Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgments xv Introduction by Lorrie Goldensohn xix Juvenilia, 1963-1967 So Much Time 1 Excerpts from the Mind of the Writer 1 Friendship 2 Viet Nam--February 1967 2 1969-1971 Listening Post 3 One Night on Guard Duty 4 The Sniper''s Mark 4 The Generals'' War 4 Hunting 5 Christ 5 Gettysburg 5 Dancing 6 Starships 6 To Swarthmore 7 1971-1973 Perimeter Guard 12 Souvenirs 13 Sergeant Jones 13 The Rat 14 Mail Call 14 The One That Died 14 Night Patrol 15 The Next Step 15 Guerrilla War 16 Time on Target 16 The Hawk and Two Suns 17 The Ambush 17 Another Life 18 The Bob Hope Christmas Special 19 Coming Home 19 A Relative Thing 20 Old Myths 21 A Generation of Peace 22 Imagine 22 Rehoboth 23 The Living 24 September 25 Yours 26 Charleston 26 1974 Rhythm 29 The Flying Gypsy 29 Myers, Messick & Me 30 1975 The Last Day 31 The Obsession 31 The Traveler 32 Granddad 33 To the Asian Victors 33 The Fool 34 Geese 35 Bicentennial 36 Money in the Bank 37 Shadows 38 Making the Children Behave 39 The Silent 39 1976 Vietnam Veterans, After All 40 To Those Who Have Gone Home Tired 41 Going Home with the Monkeys 42 Ghosts 43 Going Down Off Columbia Bar 43 To Maynard on the Long Road Home 44 The Death of Kings 45 Colorado 46 Rootless 46 Letters 47 Cascais 47 Jimmy 48 1977 The Trial 49 Leaving the Guns Behind 50 Helpless 51 Coma 51 Letter 51 Portrait of Friends 52 After the Fire 53 Desire 54 Cast Out 54 Twodot, Montana 55 Growing Older Alone 56 The Last Prayer of Michelangelo 57 Sanctuary 57 Welcome 58 Empire 59 1978 Vietnamese-Cambodian Border War 61 The Spiders'' White Dream of Peace 61 An Exorcism 62 A Confirmation 63 Driving Through Wisconsin 66 Great Horned Owl 67 Eighteen Months in Chicago 67 Waking Alone in Darkness 68 Peary & Henson Reach the North Pole 68 The Teacher 69 Turning Thirty 70 Again, Rehoboth 71 Companions 73 Last of the ­Hard-hearted Ladies 74 1979 Fog 75 Another Way of Seeing 76 The Grim Art of Teaching 77 The Dancers 77 Lost at Sea 78 Afraid of the Dark 79 The Dream 79 Driving into the Future 81 Sunset 82 1980 The Farmer 83 Near-sighted 84 Channel Fever 85 The World As It Is 86 The Vision 87 The Eruption of Mount St. Helens 88 Matters of the Heart 89 Briana 90 1981 Gifts 91 Sound Advice 92 Continuity 93 New Jersey Pine Barrens 94 Pagan 95 Deer 96 A Warning to My Students 96 1982 Surviving the Bomb One More Day 98 The Blizzard of ­Sixty-six 98 Letter to the Survivors 99 Everett Dirksen, His Wife, You & Me 100 High Country 101 Cowgirls, Teachers & Dreams 102 Canoeing the Potomac 103 ".the light that cannot fade." 104 The Outer Banks 105 The Suicide 110 1983 Climbing to Heaven 110 Moments When the World Consents 111 Letter from an Old Lover 112 Appearances 113 Responsibility 113 The Reason Why 114 The Invasion of Grenada 115 1984 On the Right to Vote 115 1985 Winter Bells 116 Parade 117 POW/MIA 118 1986 Apples 119 For Mrs. Na 120 The Ducks on Wissahickon Creek 121 Twice Betrayed 121 Water 122 Adoquinas 123 Heather 124 1987 The Beech Tree 124 Some Other World 125 Nicaragua Libre 126 Why I Don''t Mind Rocking Leela to Sleep 127 The Trouble with Poets 128 What Keeps Me Going 129 Small Song for Daddy 130 The Storm 130 Starting Over 131 Second Thoughts 132 1988 Lost Years 133 Chasing Locomotives 134 Secrets 134 Lenin 135 Keeping My Distance 136 Just for Laughs 137 The Next World War 138 Not Your Problem 138 For Anne, Approaching Thirty-five 139 1989 For a Coming Extinction 139 What You Gave Me 140 The Origins of Passion 141 America Enters the 1990s 142 The Way Light Bends 142 The Poet as Athlete 143 In the Valley of the Shadow 144 How I Live 145 The Facts of Life 146 The Heart of the Poem 147 What We''re Buying 147 1990 A Scientific Treatise