The Powers of Heaven and Earth

John Frederick Nims (1913-1999) was the author of eight collections of poetry, Long affiliated with the magazine Poetry, he was its editor from 1978 to 1984, and he taught at many distinguished universities and workshops in America and abroad. Among the numerous honors he received for his work are the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the Aiken-Taylor Award, the O.B. Hardison Award, and the Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize

New Poems
The Mouse	p. 3
The Powers of Heaven and Earth	p. 4
Julianne-julienne	p. 8
Pascal on Ultrasound	p. 9
Celebrating a Birthday	p. 10
Love's Progress	p. 11
The Opera	p. 12
The Silence	p. 13
Love and Other Wonders	p. 14
Till News of You	p. 16
A Memory of Places	p. 17
Time's Arrow	p. 18
Worth in the World	p. 19
The Seizure	p. 20
Rilke Surmised	p. 21
Strange!	p. 22
Explicating "The Necromancers"	p. 23
The Only Text	p. 25
Impervious	p. 26
Timepiece	p. 27
The Day Our Dog Died	p. 28
Love's Bittersweet	p. 28
The Beautiful Atheist	p. 29
Scientist's Morning Prayer	p. 30
Porno People	p. 30
Cosi	p. 31
Moses Descending	p. 32
Three Simple Sonnets
The Bathrobe	p. 33
As in a Play by Dekker	p. 33
Found Poem: Understanding the Universe	p. 34
Freight	p. 35
Epigrams
Cultural Heritage	p. 39
Tandaradei!	p. 39
Men's Room: The Ritz	p. 39
Trivia	p. 39
"Light" Verse	p. 40
Etymology	p. 40
Cajolery	p. 40
You Pious People	p. 40
New Translations
Horace, Ode I, 4	p. 41
Horace, Ode I, 5	p. 42
Catullus, XVII	p. 43
Catullus, XXV	p. 45
Giacomo Leopardi, "L'Infinito"	p. 46
Goethe, "Die schone Nacht"	p. 47
Rosalia de Castro, "Cando Penso Que Te Fuches ..."	p. 48
from Five Young American Poets, 1944
Dollar Bill	p. 51
Penny Arcade	p. 52
The Genuine Ellis	p. 53
Magazine Stand	p. 55
Madrigal in Wartime	p. 56
Scherzo: Writers' Conference, 1941	p. 57
New Year's Eve	p. 58
Prayer	p. 60
Parting: 1940	p. 61
from The Iron Pastoral, 1947
Love Poem	p. 65
Midwest	p. 66
Christmas Tree	p. 67
Trainwrecked Soldiers	p. 68
Sign of Fever	p. 70
from A Fountain in Kentucky, 1950
The Masque of Blackness	p. 73
The Indolent Day	p. 79
City Dawn	p. 80
The Bright Night of the Soul	p. 81
Watcher Go Deftly	p. 83
First Date	p. 84
Japanese Prints	p. 85
Incident	p. 86
Winter in the Park	p. 87
Vicarage Blues	p. 88
Two Cretan Views	p. 89
Portrait	p. 91
The Child	p. 92
Christmas	p. 93
Adam's Ballad	p. 94
from Knowledge of the Evening, 1960
The Evergreen	p. 97
Dead Child	p. 101
The Young Ionia	p. 102
Decline and Fall	p. 104
The Lover	p. 106
Polonaise	p. 108
Parallax at Djebel-Muta	p. 110
Etruscan Tomb	p. 113
Roman Letter	p. 116
Florence	p. 119
Reflections in Venice	p. 121
A Frieze of Cupids	p. 125
Originated in a Chorus of Satyrs	p. 126
Ancient of Days	p. 127
And a Fortune in Olive Oil	p. 128
Affair at the Fork	p. 129
Calliope to Clio	p. 130
Ishtar	p. 131
A Pretty Device of the Fathers	p. 132
Natione non Moribus	p. 133
The Academy Disporting	p. 134
Isaiah's Coal	p. 136
Last Judgment	p. 137
De Fide	p. 138
Old River Road	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 144
from Of Flesh and Bone, 1967
Few Things to Say	p. 147
Days of Our Years	p. 147
At Dawn	p. 147
Love	p. 147
Parting	p. 148
Contemplation	p. 148
Anacreon's Answer	p. 148
Protestation	p. 149
Epitaph for a Light Lady	p. 149
With Fingering Hand	p. 149
Avant-garde	p. 149
Visiting Poet	p. 150
Transplant	p. 150
View from Moon	p. 150
Philosopher	p. 151
Minotaur	p. 151
Embroidery at Bayeux	p. 151
Sophomore	p. 151
On the One Theme Still	p. 152
Love and Death	p. 152
The Visit	p. 152
Lovers	p. 152
Perfect Rhyme	p. 152
from The Kiss: A Jambalaya, 1982
The Observatory Ode	p. 155
Cardiological	p. 158
Tide Turning	p. 159
Postcard from Minnesota	p. 161
Slapstick I	p. 164
Dawn Song	p. 165
Plaza de Toros	p. 168
The Year, 1520	p. 169
Sonnet Almost Petrarchan	p. 170
Design: A Further Word	p. 171
With a Blonde in a Bar-Booth	p. 172
A Ballad of Kisses and Combs	p. 173
How to Tell the Girls from the Flowers	p. 174
A Scholar Wonders	p. 174
Stewardess Falls from Plane	p. 174
Daughter, Age 4	p. 175
Sally and Alison: Julie And Joan	p. 176
The Madness in Vermont This Fall	p. 179
Love among the Philosophers	p. 180
Spleen	p. 182
A Summer Love	p. 183
Watching the Planes Come in at La Guardia	p. 184
First Date (2)	p. 184
The Origin of Myth	p. 185
Love Song for Outer Space	p. 187
Finisterre	p. 188
from Zany in Denim, 1990
The Consolations of Etymology, with Fanfare	p. 193
The Book of Life	p. 193
As Goethe Said	p. 194
Lunch with Old Flame	p. 195
Ragdale Haiku	p. 195
Crutches and Canes	p. 195
Matthew 5:28	p. 195
Disciples	p. 195
Good Friday	p. 196
Poets and Critics	p. 196
Verse Translator	p. 196
Occasions of Grace at a Poetry Reading	p. 196
from The Six-Cornered Snowflake, 1990
The Six-Cornered Snowflake	p. 199
Gravity	p. 211
The Shape of Leaves	p. 213
Trick or Treat	p. 214
From the Rapido: La Spezia-Genova	p. 215
Water Music	p. 216
Dropping the Names	p. 221
The Wine of Astonishment	p. 223
Hospital Breakfast: With Grace After	p. 228
Elegy	p. 230
Keeping Change	p. 231
Palinode	p. 234
Niagara	p. 236
Closed for Restoration	p. 239
Notes	p. 241
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The Powers of Heaven and Earth

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials