Being Human

Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably those in Bloodaxe's Staying Alive anthology series: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004), Being Human (2011), and Staying Human (2020), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation; and three collaborations with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds (2008), and the DVD-books In Person: 30 Poets (2008) and In Person: World Poets (2017). He has published two novels, The End of My Tether (2002), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World (2005). He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry, was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books, and in 2018 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He also guest-edited a transatlantic all-poetry issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, the first such issue in its 43-year history. He lives in the Tarset Valley of Northumberland, England.

A book that makes the heart sing, which shows that the best of today's poetry…is a joy to behold, "charged", as Ezra Pound said, "with meaning to the utmost degree". Being Human, which runs to more than 500 pages, offers a glut of poetry from across the globe and, in so doing, renders redundant the "difficult" tag which so dogs the art. Above all it is a celebration of our capacity to embrace whatever's thrown at us… But subjects do not make poems, poets do. Astley's taste is catholic and inclusive and drawn to those who write with lyrical clarity and a keen eye… Being Human is not easy to summarise. It is a poetic Babel, a library in one volume.

• Neil Astley 17 Introduction 1 Being HumanDoris Kareva 22 from Shape of TimeAnna Kamienska 23 FunnyKerry Hardie 23 HumankindRumi 24 The Guest HouseMicheal O’Siadhail 25 HumanAdrian Mitchell 25 Human BeingsJulie O’Callaghan 27 The Sounds of EarthRaymond Queneau 28 The Human SpeciesVernon Scannell 29 Here and HumanRuth Stone 30 Being HumanStephen Edgar 30 Another CountryAnna Swir 31 HappinessJohn Montague 32 To CeaseElizabeth Alexander 33 Ars Poetica #100: I BelieveT.S. Eliot 34 The Love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockDennis O’Driscoll 38 The Vigil 2 The stuff of lifeMichael Blumenthal 40 What I BelieveSelima Hill 41 What Do I Really Believe?Sujata Bhatt 42 What Is Worth KnowingJohn Burnside 43 AnniversaryBei Dao 44 The AnswerJulius Chingono 45 As I GoThomas A. Clark 46 In Praise of WalkingRuth Stone 49 Train RideGalway Kinnell 50 The Road Between Here and ThereRosemary Tonks 51 The Sofas, Fogs and CinemasAdam Zagajewski 52 To Go to LvovJack Gilbert 54 A Brief for the DefenseJane Hirshfield 55 Burlap SackEdip Cansever 56 TableOktay Rifat 56 Table LaidPablo Neruda 57 The great tableclothDavid Scott 58 A Long Way from BreadBrendan Kennelly 60 BreadE.A. Markham 61 Don’t Talk to Me about BreadNikki Giovanni 62 QuiltsRuth Stone 63 Second-Hand CoatKerry Hardie 64 HelplessnessOlav H. Hauge 64 Don’t Give Me the Whole TruthIzumi Shikibu 64 ‘Although the wind’Didem Madak 65 Sir, I Want to Write Poems with