Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents xi
3. Acknowledgments xiii
4. I Landscape with human figure
5. On New Year’s Day 3
6. Nightfall in Asturias 4
7. Quatrains for a Shrinking World 5
8. The Blackouts 13
9. Ghazal in a Time of War 14
10. Outside Fayetteville 15
11. What I Would Give 16
12. For My Brother’s Wedding 17
13. Landscape with Human Figure 19
14. II Speak to me
15. In Praise of Experience 23
16. October Afternoon, 1986 24
17. Oysters 25
18. Your Black Eyes 26
19. Playing ‘‘Fidel and Perón’’ 27
20. On Valentine’s Day 28
21. Last Hours in Florence 29
22. Speak to Me 33
23. Poem for My Familiar 34
24. After Losing Him 35
25. III Afraid of the dark
26. Afraid of the Dark 39
27. IV Undetectable
28. Phone Messages on Call 51
29. Undetectable 56
30. Spiritual, ca. 1999 58
31. On Thanksgiving 59
32. The Same Old Place 60
33. Supernumerary Poem with Fruit Pastries that Allegorically Addresses Death 61
34. On the Virtues of Not Shaving 62
35. The Four Humours 63
36. V Questions for the weather
37. The Age-Old Problem of Sentimental Verse 69
38. The Couple 70
39. After theWeekly Telephone Call 71
40. For a Dear Friend Who Is Grieving 72
41. Love Poem Written Especially for You 74
42. Living with Illness 75
43. Doberman Pinscher, Dreaming 76
44. Upon Overhearing, ‘‘Anyone CanWrite Like Elizabeth Bishop’’ 77
45. You Can Just See the Cynicism 78
46. Cuban Canticle in Five Parts 80
47. On Christmas Eve 85
48. The Beech Forest 86
49. In Case of Emergency Landing 87
50. Questions for the Weather 88