The Alphabet of Desire

117 Pages·2016·0.5 MB·English

by  Hamby Barbara

A
LPHABET
THE OF
D
ESIRE
New York University Press
gratefully acknowledges the support of
Madeline and Kevin Brine
in making these awards possible.
New York University Press Prizes for Fiction and Poetry
The New York University Press Prizes for Fiction and Poetry acknowledge fine
works of literature and poetry by writers whose work,though often already a
known quantity,remains unrecognized relative to the quality and ambition of
their writing.
Past winners ofthe awards are:
Indentation and Other Stories Sing,Sing,Sing
Joe Schall Bruce Murphy
(fiction) (poetry)
Living with Strangers Wild Brides
Robert Schirmer Laura Kasischke
(fiction) (poetry)
Let the Dog Drive Like Memory,Caverns
David Bowman Elizabeth Dodd
(fiction) (poetry)
The Lost and Found and Man Living on a Side Creek and
Other Stories Other Poems
Anne Marsella Stephan Torre
(fiction) (poetry)
Cannibal Human Nature
Terese Svoboda Alice Anderson
(fiction) (poetry)
Bird SelfAccumulated Crazy Water: Six Fictions Rodent Angel
Don Judson Lori Baker Debra Weinstein
(fiction) (short stories) (poetry)
Bye-Bye Flying Out with the Wounded
Jane Ransom Anne Caston
(fiction) (poetry)
The Ruins Long Like a River
Trace Farrell Nancy Schoenberger
(fiction) (poetry)
In1998 the jurors selected The Marvelous Adventures ofPierre Baptiste,Father
and Mother,First and LastbyPatricia Eakins and Barbara Hamby’s collection
ofpoems,The Alphabet ofDesire.

A
LPHABET
THE OF
D
ESIRE
B H
arbara amby
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
© 1999 by Barbara Hamby
All rights reserved
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hamby,Barbara.
The alphabet ofdesire / Barbara Hamby.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-8147-3597-5 (alk.paper)
ISBN 0-8147-3598-3 (pbk.:alk.paper)
I.Title.
PS3558.A4216 A79 1999
811'.54—ddc21 98-58063
CIP
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my mother and father

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
I.
The Word 3
Millennium Rave 5
Blood 7
The Ex-Goddess Speaks 9
The Hunter 11
The Chicken-Wire Girls 12
With Sonya 15
Beriberi 18
Mr.Pillow 20
Paper 22
Cut 23
Hey,Udine! 25
Thinking ofGalileo 27
The Dream ofthe Red Drink 29
II.The Alphabet ofDesire
Achtung,My Princess,Good Night 35
Beelzebub on the Prowl 36
Cruelty 38
Dad,Dave,Deluge,Death 39
Elliot and I Discuss Eliot via Macbeth 40
Footbinding as a Way ofLife 41
Gospel 42
Hatred 43
Irony Waltz 44
Jane Austen Jambalaya 45
Kamehameha Drive-in,25 Years Later 48
• ix