SERIES J: CONTENT DESCRIPTION

 

McNair’s poems and essays, and related articles, as they first appeared in serial publications. Inclusive dates: 1970 -- 2007. Note that Series I (College / Teaching Materials) contains student publications with pieces written by McNair in the early 1960s.

 

Click here to read McNair’s recollection about having his first poem accepted for publication. (See end of Attempts To Be A Poet section.)

 

SERIES J: ITEMS IN ROBINSON ROOM, CABINET 9

 

Listing is chronological by publication date. Titles in quotations are poems by McNair. Other titles are articles by or about McNair.

 

"Leaving the Country House to the Landlord" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. X, No. 4, 1970)

 

"Fire in Enfield" (Hearse, No. 16, 1971)

"Don Greenwood's Picture in an Insurance Magazine" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XI, No. 4, 1971)

 

"Thinking About Carnevale's Wife" (Hanging Loose, No. 17, 1972)

"Memory of Kuhre" (Prairie Schooner, Vol. 46, No. 3, 1972)

 

Review of Barry Faulkner: Sketches of an Artist's Life (Historical New Hampshire, Vol. XXIX,  No. 1, 1974)

Animals in American Art: Edward Hicks (Animals, Vol. 107, No. 2, 1974)

 

"Going Back to Fifth Grade" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XV, No. 4, 1975)

 

"The Faces of Americans in 1853" (Prairie Schooner, Vol. 49, No. 4, 1976)

"Rufus Porter" (Discover America: Poems, Vol. II, 1976)

"The Little Louey Comic" (Poetry Now, Vol. III, Nos. 4-6, 1976)

 

“Rufus Porter, Itinerant Muralist and Inventor” (Green House, Vol. I, No. 3, 1977)

 

"For My Father" (Green House, Vol. II, No. 1, 1978)

 

"Memory of North Sutton," "The Man" and "Country People" (The Boston Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 5, 1979)

 

"The Poetic License" (Poetry, Vol. CXXXVI, No. 5, 1980)

 

"Hair on Television" and "The Fat Enter Heaven" (Poetry, Vol. CXXXVIII, No. 3, 1981)

"Trees That Pass Us in Our Cars" (The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 248, No. 3, 1981)

 

"The Longing of the Feet" (The Iowa Review, Vol.13, Nos. 3-4, 1982)

"The Thin Man" (Harvard Magazine, Vol. 84, No. 4, 1982)

"Old Trees,"  "The Fat People of the Old Days" and "Calling Harold" (Ploughshares, Vol. 8,  Nos. 2-3, 1982)

New Hampshire Literature: A Sampler (Vermont History, Vol. 50, No. 3, 1982)

 

"Mina Bell's Cows" (The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 251, No. 2, 1983)

"Small Towns are Passing" (Poetry, Vol. CXLI, No.5, 1983)

 

Wesley McNair: Poet (New Hampshire Times, Vol. 13, No. 39, 1984)

"The Last Time Shorty Towers Fetched the Cows" (The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 253, No. 4, 1984)

Poems for the Back Pockets of America (Concord Monitor, 27 April 1984)

Bringing Poetry's Images Back to People (Valley News, 14 May 1984)

"My Brother Inside the Revolving Doors" (Three Rivers Poetry Journal, No. 23-24, 1984)

"Mute" and "Big Cars" (Poetry, Vol. CXLIV, No. 1, 1984)

"Remembering Aprons," "The Faith Healer" and "The Portuguese Dictionary" (Poetry, Vol. CXLIV, No. 3, 1984)

 

"When Paul Flew Away" (Ironwood, No. 25, 1985)

 

Rural Inspirations (Concord Monitor, 29 May 1986)

 

“The Man With the Radios" (Poetry, Vol. CLI, No. 1-2, 1987)

"Seeing Cooch," "What It Is" and "The Name" (The Kenyon Review, Vol. IX, No. 3, 1987)

 

"The Visit" (Harvard Magazine, Vol. 90, No. 3, 1988)

"Sue Reed Walking" (The Cream City Review, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1988)

"The Shooting" (Yankee, Vol. 52, No. 4, 1988)

