City Keeps: Selected and New Poems 1966-2014

John Godfrey was born in Massena, N.Y. in 1945. He received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1967, and took a B.S. in Nursing from Columbia University in 1994. He has received fellowships from the General Electric Foundation (1984), the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2009), and the Z Foundation (2013). He retired in 2011 after 17 years as a nurse clinician in HIV/AIDS. He has lived in the East Village of Manhattan since the 1960s.

• from 26 Poems (Adventures in Poetry, 1971)TouchSonnetPoemSonnetRain WasteFirst TasteMonthThe WorksLittle SisterOur KneesPoemfrom 3 Poems (Bouwerie Editions, 1973)Love KnifeRadiant DogGray Blazing Pitfrom Music of the Curbs (Adventures in Poetry, 1976)EquinoxAtlasThe Music of the CurbsMorning StarCome AprilIdiotsLove PeonLa GloireSaint AugustinePeachesfrom Dabble (Full Court Press, 1982)Schnapps SonataDabbleMirrors at NightPoemBy Antique VoguesUnholy SpringDouble SonnetVenusPassive AspicOur LadyFor YouWingsEight-AughtDe Sica?Astral Roulettefrom Where the Weather Suits My Clothes (Z Press, 1984)Yankee GreenAltoCorpus OrationThe Eastern DesertMy Mother, LifeBridge of SandReveilleLook, YouLachrymal HumiditiesSo Let’s Look at It Another WayWhere the Weather Suits My Clothesfrom Midnight on Your Left (The Figures, 1988)PatriaIn Front of a Large Number of PeopleFurI Don’t Believe in MiraclesLate ShowMidnight On Your LeftFamily JewelsSavory ArrivalsPeon #117Johnny Nash, Meet Johnny “G”Bloody DewlapsJaywalkEndlesslyPactIn the ChamberThe City Keepsfrom Push the Mule (The Figures, 2001)The TicketThe Dream You ThrewAt the Level of HeartWaited ForManger Lined with FurKinds of SmokeIn Her Own HandGrasp Is ProvideThe James BrotherPouring GulfTo Keep Saliva WarmUnless You Tarryfrom Private Lemonade (Adventures in Poetry, 2003)Everything BeautifulShadow Feet DisbeliefPrivate LemonadeThat Place AnymoreRockin’BleachAnywhereDowny SkinThe Beautiful OneFront SeatKnowhowPool CakeItCan’t SayProtectionDim, DudDream MarbleFlakesFood of OthersParadeSlopeWholeHeavy BuildingOverlooked NomadsWavyfrom City of Corners (Wave Books, 2008)Waiting ThereComes with GaloreAll the HairStarlingConvenienceBeat ItSilhouetteStraining to HearFloss at the BarbecueLoopsNearly PerfectNewcomersThe One Who TurnsAny Country on EarthRealmRemedyGet HelpThe SignsOne Percentfrom Singles and Fives (Fewer & Further Press, 2011)Your IslandWhere ElseToken FauxGetting ToughCan You TellTell the AngelsAt Second Glancefrom Tiny Gold Dress (Lunar Chandelier Press, 2012)Tiny Gold DressBlack LapelDispelling FaceDespite MurderTo You For ByThe UrgeOn TurbulenceLip ReadSo RealRain, BoyMany DuetsCorrect the AirBetrays NothingWho’s Leftfrom Gold Stars Wet Hearts (Faux Press, 2014)In Form of SeashellDoublesHeadlight TagThe TitleGold Stars Wet HeartsGot a MillionAssemble the ColorsA Hundred Feetfrom Knee-length Black (Free Poetry: Boise State University, 2015)After QuiddityRed TideWhich Next MinuteBox SetKnee-length BlackUmbrella and EyesUncollected Poems Trip WireOne HandEvidenceFa-fa-faLoad of IceMissing Planet

Godfrey remains open to the minute particularities and imaginative wanderings of everyday life--the multitude of wayward thoughts, musings and associations, the erogenous zone of thinking and looking. --John Yau, Hyperallergic His syntax, at once lightning fast and completely casual (like Patriots receiver Randy Moss), runs slant patterns across convention. He incorporates vernacular, he blows fuses on cliches, and he scalpels away bookkeeping words (as Pound called them) to jump-cut high energy, emotive phrasings. --Forrest Gander, Harriet (The Poetry Foundation) For my money, there's no one writing better. I give away most of my books, but I won't give this away. --Alex Katz, in an interview by Amy Summerland, Boston Globe Godfrey hands us great gifts of richly unpredictable language, "the power and felicity of pronouns," an ever alert eye and ear, and a particular human life: these are made manifest and shared with elegance, integrity, and a seriousness always kept from descending to the obvious or solemn by the poet's tough and compassionate humor. --Anselm Hollo His genius rings true. --Peter Gizzi The combination of his gorgeous sentimentality and irresistible philosophical hauteur is like a cross between Latin music and Schopenhauer--simultaneously drawing us closer and further away--with a strong American conversational tone holding it together. --Ron Padgett