# Reading > Poems, Poets, and Poetry >  Help Me Find This Poem

## yonderhither

Hi all,

I'm looking for a certain poem, hoping someone knows exactly what I'm talking about. I have very little info, but hey, it's worth a shot.

It is a love poem, by a female, I believe Native American, she has one of those compound word last names. (windfeather or something) I also believe that I had seen this poem in a book of hers. The poem is in first person, she is telling her lover what she wants from him, what she wants from a lover in general. It is very profound, it made me cry, and would be a gift to anyone with eyes. I must find it again. Any help would be appreciated.

Rachel

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## den

:Biggrin:  Can't help you with the poem, but I'd like to know, who's head are you trying to crush? :P

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## yonderhither

I might have found a lead. The authors name could be Roberta Whiteman.

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## ihrocks

There is a Native American poet named Roberta Hill Whiteman. Her most popular book is entitled "Star Quilt." If you can find that, you'll probably find your poem.

ihrocks

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## yonderhither

well, i checked in "star quilt" and "philidelphia flowers" and the poem is nowhere to be found. thanx anyway. and keep your eye out.

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## jimin

I have a number of possibilities for you
A list of (the following which is simply copied for you [which i am hoping is ok], but with links not just "read more" in text. 

A) 19 poets
1. Kate Northrop
2. James A. Emanuel
3. Evie Shockley
4. Mark Strand
5. Wallace Stevens
6. Louis MacNeice
7. Joyce Sutphen
8. Thom Gunn
9. Constantine P. Cavafy
10. Margaret Atwood
11. Elise Paschen
12. Dante Alighieri
13. Ben Jonson
14. Adrienne Rich
15. Ted Hughes
16. Dame Edith Sitwell
17. Hart Crane
18. Robert William Service
19. Katherine Anne Porter

& B) 25 poems

1. The Dark House - written by Siegfried Sassoon

Dusk in the rain-soaked garden, 
And dark the house within. 
A door creaked: someone was early 
To watch the dawn begin. 
But he stole away like a thief 
In the chilly, star-bright air: 
Though the house was shuttered for slumber, 
He had... (Read full poem)

2. Perished - written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I called to the summer sun, 
Come over the hills to-day! 
Unlock the rivers, and tell them to run, 
And kiss the snow-drifts and melt them away.
And the sun came over  a tardy lover 
And unlocked the river, and told it to glide, 
And... (Read full poem)

3. The Old Man Dreams - written by Oliver Wendell Holmes

OH for one hour of youthful joy!
Give back my twentieth spring!
I'd rather laugh, a bright-haired boy,
Than reign, a gray-beard king.

Off with the spoils of wrinkled age!
Away with Learning's crown!
Tear out life's Wisdom-written... (Read full poem)

4. When a Lover is a Beggar - written by Emily Dickinson
From Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Published in 1955. 

When a Lover is a Beggar
Abject is his Knee --
When a Lover is an Owner
Different is he --

What he begged is then the Beggar --
Oh disparity --
Bread of Heaven resents bestowal
Like an obloquy --(Read full poem)

5. 534. SongFragmentWhy tell the lover - written by Robert Burns
From Poems and Songs. The Harvard Classics. 190914.. Published in 1795. 

WHY, why tell thy lover
Bliss he never must enjoy?
Why, why undeceive him,
And give all his hopes the lie?
O why, while fancy, rapturd slumbers,
Chloris, Chloris all the theme,
Why, why wouldst thou, cruel... (Read full poem)

6. If You Lose Your Lover - written by Judy Grahn
From Work of a Common Woman. Published in 1977. 

If you lose your lover
rain hurt you. blackbirds
brood over the sky trees
burn down everywhere brown
rabbits run under
car wheels. should your
body cry? to feel such
blue and empty bed dont
bother. if you lose your
lover comb hair go here
or there... (Read full poem)

7. Tranquillity - written by Robert William Service
From Songs of a Sun-Lover. 

This morning on my pensive walk
I saw a fisher on a rock,
Who watched his ruby float careen
In waters bluely crystalline,
While silver fishes nosed his bait,
Yet hesitated ere they ate.

Nearby I saw a mother mid
Who knitted by her naked child,
And... (Read full poem)

8. Finality - written by Robert William Service
From Songs of a Sun-Lover.

When I am dead I will not care
How future generations fare,
For I will be so unaware.

Though fields their slain has carpeted,
And seas be salt with tears they shed,
Not one I'll waste, for I'll be dead.

Though atom bombs in ashes lay
Their skyey... (Read full poem)

9. Dynamiter - written by Carl Sandburg
From Chicago Poems. Published in 1912. 

I SAT with a dynamiter at supper in a German saloon
eating steak and onions.
And he laughed and told stories of his wife and children
and the cause of labor and the working class.
It was laughter of an unshakable man knowing life to be
a rich and... (Read full poem)

10. In a Back Alley - written by Carl Sandburg
From Chicago Poems. Published in 1912.

REMEMBRANCE for a great man is this.
The newsies are pitching pennies.
And on the copper disk is the man's face.
Dead lover of boys, what do you ask for now?(Read full poem)

11. I saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing. - written by Walt Whitman
From Leaves of Grass. Published in 1900. Read 2761 times on American Poems. 

