Summary
First haircuts, first kisses, firstborn children. Never Before: Poems About First Experiences explores the ways in which the unknown becomes known. These poems evoke a sense of wonder at the world around us, and amazement at our ability to navigate through it, with all of the necessary bumps along the way. The voices of both established and emerging poets include Kim Addonizio, Stephen Dunn, Beth Ann Fennelly, Jennifer Grotz, Kimiko Hahn, Mark Halliday, Edward Hirsch, Meg Kearney, A. Van Jordan, Philip Levine, Larry Levis, Thomas Lux, Michael Ryan, and Gerald Stern, among many others. This is a diverse grouping and a generous and lively sampling work is showcased on the pages of this anthology.
Author Biography
LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR grew up in Belgium and moved to the United States in 1987. Fluent in four languages, she published poems in French and Flemish. She is the author of The Hour Between Dog and Wolf (1997) and Small Gods of Grief, which won the Isabella Gardner Prize for Poetry (2001). Among other publications, her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Washington Post, AGNI, Georgia Review and Harvard Review, as well as in many anthologies. She was awarded a Fellowship at the Breadloaf Writers' Conference, was a writer in residence at Hamilton College and at the Vermont Studio Center. She teaches a graduate poetry workshop at Sarah Lawrence College and teaches at writers' conferences around the country. She lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
| PHILIP LEVINE |
|
|
|
|
3 | (6) |
| ONE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Poem on the First Day of School |
|
|
11 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
13 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
15 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
16 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
18 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
19 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
20 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
First Time Going to School All by Myself |
|
|
21 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
23 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
24 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
26 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
29 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
30 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Winged Snake Found on a Path |
|
|
31 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
32 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
33 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
34 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
35 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
37 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
38 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
Learning to Swim at Poverty Beach |
|
|
40 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
41 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
43 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
First Love, Sixteen Years Old |
|
|
45 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
46 | (5) |
| TWO |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
51 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
53 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
54 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
56 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
58 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
59 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
60 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
62 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
64 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
65 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
66 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
67 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
68 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
70 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
71 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
73 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
75 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
The First Time I Heard Elvis |
|
|
76 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
77 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
79 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
80 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
81 | |
|
|
|
|
Orientation: Wittenberg University |
|
|
82 | (5) |
| THREE |
|
|
|
|
|
Firsts in No Particular Order |
|
|
87 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
89 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
90 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
91 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
93 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
94 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Poem for a New Girlfriend |
|
|
95 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
96 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Upon Seeing an Ultrasound Photo of an Unborn Child |
|
|
97 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
98 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
99 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
100 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
102 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
104 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
106 | (5) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
111 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
113 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
114 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
116 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
117 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
At the Crematorium, My Son Asks Why We're All Wearing Black |
|
|
118 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
My Son's Wedding, My Daughter's |
|
|
119 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
First Night in the New House |
|
|
121 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
First Date in Twenty-Five Years |
|
|
122 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
123 | (4) |
| FOUR |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
127 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
128 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
129 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
131 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Self-Portrait as a Drowned Man |
|
|
132 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
134 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
136 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
137 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
139 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
140 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
141 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Taking Calls in Freeport, NY |
|
|
142 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
143 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
145 | (3) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
148 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
The First Time I Robbed Tiffany's |
|
|
150 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
151 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
152 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
Good Morning Coffee Makes Vivid of the Vague; Suddenly You Have Hands and Eyes and Legs! |
|
|
154 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Of Marilyn, and Marijuana |
|
|
155 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
Poem Without a Freight Train or a Pocket Watch |
|
|
157 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
158 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
159 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
160 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
161 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
162 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
First Sunset at Outler's Ranch |
|
|
164 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
165 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
166 | (2) |
|
|
|
|
First Lesson: Winter Trees |
|
|
168 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
169 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
170 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
Introducing New Year's SOULUTIONS, From Saint Terri's Inc. |
|
|
171 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
172 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
173 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
174 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
175 | (3) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
178 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
179 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
180 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
181 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
182 | (1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
183 | (4) |
| About the Editor |
|
187 | (2) |
| Biographical Notes |
|
189 | (14) |
| Copyright Pages |
|
203 | |
Other versions by this Author
