Wake Forest University Press

Irish Poetry | Rare & Collectible

Paul Muldoon - Why Brownlee Left (paperback)

Why Brownlee Left, first published when Paul Muldoon was 29 years old, helped introduce the young poet to American readers. Many books later, the Pulitzer Prize winning poet is one of the most recognized names in contemporary poetry.

Why Brownlee Left

Why Brownlee left, and where he went,
Is a mystery even now.
For if a man should have been content
It was him; two acres of barley,
One of potatoes, four bullocks,
A milker, a slated farmhouse.
He was last seen going out to plough
On a March morning, bright and early.

By noon Brownlee was famous;
They had found all abandoned, with
The last rig unbroken, his pair of black
Horses, like man and wife,
Shifting their weight from foot to
Foot, and gazing into the future.

 

$75.00
1980   48 pages
paperback
Rare and collectible first edition with wrapped jacket
ISBN 978-0-916390-13-6