Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth - Poems 2004–2006

Sep 27, 2026

Uploaded by Mia

Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth - Poems 2004–2006 presents Adrienne Rich’s poetry from 2004 to 2006, arranged across multiple numbered sections. The collection moves through meditative and visual scenes, recurrent reflections on art and language, and shifting forms that range from lyric fragments to structured sequences. It includes “Voyage to the Denouement” and “Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth,” with a contents-driven architecture that also features “Notes on the Poems” and acknowledgments, framing how the poems are read and reconsidered.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages88

Reading Time2 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

III

ALSO BY ADRIENNE RICH Poetry & Commitment: An Essay The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000–2004 What Is Found There: Notebooks on Poetry and Politics The Fact ofa Doorframe: Poems 1950–2000 Fox: Poems 1998–2000 Arts of the Possible: Essays and Conversations Midnight Salvage: Poems 1995–1998 Dark Fields of the Republic: Poems 1991–1995 Collected Early Poems 1950–1970 An Atlas ofthe Difficult World: Poems 1988–1991 Time ’s Power: Poems 1985–1988 Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979–1985 Your Native Land, Your Life: Poems Sources A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far: Poems 1978–1981 On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966–1978 The Dream ofa Common Language: Poems 1974–1977 Twenty-one Love Poems Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution Poems: Selected and New, 1950–1974 Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972 The Will to Change: Poems 1968–1970 Leaflets: Poems 1965–1968 Necessities of Life Snapshots ofa Daughter-in-Law: Poems: 1954–1962 The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems A Change of World TELEPHONE RINGING IN THE LABYRINTH POEMS 2004–2006 ADRIENNE RICH W. W. Norton & Company New York • London TO VIEW TEXT WITH LINE ENDINGS AS POET INTENDED, PLEASE SET FONT SIZE TO THE SMALLEST SIZE ON YOUR DEVICE. FORAijaz Ahmad AND IN MEMORY OF F. O. Matthiessen, 1902–1950 Poetry isn’t easy to come by. You have to write it like you owe a debt to the world. In that way poetry is how the world comes to be in you. —ALAN DAVIES Poetry is not self-expresssion, the I is a dramatic I. —MICHAEL S. HARPER, QUOTING STERLING A. BROWN To which I would add: and so, unless otherwise indicated, is the You. —A.R. CONTENTS I Voyage to the Denouement Calibrations Skeleton Key Wallpaper In Plain Sight Behind the Motel Melancholy Piano (extracts) II Archaic Long After Stevens Improvisation on Lines from Edwin Muir ’s“Variations on a Time Theme” Rhyme Hotel Three Elegies i. Late Style ii. As Ever iii. Fallen Figure Hubble Photographs: After Sappho This Is Not the Room Unknown Quantity Tactile Value Midnight, the Same Day i. When the sun seals my eyes the emblem ii. Try to rest now, says a voice Even Then Maybe Director ’s Notes Rereading The Dead Lecturer III Letters Censored, Shredded, Returned to Sender, or Judged Unfit to Send IV If/As Though Time Exposures i. Glance into glittering moisture ii. Is there a doctor in the house iii. They’d say she was humorless iv. When I stretched out my legs beyond your wishful thinking v. You’ve got ocean through sheet glass brandy and firelog The University Reopens as the Floods Recede Via Insomnia ABurning Kangaroo Ever, Again V Draft \#2006 VI Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth Notes on the Poems Acknowledgments I VOYAGE TO THE DENOUEMENT A child’s hand smears a wall the reproof is bitter wall contrives to linger child, punisher, gone in smoke An artisan lays on hues: lemon, saffron, gold stare hard before you start covering the whole room Inside the thigh a sweet mole on the balding skull an irregular island what comes next After the burnt forests silhouettes wade liquid hibiscus air Velvet rubs down to scrim iron utensils discolor unseasoned Secret codes of skin and hair go dim left from the light too long Because my wish was to have things simpler than they were memory too became a smudge sediment from a hand repeatedly lying on the same surface Call it a willful optimism from when old ownerships unpeeled curled out into the still nameless new imperium Call it haplessness of a creature not yet ready for her world-citizen’s papers (Across the schoolroom mural bravely small ships did under sail traverse great oceans) Rain rededicates the exhumed African burial ground traffic lashes its edges the city a scar a fragment floating on tidal dissolution The opal on my finger fiercely flashed till th

FAQs

What is the time span covered by the poems in Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth?

The collection is titled “Poems 2004–2006,” indicating the poems span 2004 through 2006.

How is the book organized in the provided table of contents?

It is divided into sections labeled I through VI, with section VI including “Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth,” followed by “Notes on the Poems” and acknowledgments.

Does the table of contents include material beyond the main poems?

Yes. The contents list “Notes on the Poems” and “Acknowledgments,” indicating supplementary materials in addition to the poems.

Sep 27, 2026

Uploaded by Mia