• Introduction xi

One
Posthumous 3

Two
What Becomes a Legend Most: Borne 6
Men 7
For a Sparrow-Limbed Woman 8
Emersonian 9
What Bcomes a Legend Most: Curriculum Vitae 10
Dry Magic 11
Colored 12
Exhaust 13
Much is Required 14
A Brief History of Loss 15
Cassandra Complex 16
Elegy for My Father 17
Epyllion 18
What Becomes a Legend Most: Election 19
Thirsty Season of Waiting 20
Our Merit Is in the Value of That Which We Put at Hazard 21

Three
In the Country of Mothers 24
Appendage 25
The Aunts Speak of Restraint 26
A Boy 27
Correspondences 28
The Bed Shared. The Pillow Not 29
The Talking Cure 30
To the Mother from a Distance of Some Years 31
Transatlantic 32
My Sweet Carolina 33
The Surviving Sisters Consider 34
Neighbors 35
Next and Last Stop 36
Houston 37
Almost August 38
In Truth 39
The Theme of Effort Persists 40
What Mastery Lies in Leaving 41
Numinous 42
Few Are Chosen 43
Metaphor 44
In the Afterlife 45
Against Magic 46
Vibrations in the Ground 47
Apprentice 48
Back out of All This New Too Much for Us 49
In a Manner Much Like Forgetting 50

Four
Last Night in Texas 52
Retrograde 53
Time and Ruination 54
This Mortal Coil 55
What Becomes a Legend Most: Alternatives 56
Assault on a Fixed Position 57
The Natural World Defined 58
Legacy 59
The Safety of Objects 60
Understudy 61
Detente 62
Father After Long Silence 63
Budapest 64
Hope Is a Strong Man's Illusion 65
Anymore. Just Now. Ever. 66
Memory of an Isolated Location 67
House as Body 68
The Divisible Heart 69