More Opening Lines (H-N)

With the first line the poem begins to speak and sets its course. Here are a few of RBP's favorites.


Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.

Ignatow

When I die choose a star
and name it after me

LR Jackson

Across a continent imaginary
Because it cannot be discovered now

Kinnell

I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries

Larkin

When I see a couple of kids
And guess he's fucking her and she's

Merwin

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me

Neruda

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,


(to be continued)


TS