Contents

1. Dedication
3. I. Selected Poems (1976–2012)
   1. Slow Dance
   2. Iris
   3. Dolls
   4. Gin
   5. Hush
   6. The Shore
   7. Blue Waves
   8. The Avenues
   9. Guitar
   10. Elegy
   11. The Boathouse
   12. Hotel Sierra
   13. Song Without Forgiveness
   14. Until the Sea Is Dead
   15. A Hard & Noble Patience
   16. The Day of the Sentry
   17. Desire
   18. The Reef
   19. Woman & Leopard
   20. Shadow
   21. Meridian
   22. The Swan at Sheffield Park
   23. The Man in the Yellow Gloves
   24. Leap of Faith
   25. Terraces of Rain
   26. Last Night with Rafaella
   27. I Know
   28. Lucifer in Starlight
   29. Merlin
   30. The Figure You
   31. Night
   32. Rhapsody
   33. Chevalier d’Or
   34. Stories
   35. Red Wheat: Montana
   36. Beeches
   37. The Park
   38. The Red Leaves of Night
   39. The Aurora of the New Mind
   40. Gypsy Davy’s Flute of Rain
   41. The Aurora of the Lost Dulcimer
   42. Late Oracle Sonnet
   43. In the High Country
   44. From a Bridge
   45. Without Mercy, the Rains Continued
   46. Hungry Ghost
   47. Creque Alley
   48. Reckless Wing
   49. The Empty Frame
   50. The Auroras
4. II. The Way It Is (New Poems)
   1. Where He Came Down
   2. Hot Night in Akron
   3. The Way It Is
   4. When My Baby Rocks the Funk
   5. The One Who Should Write My Elegy Is Dead
   6. Vineyard
   7. Lucky
   8. Generation
   9. The Last Troubadour
   10. Alexandr Blok
   11. To a Story
   12. My Life as Sandoz Mescaline
   13. Evangeline & Her Sisters
   14. An Ecclesiastical Sketchbook
   15. Above Sunset
   16. Backstreets
   17. Equivalents
   18. Aperture
   19. Emanations
   20. The Darkroom
   21. The Stones of Venice
   22. Silver & Black
   23. Pasternak & the Snowy Heron
   24. In Bangkok
   25. Little Sur
   26. To Those Who Have Asked Anna
   27. Damian’s Tale
   28. The Old Wave
   29. The Black Jaguar
   30. Script for the Lost Reflection
5. Acknowledgments
6. Notes
7. About the Author
8. Also by David St. John
9. Credits
10. Copyright
11. About the Publisher