The powers of heaven and earth : new and selected poems / John Frederick Nims.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nims, John Frederick, 1913-1999.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

xiv, 247 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 2002.

Summary:

Among the papers of the late John Frederick Nims was a group of poems selected by the poet from his more than sixty-year career. The Powers of Heaven and Earth presents that choice verse--generous portions from the eight superbly varied and beautifully crafted collections Nims published between 1947 and 1990. In addition, this incomparably rich volume includes thirty new poems published during Nims's last decade. Rhythmically precise yet delightfully playful, Nims's work bestows on readers those qualities of mind and heart well known to colleagues, students, and friends--his wit, lightly carried erudition, and generosity of spirit. From first to last, there is no falling off. Nims's irrepressible joy in his work constantly illuminates the verse collected here, joining together a lifetime of keen observation with speculation on the nature of eternity.

Contents:

New Poems

The Mouse 3

The Powers of Heaven and Earth 4

Julianne-julienne 8

Pascal on Ultrasound 9

Celebrating a Birthday 10

Love's Progress 11

The Opera 12

The Silence 13

Love and Other Wonders 14

Till News of You 16

A Memory of Places 17

Time's Arrow 18

Worth in the World 19

The Seizure 20

Rilke Surmised 21

Strange! 22

Explicating "The Necromancers" 23

The Only Text 25

Impervious 26

Timepiece 27

The Day Our Dog Died 28

Love's Bittersweet 28

The Beautiful Atheist 29

Scientist's Morning Prayer 30

Porno People 30

Cosi 31

Moses Descending 32

Three Simple Sonnets

The Bathrobe 33

As in a Play by Dekker 33

Found Poem: Understanding the Universe 34

Freight 35

Epigrams

Cultural Heritage 39

Tandaradei! 39

Men's Room: The Ritz 39

Trivia 39

"Light" Verse 40

Etymology 40

Cajolery 40

You Pious People 40

New Translations

Horace, Ode I, 4 41

Horace, Ode I, 5 42

Catullus, XVII 43

Catullus, XXV 45

Giacomo Leopardi, "L'Infinito" 46

Goethe, "Die schone Nacht" 47

Rosalia de Castro, "Cando Penso Que Te Fuches ..." 48

from Five Young American Poets, 1944

Dollar Bill 51

Penny Arcade 52

The Genuine Ellis 53

Magazine Stand 55

Madrigal in Wartime 56

Scherzo: Writers' Conference, 1941 57

New Year's Eve 58

Prayer 60

Parting: 1940 61

from The Iron Pastoral, 1947

Love Poem 65

Midwest 66

Christmas Tree 67

Trainwrecked Soldiers 68

Sign of Fever 70

from A Fountain in Kentucky, 1950

The Masque of Blackness 73

The Indolent Day 79

City Dawn 80

The Bright Night of the Soul 81

Watcher Go Deftly 83

First Date 84

Japanese Prints 85

Incident 86

Winter in the Park 87

Vicarage Blues 88

Two Cretan Views 89

Portrait 91

The Child 92

Christmas 93

Adam's Ballad 94

from Knowledge of the Evening, 1960

The Evergreen 97

Dead Child 101

The Young Ionia 102

Decline and Fall 104

The Lover 106

Polonaise 108

Parallax at Djebel-Muta 110

Etruscan Tomb 113

Roman Letter 116

Florence 119

Reflections in Venice 121

A Frieze of Cupids 125

Originated in a Chorus of Satyrs 126

Ancient of Days 127

And a Fortune in Olive Oil 128

Affair at the Fork 129

Calliope to Clio 130

Ishtar 131

A Pretty Device of the Fathers 132

Natione non Moribus 133

The Academy Disporting 134

Isaiah's Coal 136

Last Judgment 137

De Fide 138

Old River Road 139

from Of Flesh and Bone, 1967

Few Things to Say 147

Days of Our Years 147

At Dawn 147

Love 147

Parting 148

Contemplation 148

Anacreon's Answer 148

Protestation 149

Epitaph for a Light Lady 149

With Fingering Hand 149

Avant-garde 149

Visiting Poet 150

Transplant 150

View from Moon 150

Philosopher 151

Minotaur 151

Embroidery at Bayeux 151

Sophomore 151

On the One Theme Still 152

Love and Death 152

The Visit 152

Lovers 152

Perfect Rhyme 152

from The Kiss: A Jambalaya, 1982

The Observatory Ode 155

Cardiological 158

Tide Turning 159

Postcard from Minnesota 161

Slapstick I 164

Dawn Song 165

Plaza de Toros 168

The Year, 1520 169

Sonnet Almost Petrarchan 170

Design: A Further Word 171

With a Blonde in a Bar-Booth 172

A Ballad of Kisses and Combs 173

How to Tell the Girls from the Flowers 174

A Scholar Wonders 174

Stewardess Falls from Plane 174

Daughter, Age 4 175

Sally and Alison: Julie And Joan 176

The Madness in Vermont This Fall 179

Love among the Philosophers 180

Spleen 182

A Summer Love 183

Watching the Planes Come in at La Guardia 184

First Date (2) 184

The Origin of Myth 185

Love Song for Outer Space 187

Finisterre 188

from Zany in Denim, 1990

The Consolations of Etymology, with Fanfare 193

The Book of Life 193

As Goethe Said 194

Lunch with Old Flame 195

Ragdale Haiku 195

Crutches and Canes 195

Matthew 5:28 195

Disciples 195

Good Friday 196

Poets and Critics 196

Verse Translator 196

Occasions of Grace at a Poetry Reading 196

from The Six-Cornered Snowflake, 1990

The Six-Cornered Snowflake 199

Gravity 211

The Shape of Leaves 213

Trick or Treat 214

From the Rapido: La Spezia-Genova 215

Water Music 216

Dropping the Names 221

The Wine of Astonishment 223

Hospital Breakfast: With Grace After 228

Elegy 230

Keeping Change 231

Palinode 234

Niagara 236

Closed for Restoration 239.

ISBN:

0807128260

0807128279

OCLC:

50292687