"The Abandonment" (The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 262, No. 4, 1988)

"The Revival" (Poetry, Vol. CLII, No. 5, 1988)

"Killing the Animals" (New England Review, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1988)

"Ghosts" and “The Hand" (The Kenyon Review, Vol. X, No. 3, 1988)

 

Wesley McNair, An Interview With a New Hampshire Poet (The Andover Star, Vol. II, No. 6, 1989)

 

"Trying To Find Her Teeth" (Poetry, Vol. CLVII, No. 1, 1990)

 

"House in Spring" (Three Rivers Poetry Journal, No. 37-38, 1991)

Let There Be Explosions: An Ideal Bookstore (Backpacking With Bunyan, June 1991)

"First Class in Night School" (The Boston Review, Vol. XVI, No. 6, 1991)

 

"When the Trees Came for Her" and "Making Things Clean" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. C,  No. 3, 1992)

A Conversation with Wesley McNair (New Hampshire College Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1992)

"The One Who Will Save You," "The Secret," "Francis Bound" and "Coming For Brad Newcomb" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXIII, No. 4, 1992 -- 1993)

 

"The Living" (The Black Fly Review, No. 14, 1993)

"Mother's Place" (Red Brick Review, No. 2, 1993)

"The Bird Man" (The Southern Review, Vol. 29, No. 4, 1993)

"Young Man Going Uphill with a Bird" (Willow Springs, No. 33, 1993)

 

"The Lover" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXV, No. 1, 1994)

"Glass Night" (Yankee, Vol. 58, No. 3, 1994)

"Love Handles" and "Poem for my Feet" (New England Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1994)

Review of Robert Francis' Late Fire Late Snow (Green Mountains Review, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994 -- 1995)

 

"Thinking the Sentence” (Untidy Candles, 1995)

"The Trouble with Hunts" (New Hampshire College Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1995)

"The Discovery" (The River Review, No. 1, 1995)

“Old Cadillacs" and An Interview with Wes McNair (Green Mountains Review, Vol. VIII, No. 2, 1995)

 

The Triumph of Robert Francis (Harvard Review, No. 11, 1996)

Four Poets in New Hampshire (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CIV, No. 1, 1996)

"History by George B. Yeaton" (The Gettysburg Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1996)

"The Message" (The Ohio Review, No. 55, 1996)

"The Retarded Children Play Baseball" (Sport Literate, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1996)

"Why We Need Poetry" and "The Puppy" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXVII, No. 1, 1996)

 

"Love Handles" (The Continuum Review, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1997)

"As They Are" (Victory Park, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1997)

"Speaking of Time" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CV, No. 2, 1997)

"Fine" and "Losses" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CV, No. 4, 1997)

"The Match" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, 1997)

"Old Guys" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 3, 1997)

Craft and Technique: Four Poets (Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, 1997)

 

Talking about Vermont:  Hayden Carruth's Poetic Voice (Green Mountains Review, Vol. XI, No. 1,1998)

"Clothes" and "The Future" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXIX, No. 3, 1998)

"Waving Goodbye" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 4, 1998)

The Tiger in the House:  An Interview with Wesley McNair (River Review, No. 4, 1998)

"The Characters of Dirty Jokes" (Mid American Review, Vol. XIX, No. 1, 1998)

"A Government of Two" (The Iowa Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, 1998)

"The Book of A" (Poetry International, No. 11, 1998)

"The Cabbie," “Blame" and "The Wish" (Prairie Schooner, Vol. 72, No. 4, 1998)

 

On Poets, Poets Teaching, And Poetry:  Notes From a Journal (Ploughshares, Vol. 24, No. 4,1999)

"The Weight" (Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, 1999)

"Speaking of Time" (The Maine Scholar, Vol. 12, 1999)

"Placing Myself" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CVII, No. 3, 1999)

Advice for Young Poets and Introductions (Chelsea, No. 67, 1999)

 

The Forest and the Trees (Maine Times, Vol. 32, No. 33, 2000)

"The Place Where It Happens" (New Hampshire College Journal, Vol. 17 No. 1, 2000)

Discovering Emily Dickinson (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CVIII, No. 1, 2000)