FlowersCharles Brasch 66 Winter AnemonesTracy K. Smith 67 DuendeDerek Mahon 69 Thunder ShowerDerek Mahon 70 KinsaleJen Hadfield 71 Daed-traaRaymond Carver 72 Where Water Comes Together with Other WaterVona Groarke 73 The Local AccentGreta Stoddart 74 CountingBei Dao 74 Midnight SingerFrances Leviston 74 MoonNâzim Hikmet 76 Things I Didn’t Know I LovedLinda Pastan 79 Things I Didn’t Know I LovedLouis MacNeice 81 Sunlight on the GardenPeter Didsbury 81 Pastoral (after Ralf Andtbacka)John F. Deane 82 The ColoursLavinia Greenlaw 83 Blue FieldAnne Stevenson 84 On Harlech BeachRainer Maria Rilke 85 Archaic Torso of ApolloMark Doty 85 A Green Crab’s ShellCoral Bracho 87 Wasp on WaterTua Forsström 87 AmberJane Hirshfield 88 The WeighingStanley Kunitz 89 The LayersWilliam Stafford 90 The Way It IsFernando Pessoa 90 ‘To be great, be whole…’Toon Tellegen 91 I drew a lineRobert Frost 91 The ArmfulGregory Corso 92 The Whole Mess… AlmostJames Fenton 93 The Skip 3 Life historyAgha Shahid Ali 96 A Lost Memory of DelhiSharon Olds 97 I Go Back to May 1937Anna Swir 98 Woman UnbornThomas Lux 99 Upon Seeing an Ultrasound Photo of an Unborn ChildKate Clanchy 100 InfantKevin Young 100 CrowningMaura Dooley 104 The Weighing of the HeartHelen Dunmore 105 All the Things You Are Not YetLouise Glück 106 LullabyMaría Negroni 107 The BabyThomas Lux 107 A Little ToothKevin Griffith 108 SpinningNaomi Shihab Nye 108 ShouldersDan Chiasson 109 Man and DerailmentEvan Jones 109 GenerationsLangston Hughes 110 Mother to SonTerrance Hayes 111 Mother to SonLorna Goodison 112 I Am Becoming My MotherA.K. Ramanujan 112 Self-portraitSamuel Menashe 113 AutobiographyRebecca Edwards 113 The MothersCatherine Smith 114 The FathersRita Ann Higgins 115 GrandchildrenPenelope Shuttle 116 Delicious BabiesAnna T. Szabó 117 She Leaves MeLinda Pastan 118 To a Daughter Leaving HomeNorman MacCaig 119 Small boyPaul Farley 119 MonopolyNatasha Trethewey 120 MythmakerEavan Boland 121 The PomegranateImtiaz Dharker 123 How to Cut a PomegranateSusan Wicks 123 PersephoneRobert Wrigley 124 Moonlight: Chickens on the RoadSimon Armitage 126 ‘My father thought it bloody queer’Anthony Lawrence 127 The DriveRobyn Rowland 128 AuscultaMolly Peacock 129 Say You Love MePascale Petit 131 Self Portrait with Fire AntsCarol Ann Duffy 132 We Remember Your Childhood WellA.D. Hope 132 Crossing the Frontier Nii Ayikwei Parkes 134 The Makings of YouKathleen Jamie 135 Crossing the LochLynda Hull 136 At ThirtyAdrian Blevins 136 Life HistoryLucille Clifton 138 ‘the thirty-eighth year…’Mary Stanley 140 The Wife SpeaksDonald Justice 141 Men at FortyDavid Campbell 141 Mothers and DaughtersPatricia Beer 142 Middle AgeBernard O’Donoghue 143 Nel Mezzo del CamminArvind Krishna Mehrotra 143 Approaching FiftyMarie Howe 144 The WorldRandall Jarrell 144 The Woman at the Washington ZooFranz Wright 145 UntitledFrancesc Parcerisas 146 Shave Kwame Dawes 147 Fat ManSharon Olds 148 Self-portrait, Rear ViewElaine Feinstein 149 Getting OlderArun Kolatkar 149 An Old WomanDom Moraes 151 from After the OperationPaul Durcan 153 Golden Mothers