Thank you for your service : collected poems / W.D. Ehrhart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ehrhart, W. D. (William Daniel), 1948- author.

Standardized Title:

Poems. Selections

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American poetry--21st century.

American poetry.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 278 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., [2019]

Summary:

"Fifty-five years in the writing, these collected poems trace the development of a committed poet from an early age. Many deal with the author's encounter with the Vietnam War and its endless consequences. Others range from family and friends to nature and the environment to the blessings and absurdities of the human condition"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Juvenilia, 1963-1967

So Much Time p. 1

Excerpts from the Mind of the Writer p. 1

Friendship p. 2

Viet Nam-February 1967 p. 2

1969-1971

Listening Post p. 3

One Night on Guard Duty p. 4

The Sniper's Mark p. 4

The Generals' War p. 4

Hunting p. 5

Christ p. 5

Gettysburg p. 5

Dancing p. 6

Starships p. 6

To Swarthmore p. 7

1971-1973

Perimeter Guard p. 12

Souvenirs p. 13

Sergeant Jones p. 13

The Rat p. 14

Mail Call p. 14

The One That Died p. 14

Night Patrol p. 15

Guerrilla War p. 16

Time on Target p. 16

The Hawk and Two Suns p. 17

The Ambush p. 17

Another Life p. 18

The Bob Hope christmas Special p. 19

Coming Home p. 19

A Relative Thing p. 20

Old Myths p. 21

A Generation of Peace p. 22

Imagine p. 22

Rehoboth p. 23

The Living p. 24

Yours p. 26

Charleston p. 26

1974

Rhythm p. 29

The Flying Gypsy p. 29

Myers, Messick & Me p. 30

1975

The Last Day p. 31

The Obsession p. 31

The Traveler p. 32

Granddad p. 33

To the Asian Victors p. 33

The Fool p. 34

Geese p. 35

Bicentennial p. 36

Money in the Bank p. 37

Shadows p. 38

Making the Children Behave p. 39

The Silent p. 39

1976

Vietnam Veterans, After All p. 40

To Those Who Have Gone Home Tired p. 41

Going Home with the Monkeys p. 42

Ghosts p. 43

Going Down Off Columbia Bar p. 43

To Maynard on the Long Road Home p. 44

The Death of Kings p. 45

Colorado p. 46

Rootless p. 46

Cascais p. 47

Jimmy p. 48

1977

The Trial p. 49

Leaving the Guns Behind p. 50

Helpless p. 51

Coma p. 51

Letter p. 51

Portrait or Friends p. 52

After the Fire p. 53

Desire p. 54

Cast Out p. 54

Twodot, Montana p. 55

Growing Older Alone p. 56

The Last Prayer of Michelangelo p. 57

Sanctuary p. 57

Empire p. 59

1978

Vietnamese-Cambodian Border War p. 61

The Spiders' White Dream of Peace p. 61

An Exorcism p. 62

A Confirmation p. 63

Driving Through Wisconsin p. 66

Great Horned Owl p. 67

Eighteen Months in Chicago p. 67

Waking Alone in Darkness p. 68

Peary & Henson Reach the North Pole p. 68

The Teacher p. 69

Turning Thirty p. 70

Again, Rehoboth p. 71

Companions p. 73

Last of the Hard-hearted Ladies p. 74

1979

Fog p. 75

Another Way of Seeing p. 76

The Grim Art of Teaching p. 77

The Dancers p. 77

Lost at Sea p. 78

Afraid of the Dark p. 79

The Dream p. 79

Driving into the Future p. 81

Sunset p. 82

1980

The Farmer p. 83

Near-sighted p. 84

Channel Fever p. 85

The World As It Is p. 86

The Vision p. 87

The Eruption of Mount St. Helens p. 88

Matters of the Heart p. 89

Briana p. 90

Gifts p. 91

Sound Advice p. 92

Continuity p. 93

New Jersey Pine Barrens p. 94

Pagan p. 95

Deer p. 96

A Warning to My Students p. 96

Surviving the Bomb One More Day p. 98

The Blizzard of Sixty-six p. 98

Letter to the Survivors p. 99

Everett Dirksen, His Wife, You & Me p. 100

High Country p. 101

Cowgirls, Teachers & Dreams p. 102

Canoeing the Potomac p. 103

"...the light that cannot fade..." p. 104

The Outer Banks p. 105

The Suicide p. 110

1983

Climbing to Heaven p. 110

Moments When the World Consents p. 111

Letter from an Old Lover p. 112

Appearances p. 113

Responsibility p. 113

The Reason Why p. 114

The Invasion of Grenada p. 115

1984

On the Right to Vote p. 115

Winter Bells p. 116

Parade p. 117

POW/MIA p. 118

Apples p. 119

For Mrs. Na p. 120

The Ducks on Wissahickon Creek p. 121

Twice Betrayed p. 121

Water p. 122

Adoquinas p. 123

Heather p. 124

1987

The Beech Tree p. 124

Some Other World p. 125

Nicaragua Libre p. 126

Why I Don't Mind Rocking Leela to Sleep p. 127

The Trouble with Poets p. 128

Winn Keeps Me Going p. 129

Small Song for Daddy p. 130

The Storm p. 130

Starting Over p. 131

1988

Lost Years p. 133

Chasing Locomotives p. 134

Secrets p. 134

Lenin p. 135

Keeping My Distance p. 136

Just for Laughs p. 137

