Bucolics（ISBN=9780156034753）

　　Manning celebrates the virtues of nature and finds deep gratitude for the mysterious hand that created it all. (Deseret Morning News )

　　Untitled and unpunctuated, the seventy poems in this acclaimed collection seem to cascade from one page to another. Maurice Manning extolls the virtues of nature and its many gifts, and finds deep gratitude for the mysterious hand that created it all. that bare branch that branch made black by the rain the silver raindrop hanging from the black branch Boss I like that black branch I like that shiny raindrop Boss tell me if I'm wrong but it makes me think you're looking right at me now isn't that a lark for me to think you look that way upside down like a tree frog Boss I'm not surprised at all I wouldn't doubt it for a minute you're always up to something I'll say one thing you're all right all right you are even when you're hanging Boss

　　MAURICE MANNING's poems have appeared in the Southern Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, and the New Yorker, and his first collection of poems was awarded the Yale Younger Poets Award. He teaches English at Indiana University. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and Danville, Kentucky.

boss of the grassy green
did you ever have a nickname Boss
the night is trotting toward me Boss
what color is your collar Boss
you're the hay maker Boss
do you get happy Boss do you
do you have a table
0 Boss sometimes you take it all
are you ever sorry Boss ever
you spread the nighttime Boss
I told that old dog he
why Boss why do the days ariftby
are you ever in my chest Boss
if you had a feed sack Boss what
how big is your hand Boss hold it up
the light inside the shadow how
I like the weaving bees I like
there was a fox Boss in my dream
you swirl the dirt like nobody's business
I've got butterflies Boss
you make it all seem easy Boss
yes I've tried to hide my face
did you pull yourself up by your bootstraps Boss
rm sure you've got a sweet spot
I guess you've got a lot
you toss the stars like dover seed
that bare branch that branch made black
the two of us we're cut
boss of the blue sky boss
you move in every direction
did you teach the woodpecker how
the birds the bugs even the trees Boss
when you push the douds
 so close together Boss
the river looks so level Boss
is that you Boss is that
of course I like the sun
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