for My Wife 148 Song for Leela, Bobby & Me 149 The Old Soldiers 150 Love in an Evil Time 150 A Small Romance 151 The Children of Hanoi 152 Who Did What to Whom 152 The Lotus Cutters of H T'y 153 Guns 153 Singing Hymns in Church 154 1991 The Cradle of Civilization 155 Finding My Old Battalion Command Post 156 The Simple Lives of Cats 157 After the Latest Victory 157 A Vietnamese Bidding Farewell to the Remains of an American 158 Star Light, Star Bright 159 More Than You Ever Imagined 160 America in the Late 20th Century 160 The Exercise of Power 161 The Open Door 162 Governor Rhodes Keeps His Word 162 1992 The Distance We Travel 163 What War Does 165 Sleeping with General Chi 166 Making Love in the Garden 168 What I Know About Myself 168 On Any Given Day 169 Guatemala 170 Long Shot ­O''Leary Ain''t Dead Yet 170 Midnight at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 171 The Last Time I Dreamed About the War 172 1993 Small Talk 173 How It All Comes Back 173 Purple Heart 174 Red-tailed Hawks 175 Mostly Nothing Happens 176 1994 Beautiful Wreckage 180 Strangers 180 Not for You 181 Prayer for My Enemies 182 Suffer the Little Children 182 Sarajevo 183 Dropping Leela Off at School 184 After the Winter of 1994 185 1995 Drought 186 Variations on Squam Lake 186 The Perversion of Faith 187 Reading Out Loud 188 1996 Christmas Miracles 188 The First French Kiss 189 Visiting My Parents'' Graves 189 Cycling the Rosental 191 The Rocker 192 Ginger 193 Rehoboth, One Last Time 194 Night Sailing 194 Is It Always This Hard? 195 What Goes Around Comes Around 197 Because It''s Important 198 I Just Want You to Know 198 The Sergeant 199 Jogging with the Philosopher 200 A Meditation on Family Geography and a Prayer for My Daughter 201 1997 Cliches Become Cliches Because They''re True 202 Detroit River Blues 203 Artsy Fartsy Whiskey & Girls 204 Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 205 The Orphan 206 1998 Music Lessons 206 1999 For My Daughter, Alone in the World 207 Gravestones at Oxwich Bay 208 Sins of the Fathers 208 2000 What Better Way to Begin 209 Letting Go 210 Sleeping with the Dead 211 On the Eve of Destruction 212 The Wreckage Along the Road 212 2001 The Damage We Do 213 September 11th 215 The Bombing of Afghanistan 216 2002 Seminar on the Nature of Reality 218 2003 Home Before Morning 219 Breakfast with You and Emily Dickinson 220 2004 Kosovo 222 Manning the Walls 223 Meditations on Pedagogy 225 All About Death 226 All About Love 227 Golfing with My Father 228 2005 Coaching Winter Track in Time of War 229 Reflections on the Papacy 230 Oh, Canada 231 Primitive Art, or: The Art of the Primitive 232 Home on the Range 233 2006 What the Fuss Is All About 234 Temple Poem 235 Down and Out in Darfur 235 2007 The Work of Love 236 The Bodies Beneath the Table 237 Turning Sixty 237 2008 What Makes a Man 239 Extra! Extra! 240 Epiphany 240 The Secret Lives of Boys 240 2009 Burning Leaves 242 Life in the Neighborhood 242 2010 Redipuglia 243 Children of Adam & Eve 245 2011 How History Gets Written 246 2012 Patrick 247 Judas Joyful 247 Cheating the Reaper 248 2013 What It Signifies 249 First Day of School 250 2014 The Baby in the Box 251 Long Time Gone 252 2015 Praying at the Altar 252 Spontaneous Combustion 253 It''s About You 254 The Amish Boys on Sunday 254 2016 Here''s to Us 255 I Dream of Alternate Histories 256 Old Men Bodysurfing 257 The Poetry of Science 258 Lunch at the A&N Diner 258 Making America Great Again 259 2017 Dancing in the Streets 260 Silver Linings 261 2018 The Right to Bear Arms 262 Playing It Safe 262 Thank You for Your Service 263 Also by W.D. Ehrhart 265 Military History of W.D.

Ehrhart 267 About the Poet 269 Index of Titles 271 Index of First Lines 275.