"Massive" (Poetry, Vol. CLXXXVI, No. 5, 2000)

"Driving North in Winter" (The Kenyon Review, Vol. XXII, No. 3, 2000)

"Sleep" (Alaska Quarterly Review, Vol. 18, No. 1 & 2, 2000)

"Driving to Dark Country" (Reflections, Fall 2000)

My Finite Eyes (The Chrysalis Reader, Vol. 7, 2000)

 

A Poet's Progress (Maine Times, Vol. 33, No. 36, 2001)

"The Rules of the New Car" and "History of Talking on the Phone" (Ploughshares (Vol. 27,  Nos. 2-3, 2001)

Advice for Beginning Poets (Maine In Print, Vol. XIV, No. 14, 2001)

Places in the Dark (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CIX, No. 1, 2001)

"Charlie By Accident" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XLI, No. 4, 2001)

"Goodbye to the Old Life" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XLII, No.1, 2001)

"What Became" (Poetry, Vol. CLXXXVIII, No. 6, 2001)

"Not Catching On" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CIX, No. 4, 2001)

"My Mother Falling Asleep" (The Southern Review, Vol. 37, No. 4, 2001)

"Town Limits" (The Kenyon Review, Vol. XXIV, No. 1, 2001)

 

"Watch," "My Stepfather’s Hands" and "How I Became a Poet" (Poetry Northwest, Vol. XLII,  No. 4, 2002)

"Speech" (Slate, posted 26 March 2002)

“When My Mother Called About the Fire” and "Voiceless" (Strong Medicine: Margie, Vol. 1, 2002)

"An Executive Afterlife" and "Smoking” (Mid-American Review, Vol. XXII, No. 2, 2002)

"The Good-Boy Suit" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CX, No. 2, 2002)

 

Introduction (Crosscut, Vol. 11, 2003)

"It" and "To the Dog-Sitter" (Connecticut Review, Vol. XXV, No. 2, 2003)

"Where I Live" (Rivendell, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2003)

Introduction (Colby Quarterly, Vol. XXXIX, No. 1, 2003)

Michael Longley's Journey to the Real World in The Weather in Japan (Colby Quarterly,

            Vol. XXXIX, No. 3, 2003)

"Questions at One O'Clock" (Slate, posted 24 June 2003)

"The 1950's" and "If You Had Come" (Agni, No. 57, 2003 and posted online)

On Drury Pond: A Poet's Journal (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CXI, No. 3, 2003)

"Pondside" (Eternal Wellness, No. 10, 2003)

 

"Hymn to the Comb-Over” and "Cheese" (Strong Medicine: Margie, Vol. 3, 2004)

"The License Photo" (Mid-American Review, Vol. XXV, No. 1, 2004)

"My Mother Enters Heaven" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CXII, No. 3, 2004)
"Visiting Richard" (The Sewanee Review, Vol. CXII, No. 4, Fall 2004)

"My Father Going Away" (Slate, posted 22 June 2004)

"As If the Voices in the Background When My Mother Calls (Slate, posted 9 November 2004)

"As Long as We Remember Him, He Will Never Die" (Agni, No. 59, 2004 and posted online)

 

"Flight," "Draw Me" and "The Sound the Dog Made" (Mid - American Review, Vol. XXVI, No. 1, 2005)

"The Boy Carrying the Flag" (The Iowa Review, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2005)

"My Town" and "Love Poem" (Green Mountains review, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, 2005)
"Imponderables," "Kuhre's Farm" and Living Twice: Thoughts About Poetry (Margie, Vol. 4, 2005)

"The End" (Agni Poetry Online, posted 2005)

 

"That Nothing" (The Iowa Review, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2006)

"The Side" and "Seeds" (Pleiades, Vol. 26, No. 1, 2006)

"The Life" and "The Man He Turned Into" (New England Watershed Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 4,  2006)

"As I Am" (Chautaqua Literary Journal, Iss. 3, 2006)

"Some of the Unknown Dead" (Agni Poetry Online, posted 2006)

 

10 Questions With Poet Wesley McNair (Maine in Print, Spring 2007)

A Place in Mind (Nothern Woodlands, Summer 2007)