The Next World War p. 138

Not Your Problem p. 138

For Anne, Approaching Thirty-five p. 139

For a Coming Extinction p. 139

What You Gave Me p. 140

The Origins of Passion p. 141

America Enters the 1990s p. 142

The Way Light Bends p. 142

The Poet as Athlete p. 143

In the Valley of the Shadow p. 144

How I Live p. 145

The Facts of Life p. 146

The Heart of the Poem p. 147

What We're Buying 147

A Scientific Treatise for My Wife p. 148

Song for Leela, Bobby & Me p. 149

The Old Soldiers p. 150

Love in an Evil Time p. 150

A Small Romance p. 151

The Children of Hanoi p. 152

Who Did what to Whom p. 152

The Lotus Cutters of Hô Tây p. 153

Guns p. 153

Singing Hymns in Church p. 154

The Cradle of Civilization p. 155

Finding My Old Battalion Command Post p. 156

The Simple Lives of Cats p. 157

After the Latest Victory p. 157

A Vietnamese Bidding Farewell to the Remains of an American p. 158

Star Light, Star Bright p. 159

More Than You Ever Imagined p. 160

America in the Late 20th Century p. 160

The Exercise of Power p. 161

The Open Door p. 162

Governor Rhodes Keeps His Word p. 162

The Distance We Travel p. 163

What War Does p. 165

Sleeping with General Chi p. 166

Making Love in the Garden p. 168

What I Know About Myself p. 168

On Any Given Day p. 169

Guatemala p. 170

Long Shot O'Leary Ain't Dead Yet p. 170

Midnight at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial p. 171

The Last Time I Dreamed About the War p. 172

Small Talk p. 173

How It All Comes Back p. 173

Purple Heart p. 174

Red-tailed Hawks p. 175

Mostly Nothing Happens p. 176

Beautiful Wreckage p. 180

Strangers p. 180

Not for You p. 181

Prayer for My Enemies p. 182

Suffer the Little Children p. 182

Sarajevo p. 183

Dropping Leela Off at School p. 184

After the Winter of 1994 p. 185

1995

Drought p. 186

Variations on Squam Lake p. 186

The Perversion of Faith p. 187

Reading Out Loud p. 188

Christmas Miracles p. 188

The First French Kiss p. 189

Visiting My Parents' Graves p. 189

Cycling the Rosental p. 191

The Rocker p. 192

Ginger p. 193

Rehoboth, One Last Time p. 194

Night Sailing p. 194

Is It Always This Hard? p. 195

What Goes Around Comes Around p. 197

Because It's Important p. 198

I Just Want You to Know p. 198

The Sergeant p. 199

Jogging with the Philosopher p. 200

A Meditation on Family Geography and a Prayer for My Daughter p. 201

1997

Cliches Become Cliches Because They're True p. 202

Detroit River Blues p. 203

Artsy Fartsy Whiskey & Girls p. 204

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer p. 205

The Orphan p. 206

Music Lessons p. 206

For My Daughter, Alone in the World p. 207

Gravestones at Oxwich Bay p. 208

Sins of the Fathers p. 208

What Better Way to Begin p. 209

Letting Go p. 210

Sleeping with the Dead p. 211

On the Eve of Destruction p. 212

The Wreckage Along the Road p. 212

2001

The Damage We Do p. 213

September 11th p. 215

The Bombing of Afghanistan p. 216

2002

Seminar on the Nature of Reality p. 218

2003

Home Before Morning p. 219

Breakfast with You and Emily Dickinson p. 220

2004

Kosovo p. 222

Manning the Walls p. 223

Meditations on Pedagogy p. 225

All About Death p. 226

All About Love p. 227

Golfing with My Father p. 228

2005

Coaching Winter Track in Time of War p. 229

Reflections on the Papacy p. 230

Oh, Canada p. 231

Primitive Art, or: The Art of the Primitive p. 232

Home on the Range p. 233

2006

What the Fuss Is All About p. 234

Temple Poem p. 235

Down and Out in Darfur p. 235

2007

The Work of Love p. 236

The Bodies Beneath the Table p. 237

Turning Sixty p. 237

2008

What Makes a Man p. 239

Epiphany p. 240

The Secret Lives of Boys p. 240

2009

Burning Leaves p. 242

Life in the Neighborhood p. 242

2010

Redipuglia p. 243

Children of Adam & Eve p. 245

2011

How History Gets Written p. 246

2012

Patrick p. 247

Judas Joyful p. 247

Cheating the Reaper p. 248

2013

What It Signifies p. 249

First Day of School p. 250

2014

The Baby in the Box p. 251

Long Time Gone p. 252

2015

Praying at the Altar p. 252

Spontaneous Combustion p. 253

It's About You p. 254

The Amish Boys on Sunday p. 254

2016

Here's to Us p. 255

I Dream of Alternate Histories p. 256

Old Men Bodysurfing p. 257

The Poetry of Science p. 258

Lunch at the A&N Diner p. 258

Making America Great Again p. 259

2017

Dancing in the Streets p. 260

Silver Linings p. 261

2018

The Right to Bear Arms p. 262

Playing It Safe p. 262

Thank You for Your Service p. 263.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781476678535

1476678537

OCLC:

1080426983