Page 3 of 3 <

Poet's Choice

Not to Be Dwelled On

Discussion Policy

Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

Self-interest cropped up even there,

the day I hoisted three instead of the

two called-for

spades of loam onto

the coffin of my friend.

Why shovel more than anybody else?

What did I think I'd prove? More love

(mud in her eye)? More will to work

(her father what, a shirker?) Christ,

I'd give an arm or leg

to get that spoonful back.

She cannot die again;

and I do nothing but relive.

(Heather McHugh's poems "Not to Be Dwelled On" and "Half Border and Half Lab" can be found in the November 2007 edition of Poetry magazine. "The Size of Spokane" is from "Hinge and Sign." Wesleyan Univ. Copyright 1994 by Heather McHugh.)

< 3

Find More Reviews and Features in Books

War stripped of all its glory

In "The Good Soldiers," Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Finkel faced an unenviable task in writing his on-the-ground account of war in Iraq.

Who do men say that I am?

Though too cursory to work as an intro to the Gospels, Mary Gordon's "Reading Jesus" should appeal to anyone who wants to wrestle with the problems and paradoxes of the New Testament.