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Raymond Carver Short Poems

Famous Short Raymond Carver Poems. Short poetry by famous poet Raymond Carver. A collection of the all-time best Raymond Carver short poems


by Raymond Carver
 And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.



by Raymond Carver
 Cool summer nights.
Windows open.
Lamps burning.
Fruit in the bowl.
And your head on my shoulder.
These the happiest moments in the day.
Next to the early morning hours, of course.
And the time just before lunch.
And the afternoon, and early evening hours.
But I do love these summer nights.
Even more, I think, than those other times.
The work finished for the day.
And no one who can reach us now.
Or ever.

by Raymond Carver
 These fish have no eyes 
these silver fish that come to me in dreams, 
scattering their roe and milt 
in the pockets of my brain.
But there's one that comes-- heavy, scarred, silent like the rest, that simply holds against the current, closing its dark mouth against the current, closing and opening as it holds to the current.

by Raymond Carver
 It's August and I have not 
Read a book in six months 
except something called The Retreat from Moscow
by Caulaincourt 
Nevertheless, I am happy 
Riding in a car with my brother 
and drinking from a pint of Old Crow.
We do not have any place in mind to go, we are just driving.
If I closed my eyes for a minute I would be lost, yet I could gladly lie down and sleep forever beside this road My brother nudges me.
Any minute now, something will happen.

by Raymond Carver
 I woke up with a spot of blood 
over my eye.
A scratch halfway across my forehead.
But I'm sleeping alone these days.
Why on earth would a man raise his hand against himself, even in sleep? It's this and similar questions I'm trying to answer this morning.
As I study my face in the window.




Book: Reflection on the Important Things