Driving WestElizabeth Jennings 154 Rembrandt’s Late PortraitsMark Strand 155 Old Man Leaves PartyW.S. Merwin 156 Still MorningSamuel Menashe 156 Salt and PepperJorge Luis Borges 157 In Praise of DarknessDerek Mahon 158 Ignorance (after Philippe Jaccottet)Yehuda Amichai 159 A Quiet JoySamuel Menashe 159 VoyageSamuel Menashe 160 The NicheSalvatore Quasimodo 160 And Suddenly It’s EveningLars Gustafsson 160 The Girl 4 About timeSamuel Menashe 162 The Shrine Who Shape I AmFleur Adcock 162 WaterC.D. Wright 163 Our DustLuljeta Lleshanaku 165 Vertical RealitiesElizabeth Bishop 166 In the Waiting RoomMoya Cannon 168 The TrainDan Pagis 169 Ein LebenPatricia Hampl 170 This Is How Memory WorksSeamus Heaney 171 A Sofa in the FortiesJulia Copus 173 Raymond, at 60Luljeta Lleshanaku 174 from Monday in Seven DaysEiléan Ní Chuilleanáin 174 The Bend in the RoadLuljeta Lleshanaku 175 MemoryRuth Stone 176 MemoryKeith Althaus 177 Ladder of HoursStuart Henson 177 The PriceMichael Hartnett 178 The Killing of DreamsLangston Hughes 179 Harlem [2]Rodney Jones 179 Salvation BluesJorge Luis Borges 180 Matthew XXV: 30Francis Harvey 181 News of the WorldGeorge Seferis 181 from MythistoremaJaan Kaplinski 182 ‘The washing never gets done…’Yehuda Amichai 183 A Man in His LifeStewart Conn 184 Carpe DiemEmma Lew 185 Riot EveCarole Satyamurti 185 SathyajiRita Dove 187 Dawn RevisitedAdam Zagajewski 187 Lava Wisława Szymborska 188 Could HaveYusef Komunyakaa 189 ThanksPhilip Gross 190 CaughtIain Crichton Smith 191 ListenLouis MacNeice 192 Meeting PointRosemary Dobson 193 The Three FatesPhilip Hodgins 194 LeavingAlan Gillis 195 ProgressAlice Oswald 196 The mud-spattered recollections of a woman who lived her life backwardsSheenagh Pugh 198 Pause: RewindVasko Popa 199 The Little BoxYehuda Amichai 199 Inside the AppleJean Follain 200 LifeDana Gioia 201 Nothing Is LostToeti Heraty 201 A Woman’s Portrait 1938Thom Gunn 202 In Santa Maria del PopuloMatthew Sweeney 203 Black MoonRoberto Juarroz 204 ‘Life draws a tree’John Glenday 205 Etching a Line of TreesSarah Holland-Batt 206 The Art of DisappearingRainer Maria Rilke 207 ChildhoodPeter Handke 208 Song of ChildhoodPeter Handke 210 Angels talking in Wings of DesireGeorge Szirtes 213 Cerulean Blue: Footnote on Wim WendersRobert Hass 214 Privilege of BeingHarry Clifton 216 God in FranceCzesław Miłosz 217 A ConfessionAdam Zagajewski 218 FruitWisława Szymborska 218 A NoteChristine Evans 219 CallersNissim Ezekiel 220 Poet, Lover, BirdwatcherHenri Thomas 221 AudidesPablo Neruda 221 Keeping quietRumi 223 QuietnessLynne Wycherley 223 Apple Tree in BlossomRobert Frost 224 The Oven BirdFrances Horovitz 224 FlowersDenise Levertov 225 The Life Around UsLeslie Norris 226 Burning the BrackenEeva-Liisa Manner 227 ‘The trees are bare…’ Elizabeth Jennings 227 Song at the Beginning of AutumnStanley Kunitz 228 The Snakes of SeptemberJohn Burnside 229 September Evening: Deer at Big BasinW.B. Yeats 230 The Wild Swans at CooleSamuel Menashe 231 AutumnTess Gallagher 231 Blue GrapesRobert Frost 231 Nothing Gold Can StayEamon Grennan 232 A Few