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    • May 2013

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Sheets entangle him   

Naked on his bed   

Like a toppled mast   

Slack sails bedeck   

At sea, no ballast   

For that even keel   

He cannot keep—

No steering wheel   

As he falls asleep

Source: Poetry (September 2004).

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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

This poem originally appeared in the September 2004 issue of Poetry magazine

View this poem in its original format

• Edward Hopper Study: Room in New York
  by Victoria Chang
• The OED Defines Red-Hot
  by Simone Muench
• The Stars Are
  by Samuel Menashe

• September 2004 Table of Contents
• Subscribe to Poetry magazine
• About Poetry magazine
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More about this poem

Biography

Samuel Menashe earned acclaim as the creator of numerous compact and precise poems. His first American volume, No Jerusalem But This, was praised by Stephen Spender for "language intense and clear as diamonds." Spender declared that Menashe "can compress an attitude to life that has an immense history into three lines."

To Open, Menashe's 1974 collection, impressed Christian Science Monitor critic Victor Howes with its . . .

Continue reading this biography

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Poems by Samuel Menashe

• Adam Means Earth*
• A pot poured out
• A-
• Apotheosis
• At a Standstill

• More poems by Samuel Menashe (37 poems)
  • At Cross Purposes
  • Autumn
  • Biographer
  • Captain, Captive
  • Commemoration
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Descent
  • Forever and a Day
  • Here
  • Here Now
  • In Your Face
  • Landscape
  • Mirror Image
  • Psalm
  • Rue
  • Ruins
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Scissors
  • Simon Says
  • Small Kingdom
  • So they stood
  • Tempus fugit
  • The Dead of Winter
  • The Living End
  • The Niche
  • The Stars Are
  • The Visitation
  • Triptych
  • Twilight Blues
  • Voyage
  • White hair does not weigh
  • Who

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Poem Categorization

SUBJECT Nature, The Body

POET’S REGION U.S., Mid-Atlantic

Poetic Terms Metaphor

If you disagree with this poem's categorization, make a suggestion.

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Related

Audio

• Poem of the Day: Adam Means Earth
• Poem of the Day: All my friends are homeless
• Poem of the Day: All my life when I woke up at night
• Poem of the Day: The Annunciation
• Poem of the Day: At a Standstill
• Poem of the Day: Curriculum Vitae
• Poem of the Day: Due Soldi di Speranza
• Poem of the Day: Here
• Poem of the Day: Home Movie
• Poem of the Day: November
• Poem of the Day: On My Birthday
• Poem of the Day: The Oracle
• Poem of the Day: Paradise after Giovanni di Paolo
• Poem of the Day: Rue
• Poem of the Day: Salt and Pepper
• Poetry Off the Shelf: Samuel Menashe
• Poem of the Day: Scissors
• Poem of the Day: Self-employed
• Poem of the Day: Sleep
• Poem of the Day: Walking Stick
• Poem of the Day: Warrior Wisdom

Articles

• A Deeper Consideration by Clive James
• “I Did Not Advance, I Cannot Retreat” by Danielle Chapman
• Interview: Samuel Menashe by Adam Travis

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