Red Clay Weather
Red Clay Weather
Reginald Shepherd
Edited and with a foreword by Robert Philen
Series: Pitt Poetry Series
Copyright Date: 2011
Published by: University of Pittsburgh Press
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv
Pages: 104
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zw9sv
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Book Info
Red Clay Weather
Book Description:

"Among other things, Shepherd has always been an elemental poet. His work abounds with the imagery and motifs of water and fire, and while those elements are important here, it is air and earth that are the more dominant elements in this collection. . . .Clay, red clay in particular, recurs several times throughout the collection as a motif of earth. It is the substance of creation, but always of impermanent things, whether heroes or Babylonian statues with feet of clay, or of things durable but fragile, such as the cuneiform tablets of 'A Parking Lot Just Outside the Ruins of Babylon.'"-Robert Philen, from the Foreword

eISBN: 978-0-8229-7830-5
Subjects: Language & Literature
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Table of Contents
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-iv)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.1
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. v-viii)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.2
  3. FOREWORD
    FOREWORD (pp. ix-xiv)
    Robert Philen
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.3

    Reginald Shepherd died September 10, 2008, after a difficult bout with cancer. Before his death, he had carefully selected the poems that make up this collection, so that the individual poems and the selection of poems for this collection were wholly his work. What he did not have time to do before his death was to arrange the sequence of the poems.

    Shepherd was very concerned not only with each individual poem’s being as perfect as possible at doing what it needed or wanted to do but also with the coherence of a poetry collection. This collection, like all his...

  4. I
    • Days like Survival
      Days like Survival (pp. 3-3)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.4
    • By the Entrance to Cordova Mall, I Sat Down and Wept
      By the Entrance to Cordova Mall, I Sat Down and Wept (pp. 4-4)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.5
    • And Therefore I Have Sailed the Seas and Come
      And Therefore I Have Sailed the Seas and Come (pp. 5-5)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.6
    • As If from the Dead
      As If from the Dead (pp. 6-6)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.7
    • Attempted Birdcage Number Three
      Attempted Birdcage Number Three (pp. 7-7)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.8
    • To Be Free
      To Be Free (pp. 8-8)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.9
    • The New Life
      The New Life (pp. 9-9)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.10
    • Direction of Fall
      Direction of Fall (pp. 10-10)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.11
    • My Mother Was No White Dove
      My Mother Was No White Dove (pp. 11-11)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.12
    • E Lucevan le Stelle
      E Lucevan le Stelle (pp. 12-13)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.13
    • Experiment V
      Experiment V (pp. 14-14)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.14
    • In the Badlands
      In the Badlands (pp. 15-15)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.15
    • Water Is a Museum
      Water Is a Museum (pp. 16-17)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.16
    • Doppelganger Music
      Doppelganger Music (pp. 18-19)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.17
    • A Shoulder to the Wheel
      A Shoulder to the Wheel (pp. 20-21)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.18
    • In Bloom
      In Bloom (pp. 22-22)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.19
    • Along with Whatever Has Not Yet Been Named
      Along with Whatever Has Not Yet Been Named (pp. 23-23)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.20
    • To Summon Up a Son
      To Summon Up a Son (pp. 24-24)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.21
    • Given Distance,
      Given Distance, (pp. 25-26)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.22
    • What Nature Doesn’t Show
      What Nature Doesn’t Show (pp. 27-27)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.23
    • Wrote for Luck
      Wrote for Luck (pp. 28-29)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.24
    • My Mother Dated Otis Redding
      My Mother Dated Otis Redding (pp. 30-30)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.25
    • Flying
      Flying (pp. 31-32)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.26

      You think continually of those you truly hate, it keeps you up at night, even with the fan you run to block out the bad-neighborhood noises, the feet walking by that might pause at your apartment door. There are too many people to list, but you try anyway: the kid sitting on the table behind you who kicked you in the back all through social studies class and when you got up and shoved him the teacher kicked you out into the hall; the kid who threw crayons at you in art class while singing an obscene song about your...