FactsEdwin Morgan 232 TrioJohn F. Deane 233 CanticleMargaret Avison 234 New Year’s PoemNorman MacCaig 235 February – not everywhereTomas Tranströmer 235 April and SilencePaula Meehan 236 SeedEsther Morgan 236 This MorningLouise Glück 237 MatinsEamon Grennan 237 What It IsKerry Hardie 238 MayKatha Pollitt 239 The Old NeighborsDerek Walcott 240 Midsummer, TobagoNorman MacCaig 240 So many summersMark Wunderlich 241 Amaryllis (after Rilke)Louise Glück 242 Screened PorchFaustin Charles 243 LandscapeJaan Kaplinski 244 ‘Every dying man…’ 5 Fight to the deathJane Kenyon 246 Having It Out with MelancholyJane Kenyon 249 BackSusana Thénon 250 Nuptial SongRavi Shankar 251 Plumbing the Deepening GroveLucia Perillo 252 Shrike TreeMiller Williams 253 Thinking About Bill, Dead of AIDSMark Doty 254 FaithJoan Margarit 257 Dark Night in Balmes StreetJoan Margarit 258 The eyes in the rear-view mirrorJoan Margarit 259 Young partridgeBill Manhire 259 KevinRaymond Carver 260 What the Doctor SaidPhilip Hodgins 260 Death WhoAnna Swir 262 Tomorrow They Will Carve MeJo Shapcott 263 ProcedureNissim Ezekiel 263 ProcessJanet Frame 264 The SuicidesSylvia Plath 265 Fever 103°Ted Hughes 266 FeverSylvia Plath 268 The Rabbit CatcherTed Hughes 269 Life after DeathStanley Kunitz 271 The PortraitRuth Stone 272 Turn Your Eyes AwayGrace Paley 273 This LifeKenneth Patchen 274 I Feel Drunk All the TimeRobert Wrigley 274 Heart AttackRoger McGough 275 Defying GravitySharon Olds 276 The RaceLawrence Sail 278 At the BedsideJohn Burnside 279 Marginal jottings on the prospect of dyingRebecca Elson 280 Antidote to the Fear of DeathRichard Blessing 281 Directions for DyingAndrew Motion 281 The Cinder PathMarin Sorescu 282 Pure PainMarin Sorescu 282 ‘What hurts the most’Marin Sorescu 283 Balance SheetMarin Sorescu 283 A Ladder to the SkyMarin Sorescu 284 ‘So this is it’Patricia Pogson 284 BreathLauris Edmond 285 The pace of changeLarry Levis 285 The Morning After My DeathWilliam Matthews 286 My Father’s BodyTony Harrison 288 TimerTony Harrison 288 Marked with D.U.A. Fanthorpe 289 Only a Small DeathDavid Constantine 290 Common and ParticularJulia Kasdorf 291 What I Learned from My MotherAmjad Nasser 292 The House After Her DeathDouglas Dunn 293 DiningChristopher Reid 294 from The UnfinishedNorman MacCaig 297 MemorialR.S. Thomas 298 ComparisonsHerman de Coninck 299 AnnMary Jo Bang 300 Landscape with the Fall of IcarusMary Jo Bang 301 You Were You Are ElegyMary Jo Bang 302 Ode to HistoryR.S. Thomas 302 No TimeKen Smith 303 Years go byAdrian Mitchell 304 Death Is Smaller Than I ThoughtJackie Kay 305 DarlingSusan Mitchell 305 The DeadBilly Collins 306 No TimeSusan Wicks 306 Branches 6 War and survivalHeather McHugh 308 What He ThoughtCzesław Miłosz 310 Campo Dei FioriW.H. Auden 312 The Fall of RomeAnthony Hecht 313 ‘More Light! More Light!Irena Klepfisz 314 Dedications to BashertPaul Celan 316 DeathfugueC.K. Williams 317 Jew on BridgeCarolyn Forché 321 The VisitorRobert Hass 321 I Am Your Waiter Tonight and My Name Is DimitriLaurie Lee 324 The Long WarMiklós Radnóti 324 Letter to