The Oxford Book of American Poetry

The new one, edited by David Lehman. I've been looking into it for a few days. Some typos. Some short poems:

Stephen Crane (1871-1900)

I walked in a desert.
And I cried:
'Ah, God, take me from this place!'
A voice said: 'It is no desert.'
I cried: 'Well, but -
The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon.'
A voice said: 'It is no desert.'

J.V. Cunningham (1911-1985)

Jack and Jill

She said he was a man who cheated.
He said she didn't play the game.
She said an expletive deleted.
He said the undeleted same.
And so they ended their relation
With meaningful communication.

Josephine Miles (1911-1985)

Reason

Said, Pull her up a bit will you , Mac, I want to unload there.
Said, Pull her up my rear end, first come first serve.
Said, Give her the gun, Bud, he needs a taste of his own bumper.
Then the usher came out and got into the act:

Said, Pull her up, pull her up a bit, we need this space, sir.
Said, For God's sake, is this still a free country or what?
You go back and take care of Gary Cooper's horse
And leave me handle my own car.

Saw them unloading the lame old lady,
Ducked out under the wheel and gave her an elbow,
Said, All you needed to do was just explain;
Reason, Reason is my middle name.

Howard Moss (1922-1987)

The Long Island Night

Nothing as miserable has happened before.
The Long Island night has refused its moon.
La belle dame sans merci's next door.
The Prince of Darkness is on the phone.

Certain famous phrases of our time
Have taken on the glitter of poems,
Like 'Catch me before I kill again,'
And 'Why are you sitting in the dark alone?'

Kenneth Koch (1925-2002)

Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams

I.

I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.

II.

We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

III.

I gave away the money you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.

IV.

Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me, I was clumsy, and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!

A.R. Ammons (1926-2001)

Their Sex Life

One failure on
Top of another

Am too tired to put anything else down. It's a great book, but.