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In the introduction to CONVERSATION PIECES: Poems That Talk to Other Poems, editors Kurt Brown and Harold Schechter write, "In much lyric poetry, as Helen Vendler observes, we are, in effect, listening to the voice of a solitary poet addressing someone unseen, 'someone not in the room'—a lover, a patron, a lost friend or family member. In the poems collected here, that invisible someone is another poet. As we read we can hear one artist talk back to another in admiration or exasperation, praise or mockery, gentle rebuke or bitter disagreement. The monologue is suddenly transformed into a dialogue, the solitary meditation into an impassioned debate, the soliloquy into a conversation conducted across space and time." The unusual and enriching collection they've compiled is made up of pairings like the one below, in which a contemporary poem by James Longenbach "answers" the 16th-century love complaint of Sir Thomas Wyatt. "They Flee from Me That Sometime Did Me Seek" They flee from me that sometime did me seek     With naked foot stalking in my chamber. I have seen them gentle tame and meek     That now are wild and do not remember     That sometime they put themselves in danger To take bread at my hand; and now they range Busily seeking with continual change. Thank'd be fortune, it hath been otherwise     Twenty times better; but once in special, In thin array after a pleasant guise,     When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,     And she caught me in her arms long and small, Therewith all sweetly did me kiss, And softly said, Dear heart, how like you this? It was no dream: I lay broad waking.     But all is turned from my gentleness Into a strange fashion of forsaking;     And I have leave to go of her goodness,     And she also to use new-fangleness. But since that I so kindely am served, I would fain know what she hath deserved. Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) Before Time On one or two occasions It was different: she lingered At the window, turned—I was Desirable because for a moment I was anybody. The distance Seemed to disappear without us Moving but more than what followed I remember the open window. Taxis idling by the park. Streetlights shining Through the hemlock and the usual sounds Of traffic, shouts—all of it Starkly present and at the same time Incomplete; as if a space I'd never Wanted had been filled At the moment I wanted it: branches Swirling at the window as Her clothing dropped To the floor. If I have chance To thank for this moment I'd like to know what she deserved. James Longenbach (1959–) KEEP CLICKING: About CONVERSATION PIECES About Everyman's Library Pocket Poet Editions About DRAFT OF A LETTER, the latest collection by James Longenbach PLUS: ENTER TO WIN a copy of THE KNOPF NATIONAL POETRY MONTH COLLECTION Purchase a signed edition of Kevin Young's FOR THE CONFEDERATE DEAD or W. S. Dipiero's CHINESE APPLES (please note delivery will take 2-3 weeks) If you're in in the New York City area on April 16th, don't miss a special poetry month event at the Strand bookstore with Brad Leithauser and Paul Muldoon. Miss one of our daily poems? You can view them online in the Knopf Poem-a-Day archive.     "They Flee from Me That Sometime Did Me Seek" excerpted from CONVERSATION PIECES. Copyright © 2007 by Everyman's Library. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. "Before Time" excerpted from CONVERSATION PIECES, originally appeared in FLEET RIVER by James Longenbach. Copyright © 2003 by The University of Chicago Press. Excerpted by permission of The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. We welcome your feedback. Please send any thoughts or questions to knopfpoetry@randomhouse.com You received this issue because your email address is in Knopf's Poem-a-Day mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to unsub_knopfpoetry@info.randomhouse.com. Or if you received this poem as a forward and wish to subscribe, send a blank email to sub_knopfpoetry@info.randomhouse.com.