My WifePaul Celan 326 Aspen TreeHo Thien 326 The Green BeretDoug Anderson 328 Night AmbushKeith Douglas 328 How to KillBrian Turner 329 Here, BulletDunya Mikhail 330 The War Works HardYehuda Amichai 331 The Place Where We Are RightTatjana Lukic 332 nothing elseSarah Maguire 333 The Pomegranates of KandaharMourid Barghouti 334 A Night Unlike OthersBrian Turner 336 16 Iraqi PolicemanMourid Barghouti 336 SilenceAharon Shabtai 337 WarRonny Someck 337 A Poem of BlissTaha Muhammad Ali 338 Abd el-Hadi Fights a SuperpowerPaul Muldoon 339 TruceAlan Gould 339 A U-Boat Morning, 1914Gillian Clarke 341 The Field-MouseRobert Adamson 342 The Goldfinches of BaghdadLam Thi My Da 343 Garden FragranceMichael Coady 343 Though There Are TorturersMichael Longley 344 The Ice-Cream ManAndrew Motion 344 To Whom It May ConcernMichael Longley 345 WreathsX.J. Kennedy 346 September Twelfth, 2001Deborah Garrison 347 I Saw You WalkingAlan Smith 348 Kidding Myself in Kuta, Bali: A PantoumGyula Illyés 349 While the Record PlaysCharles Simic 350 FearHeberto Padilla 351 In trying timesNâzim Hikmet 352 On LivingTony Curtis 354 SoupIrina Ratushinskaya 355 I will live and surviveJack Mapanje 356 Skipping Without RopesPriscila Uppal 357 Sorry I Forgot To Clean Up After Myself Nâzim Hikmet 358 It’s This WayElse Lasker-Schüler 358 My Blue PianoDavid Constantine 359 Soldiering OnErnesto Cardenal 360 ‘For Those Dead, Our Dead…’Martín Espada 361 Sleeping on the BusSargon Boulus 362 News About No OneChenjerai Hove 363 You Will Forget 7 Living in hopeJohn Hewitt 366 from FreeholdPatrick Kavanagh 368 EpicPatrick Kavanagh 369 ShancoduffLiam Ó Muirthile 369 The ParlourIkkyu 370 My real dwellingAdélia Prado 371 DenouementJames Merrill 372 The Broken HomeKo Un 375 Back HomeKo Un 375 HometownRichard Hugo 376 Degrees of Gray in PhilipsburgPaul Batchelor 377 ConurbationOlav H. Hauge 378 Leaf-Huts and Snow-HousesGeorge Oppen 379 StreetLouis Simpson 379 An American ClassicJimmy Santiago Baca 380 from Poem VIDennis O’Driscoll 382 Them and YouJohn Ormond 383 Cathedral BuildersGeoff Page 384 GritAli Cobby Eckermann 385 Intervention Pay DayHarry Martinson 389 Cable-shipMartín Espada 389 Imagine the Angels of BreadNick Makoha 391 BeatitudeDunya Mikhail 392 I Was in a HurryNadia Anjuman 393 The SilencedNora Nadjarian 393 Mother TonguePartaw Naderi 394 My VoicePartaw Naderi 394 The MirrorAnne Stevenson 395 It looks so simple from a distance…Henrik Norbrandt 395 LocalStanisłav Baranczak 396 A Second NatureCarol Ann Duffy 397 ForeignFarzaneh Khojandi 397 Must EscapeMohja Kahf 398 Hijab Scene #7Karen Press 399 Application for NaturalisationImtiaz Dharker 400 Front doorJames Berry 401 Englan VoiceJean ‘Binta’ Breeze 402 from The arrival of BrighteyeGrace Nichols 404 Wherever I HangDaljit Nagra 405 Look We Have Coming to Dover!John Agard 406 Half-casteMoniza Alvi 407 Half-and-HalfGustavo Pérez Firmat 408 Bilingual BluesLinda Hogan 409 The Truth IsKatia Kapovich 410 Painting a RoomPhilip Levine 411 The MercySeamus Heaney 412 MiracleHans Magnus Enzensberger 413 Optimistic Little PoemIvan V. Lalic 