
Stephen McNally
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
LC 92-33398
ISBN 0-87023-839-6 (cloth); 840-X (pbk.)
Designed by Rebecca S. Neimark
Set in Weiss by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McNally, Stephen, 1963-
Child in amber / Stephen McNally.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-87023-839-6 (cloth: alk. paper). ISBN 0-87023-840-X
(pbk.: alk. paper)
I. Title.
PS3563.C38814C5 1993
811'.54dc20 92-33398
CIP
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data are available.
Acknowledgment is made to the following publications who have
granted permission to reprint poems that first appeared in their pages:
American Poetry Review, "Sick Child," "Out by the Side of the House
Where the Wild Flowers," "Moon,'' "The Little Girl on the Bridge,"
and "Poem with Two Swans and a Pair of Glasses"; Black Warrior
Review, "Heavenly"; Cimarron Review, "Evening of the Trapeze
Artist," "Grief for the Living," and "The Coffin Maker," reprinted here
with the permission of the Board of Regents for Oklahoma State
University, holders of the copyrights; College English, "Sentenced,"
copyright 1992 by the National Council of Teachers of English and
reprinted with permission; Poetry Northwest, "We Were Beyond
Help" and "Our Story"; Poor Tom, "The Intruders," "The Door in the
Sky," and "The Suicide."
Page v
FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER
The youth walks up to the white horse, to put its halter on and the horse looks
at him in silence. They are so silent they are in another world.
D. H. Lawrence
Page vii
Contents
Our Story
Our Story 3
Sick Child 4
There's Really No Reason I Should Worry, Since There's 5
No Way of Knowing What's Really Going On
Sentenced 6
Beautiful Child 8
Playthings of the Emperor 10
Heavenly 11
Poem for Kevin and Laura 12
Rabbit 13
We Were beyond Help 16
Coastline 17
Indian on the Test Pattern 18
Mysteries 19
Olmec Head 20
The Stars and the Beautiful Tattooed Man
Snow 27
The Stars and the Beautiful Tattooed Man 28
The Adventure 29
Procession 30
Moon 31
Out by the Side of the House Where the Wild Flowers 32
Idmon 33
Among the Ruins 34
Evening of the Trapeze Artist 35
In Motion 36
Breath of Love (1900) 37
Grief for the Living 38
Page viii
Report from the Interior
Report from the Interior 41
The Intruders 42
The Little Girl on the Bridge 43
Their Voices 44
Nightfall 45
The Door in the Sky 46
The Suicide 48
Poem with Two Swans and a Pair of Glasses 49
The Final Despair 50
The Message
One Afternoon 55
Human Pursuits 57
The Coffin Maker 58
Bergman 59
What the Sky Brings 61
Testament 62
To Hold up the Weight of the World 63
The Crossing 65
At Last and Again 66
The Message 67

Page 1
Our Story