[section 1]. From The apple that astonished Paris (1988) -- Another reason why I don't keep a gun in the house -- Walking across the Atlantic -- Plight of the troubadour -- The lesson -- Winter syntax -- Advice to writers -- The rival poet -- Insomnia -- Earthling -- Books -- Bar time -- My number -- Introduction to poetry -- The Brooklyn Museum of Art -- Schoolsville -- [section 2]. From Questions about angels (1991) -- American sonnet -- Questions about angels -- A history of weather -- The death of allegory -- Forgetfulness -- Candle hat -- Student of clouds -- The dead -- The man in the moon -- The wires of the night -- Vade mecum -- Not touching -- The history teacher -- First reader -- Purity -- Nostalgia -- [section 3]. From The art of drowning (1995) -- Consolation -- Osso Buco -- Directions -- Sunday morning with the sensational nightingales -- The best cigarette -- Days -- Tuesday, June 4, 1991 -- Canada -- On turning ten -- Workshop -- My heart -- Budapest -- Dancing toward Bethlehem -- Monday morning -- Center -- Design -- Pinup -- Piano lessons -- The blues -- Man in space -- Nightclub -- Some final words -- [section 4]. From Picnic, lightning (1998) -- Fishing on the Susquehanna in July -- To a stranger born in some distant country hundreds of years from now -- I chop some parsley while listening to Art Blakey's version of "Three blind mice" -- Afternoon with Irish cows -- Marginalia -- Some days -- Picnic, lightning -- Morning -- Bonsai -- Shoveling snow with Buddha -- Snow -- Japan -- Victoria's secret -- Lines composed over three thousand miles from Tintern Abbey -- Paradelle for Susan -- Lines lost among trees -- Taking off Emily Dickinson's clothes -- The night house -- Splitting wood -- The death of the hat -- Passengers -- Where I live -- Aristotle -- [section 5]. New poems -- Dharma -- Reading an anthology of Chinese poems of the Sung Dynasty, I pause to admire the length and clarity of their titles -- Snow day -- Insomnia -- Madmen -- Sonnet -- Idiomatic -- The waitress -- The butterfly effect -- Serenade -- The three wishes -- Pavilion -- The movies -- Jealousy -- Tomes -- Man listening to disc -- Scotland -- November -- The iron bridge -- The flight of the reader.