413 The Spaces of HopeLisel Mueller 414 HopeEdith Södergran 415 HopeImtiaz Dharker 415 Living SpaceRuth Bidgood 416 Little of DistinctionPablo Neruda 417 EmergingBrendan Kennelly 418 YesAdrian Mitchell 419 YesJames Wright 419 Yes, ButLangston Hughes 420 Dreams 8 Body and soulHenri Cole 422 Ape House, Berlin ZooStephen Dunn 423 With No Experience in Such MattersLars Gustafsson 424 Elegy for a Dead LabradorOktay Rifat 426 Looking at the InvisibleStephen Dunn 426 From UnderneathRoderick Ford 428 GiuseppeVicki Feaver 429 The GunChase Twichell 430 City AnimalsRobert Lowell 432 Skunk HourElizabeth Bishop 433 The ArmadilloBrigit Pegeen Kelly 434 SongPhilip Larkin 436 The MowerJudith Beveridge 437 The Caterpillars Ruth Stone 438 Another FeelingLarry Levis 438 The Oldest Living Thing in LAThomas Lux 439 Tarantulas on the LifebuoyEugenio Montale 440 The EelLes Murray 441 The Cows on Killing DayGottfried Benn 443 Little AsterDavid Huerta 443 Poem by Gottfried BennC.P. Cavafy 444 Body, Remember…Osip Mandelstam 444 ‘A body is given to me…’Eleanor Ross Taylor 445 Disappearing ActPadraic Fallon 446 BodyA.K. Ramanujan 446 A Hindu to His BodySarah Holland-Batt 447 Pocket MirrorJohn Updike 448 MirrorSonnet L’Abbé 448 Theory My Natural Brown AssSarah Holland-Batt 449 The Idea of MountainBrendan Kennelly 450 Proof Wisława Szymborska 451 View with a Grain of SandR.S. Thomas 452 The Bright FieldMark Strand 453 Keeping Things WholeAlex Skovron 453 AlmostAlastair Reid 454 Oddments, inklings, omens, momentsPedro Serrano 455 FeetA.D. Hope 455 The GatewayWilliam Stafford 456 The GiftKerry Hardie 457 FleshJulia Hartwig 457 Toward the EndC.P. Cavafy 458 The God Abandons AntonyJane Hirshfield 459 TreeHarry Clifton 459 The GardenOlga Broumas 460 Sweeping the GardenJohn Burnside 461 from Of Gravity and lightMichael Laskey 462 NobodyKenji Miyazawa 462 Strong in the RainArundhathi Subramaniam 463 PrayerDana Gioia 464 Prayer 9 More to loveKim Addonizio 466 You Don’t Know What Love IsKim Addonizio 466 Like ThatJericho Brown 467 Track 1: Lush LifeEdwin Morgan 468 StrawberriesArda Collins 469 LowDorianne Laux 470 The Shipfitter’s WifeW.R. Rodgers 470 The NetThom Gunn 471 Tamer and HawkEliza Griswold 472 TigersTony Hoagland 473 Romantic MomentFaiz Ahmed Faiz 474 Before You CameNorman MacCaig 474 True Ways of KnowingE.E. Cummings 475 i carry your heart with meDana Gioia 476 The Song (after Rilke)W.B. Yeats 476 He Wishes for the Cloths of HeavenLangston Hughes 477 The Dream KeeperMichael Donaghy 477 The Present Sharon Olds 478 This HourGarrison Keillor 479 SupperSinéad Morrissey 479 & Forgive Us Our TrespassesMaram al-Massri 480 from A Red Cherry on a White-tiled FloorNorman MacCaig 482 Sounds of the dayPablo Neruda 483 ‘If I die…’Annabelle Despard 483 Should You Die FirstGrace Paley 484 Anti-Love PoemEavan Boland 485 LoveHerman de Coninck 485 For Each OtherLorraine Mariner 486 Say I forgotAlan Dugan 486 Love Song: I and ThouMichael Blumenthal 487 A MarriageAnna Swir 488 Thank You, My Fate 489 Acknowledgements496 Index of writers503 Index of titles and first lines