Wears her nightgown to Saint Pat’s parade,
it is black, she is beautiful,
standing up for lunacy, unafraid.
Irishmen dance, jigs and hip hop.
Her eyes are as red as her heart,
thick with midnight blood,
fixed on imaginary stars,
full of history and lies.
Beer flows like an angry river,
to her knees, to her hips;
she swims from bar to bar,
singing at the top of her lungs.
She gets so mad—she starts to cry,
slowly crumbling to pieces;
steals a hat from a drunken pianist,
and paddles home to bed.
isbn 1-59661-103-0
75 pages/$9
Sometimes flowers bloom in unforgiving soils, and when such miracles happen, it is our duty to pay attention. In this collection, one of America’s finest incarcerated writers displays a writing talent that is rarely found anywhere. Using wry humor and eloquent wordcraft, Saint James Wood writes unforgettable poetry under conditions in which most of us would not be able to write at all.
—Roderick Clark
Editor/Publisher, ROSEBUD MAGAZINE
As robbers go, Saint James Harris Wood is probably the best poet since François Villon (1431–?). His poems resemble Villon’s—funny, humane, and contemptuous of hypocrisy.
—John Wakeman
Editor, The SHOp: a magazine of poetry
Saint James is a funny guy.
—Elmore Leonard
The Moon Again, What Are My Eyes Like? (she asked), and A List of Unknown Reasons first appeared in Takahe
My Dark Irish Dream, Grasslimb
Breathing in the Universe, Chapman
Trapped in her Mouth, Throwing a Quiet Fit (Waiting to be noticed), My System of Record Keeping (less than state of the art), The Nightclub Singer (In the Mad Part of Town), Lines of Barbed Wire, Double Damned (inner dialogue after arrest in a night club), The Last Step, The SHOp
The Illusion of Understanding (1 Mathematician in 2 Bodies), LiNQ
One Single Breath, The Sun
The Restraining (Disorder), On Spec
Narcotic Theory (of Sexual Relativity), Confrontation
Wake Down, Planet
The Lost Subway Home, Van Gogh’s Ear
Not Hell (…but), Tears in the Fence
Physics be Damned, Dreams and Nightmares
Note Found in the Desert, Space and Time
Torturing the Young Primitives, Stinging Fly
My Prison, Rosebud
The Moon Again × 1
My Dark Irish Dream × 2
Breathing in the Universe × 3
Rehabilitation by Ordeal × 4
Trapped in Her Mouth × 5
The Illusion of Understanding × 6
One Single Breath × 8
The Restraining × 9
Why I Left × 11
Narcotic Theory × 13
Wake Down × 15
The Lost Subway Home × 16
Throwing a Quiet Fit × 18
My System of Record Keeping × 21
The Sky Is Mine × 23
The Troublesome Book Report × 24
To Be Gone × 26
A List of Unknown Reasons × 27
She Believed Me Mad × 30
The Moon, the Stars, the Sun × 31
The Chihuahua Who Ruined My Love Life × 32
The Nightclub Singer × 35
Lines of Barbed Wire × 37
Double Damned × 39
Blackout on Melrose × 41
It Was Midnight × 49
Not Hell × 53
Two Sad Girls × 54
Physics Be Damned × 57
The Last Step × 58
What Are My Eyes Like? × 59
Note Found in the Desert × 60
Torturing the Young Primitives × 61
The State’s Position × 66
Trapped in a Foolish Infinity × 67
In Mind × 69
My Prison × 70
She Runs × 71
Lower Me Down × 73