    • Falling
      Falling (pp. 33-34)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.27

      You share a bed with your mother in the two-room tenement walkup, because you’re afraid to sleep on the living room sofa on account of the rats. You don’t wet the bed anymore. One evening you were sitting on her lap, maybe she was reading you a story, you always hated being read to, when a huge one ran right past the chair, you thought it was a big dust ball or some kind of indoor tumbleweed. “What’s that, Mommy?” you asked, and she answered, “That’s a rat.” There were more rats than people in that apartment building, or so...

    • Some Dreams He Forgot
      Some Dreams He Forgot (pp. 35-40)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.28

      Dreams in which I realize that I’m not wearing shoes; I’m walking through fields of broken glass or sidewalks of rain, slush, snow with naked feet, stepping carefully so as not to cut myself. My feet get dirty fast, pebbles and dead leaves cling to them. Dreams in which I’m wearing only one shoe. Dreams in which I realize I’ve forgotten my shoes five minutes before my flight and have to go back for them, but I never make it anywhere near home; the airport becomes a labyrinth and I never find my way out of the maze.

      Dreams in...

  5. II
    • Dead Boys Club
      Dead Boys Club (pp. 43-44)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.29
    • My Father by the Sea, Supposedly
      My Father by the Sea, Supposedly (pp. 45-45)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.30
    • A Little Iliad
      A Little Iliad (pp. 46-47)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.31
    • Scraps of an Achilles
      Scraps of an Achilles (pp. 48-48)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.32
    • On Heroes and Hero Worship
      On Heroes and Hero Worship (pp. 49-49)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.33
    • Play Dead
      Play Dead (pp. 50-50)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.34
    • My Immortal
      My Immortal (pp. 51-52)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.35
    • Somewhere Off the Coast of Cyprus
      Somewhere Off the Coast of Cyprus (pp. 53-53)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.36
    • The New Gods
      The New Gods (pp. 54-54)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.37
    • If Orpheus Were Honest with Her
      If Orpheus Were Honest with Her (pp. 55-55)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.38
    • Silent Film, Sound of Glass
      Silent Film, Sound of Glass (pp. 56-56)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.39
    • Modernism
      Modernism (pp. 57-57)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.40
    • And This She Knows
      And This She Knows (pp. 58-59)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.41
    • A Man Named Property
      A Man Named Property (pp. 60-61)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.42
    • Natural Selection
      Natural Selection (pp. 62-62)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.43
    • Once Thought to Have Been Destroyed
      Once Thought to Have Been Destroyed (pp. 63-63)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.44
    • The Shallows
      The Shallows (pp. 64-65)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.45
    • What It Is to Burn
      What It Is to Burn (pp. 66-66)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.46
    • I’ve Known the Garden
      I’ve Known the Garden (pp. 67-67)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.47
    • Next Year in Gomorrah
      Next Year in Gomorrah (pp. 68-70)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.48
    • A Parking Lot Just Outside the Ruins of Babylon
      A Parking Lot Just Outside the Ruins of Babylon (pp. 71-71)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.49
    • Alongside the Desiring Machines
      Alongside the Desiring Machines (pp. 72-72)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.50
    • Approximately Nothing
      Approximately Nothing (pp. 73-73)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.51
    • Kings Go Forth
      Kings Go Forth (pp. 74-74)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.52
    • Seize the Day
      Seize the Day (pp. 75-76)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.53
    • September Songs
      September Songs (pp. 77-78)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.54
    • Song of the Yet-to-Be-Decided
      Song of the Yet-to-Be-Decided (pp. 79-79)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.55
    • Soon
      Soon (pp. 80-80)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.56
    • Narcissus Before the Rain
      Narcissus Before the Rain (pp. 81-81)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.57
    • Lincoln Park Apocrypha
      Lincoln Park Apocrypha (pp. 82-83)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.58
    • “God-With-Us”
      “God-With-Us” (pp. 84-86)
      https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.59
  6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (pp. 87-88)
    https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zw9sv.60