I SAW in Louisiana a live-oak growing, 
All alone stood it, and the moss hung down from the branches; 
Without any companion it grew there, uttering joyous leaves of dark green, 
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself; 
But I... (Read full poem)

12. I'm Your Man - written by Leonard Cohen

If you want a lover 
I'll do anything you ask me to 
And if you want another kind of love 
I'll wear a mask for you 
If you want a partner 
Take my hand 
Or if you want to strike me down in anger 
Here I stand 
I'm your man 
If you want a boxer 
I... (Read full poem)

13. The Paradox - written by John Donne

No Lover saith, I love, nor any other
Can judge a perfect Lover;
Hee thinkes that else none can, nor will agree
That any loves but hee;
I cannot say I'lov'd. for who can say
Hee was kill'd yesterday?
Lover withh excesse of heat, more yong than... (Read full poem)

14. The Silent Lover i - written by Sir Walter Raleigh

PASSIONS are liken'd best to floods and streams: 
The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb; 
So, when affection yields discourse, it seems 
The bottom is but shallow whence they come. 
They that are rich in words, in words discover 
That... (Read full poem)

15. Village Virtue - written by Robert William Service
From Songs of a Sun-Lover. 

Jenny was my first sweetheart;
Poor lass! she was none too smart.
Though I swore she'd never rue it,
She would never let me do it.
When I tried she mad a fuss,
So damn pure and virtuous.
Girls should cozen all they can,
Use their wiles to get their... (Read full poem)

16. Ballade of a Great Weariness - written by Dorothy Parker
From Enough Rope. Published in 1926. 

There's little to have but the things I had,
There's little to bear but the things I bore.
There's nothing to carry and naught to add,
And glory to Heaven, I paid the score.

There's little to do but I did before,
There's little to learn but the... (Read full poem)

17. Troth with the Dead - written by D.H. Lawrence

The moon is broken in twain, and half a moon
Before me lies on the still, pale floor of the sky; 
The other half of the broken coin of troth 
Is buried away in the dark, where the still dead lie. 
They buried her half in the grave when they laid... (Read full poem)

18. Death In The Lounge Bar - written by Vernon Scannell

The bar he went inside was not 
A place he often visited; 
He welcomed anonymity; 
No one to switch inquisitive 
Receivers on, no one could see, 
Or wanted to, exactly what 
He was, or had been, or would be; 
A quiet brown place, a place to drink... (Read full poem)

19. Her Vision In The Wood - written by William Butler Yeats
From The Winding Stair and Other Poems. Published in 1933. 

Dry timber under that rich foliage,
At wine-dark midnight in the sacred wood,
Too old for a man's love I stood in rage
Imagining men. Imagining that I could
A greater with a lesser pang assuage
Or but to find if withered vein ran blood,
I tore my... (Read full poem)

20. Among Those Killed In The Dawn Raid Was A Man Aged A Hundred - written by Dylan Thomas

When the morning was waking over the war
He put on his clothes and stepped out and he died,
The locks yawned loose and a blast blew them wide,
He dropped where he loved on the burst pavement stone
And the funeral grains of the slaughtered... (Read full poem)

21. Fable - written by Dorothy Parker
From Sunset Gun. Published in 1928. 

Oh, there once was a lady, and so I've been told,
Whose lover grew weary, whose lover grew cold.
"My child," he remarked, "though our episode ends,
In the manner of men, I suggest we be friends."
And the truest of friends ever after they were-
Oh,... (Read full poem)

22. Recorders Ages Hence. - written by Walt Whitman
From Leaves of Grass. Published in 1900. 

RECORDERS ages hence! 
Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exteriorI will tell you what to
say
of
me; 
Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover, 
The friend, the lovers portrait, of... (Read full poem)

23. My Lover Asks Me - written by Nizar Qabbani

My lover asks me:
"What is the difference between me and the sky?"
The difference, my love,
Is that when you laugh,
I forget about the sky.(Read full poem)

24. Saturday Morning - written by Hugo Williams
From Dock Leaves. Published in 1994. 

Everyone who made love the night before 
was walking around with flashing red lights 
on top of their heads-a white-haired old gentlemen, 
a red-faced schoolboy, a pregnant woman 
who smiled at me from across the street 
and gave a little secret... (Read full poem)

25. Dorothy Q. - written by Oliver Wendell Holmes

GRANDMOTHER's mother: her age, I guess,
Thirteen summers, or something less;
Girlish bust, but womanly air;
Smooth, square forehead with uprolled hair;
Lips that lover has never kissed;
Taper fingers and slender wrist;
Hanging sleeves of... (Read full poem)

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## GrayFoxDown

> Hi all,
> 
> I'm looking for a certain poem, hoping someone knows exactly what I'm talking about. I have very little info, but hey, it's worth a shot.
> 
> It is a love poem, by a female, I believe Native American, she has one of those compound word last names. (windfeather or something) I also believe that I had seen this poem in a book of hers. The poem is in first person, she is telling her lover what she wants from him, what she wants from a lover in general. It is very profound, it made me cry, and would be a gift to anyone with eyes. I must find it again. Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Rachel


 

I don't know the poem, but I think the poet you're looking for is Leslie Marmon Silko...if anything, the First Person style you describe (and based on the few works I read of hers) sounds like Silko. I hope I've helped you.

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## Artygurl

Could it be "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer?

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## HuggyKat

Re: "I'm looking for a certain poem, hoping someone knows exactly what I'm talking about. I have very little info, but hey, it's worth a shot."

The Invitation - by Oriah Mountain Dreamer 

If you are still searching for this elusive poem, and as "Artygurl" suggested, I think this may be what you're looking for. A wonderful catalog called Traditions used to sell copies (some autographed) of this book. 

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. 

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. 

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. 

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. 

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. 

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. 

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" 

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. 

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. 

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. 

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

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## HuggyKat

I know this is very late, and that you probably have already checked this poem out - I just stumbled onto this site and I think it's fabulous. When reading your question, this is the very piece of work that came to my mind and I had the very same reaction to it that you did. Anyway, Happy New Year!

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