Homemade/Handmade Poems by Lorine Niedecker
(pages 203-207 Collected ed J Penberthy)
Santayana
For heaven's sake, dear Cory,
poetry?--I like somewhat
the putrid Petrarch
and the miserable Milton.
I don't have books,
don't meet important persons
only an occasional stray student
or an old Boston lady.
-
If only my friend
would return
and remove teh leaves
[ - - - ] from my eaves
troughs
-
[ - - - - - ] Frog noise
[ - - - - - ] suddenly stops
Listen!
They turned off
their lights
-
In the transcendence
of convalescence
the translation
of Basho
---
I lay down
[ - ] with brilliance
I saw a star whistle
[ - ] across the sky
before dropping off
-
To whom
can I leave
[ - ] Audubon's Avocet
[ - ] on green sportsman's cloth
[ - ] wide oak framed
[ - ] above warm polished
[ - ] copper-braced sweet-smelling
[ - ] cedar box
when I must leave
this fly away
-
Margaret Fuller
She carried books
and chrysanthemums
to Boston
into a cold storm
-
Watching dan-
cers on skates
Ten thousand women
[ - ] and I
[ - ] [ - ] the only one
[ - ] [ - ] [ - ] in boots
Life's dance:
[ - ] they meet
[ - ] [ - ] he holds her leg
[ - ] [ - ] [ - ] [ - ] up
-
Hospital Kitchen
Return
the night women's
gravy
to the cleaned
stove
-
Chicory flower
on campus
Open-field
[ - ] blue wheeled
[ - ] [ - ] gone by hot noon
to revolve
[ - ] earth-evolved
[ - ] [ - ] mind city
-
Fall
Early morning corn
shock quick river
edge ice crack duck
talk
Grasses' dry membranous
breaks rick-tack tiny
wind strips
-
LZ's
As you know mind
aint what attracts me
nor the wingspread
of Renaissance man
but what was sensed
by them guys
and their minds still carry
the sensing
(pages 203-207 Collected ed J Penberthy)
Santayana
For heaven's sake, dear Cory,
poetry?--I like somewhat
the putrid Petrarch
and the miserable Milton.
I don't have books,
don't meet important persons
only an occasional stray student
or an old Boston lady.
-
If only my friend
would return
and remove teh leaves
[ - - - ] from my eaves
troughs
-
[ - - - - - ] Frog noise
[ - - - - - ] suddenly stops
Listen!
They turned off
their lights
-
In the transcendence
of convalescence
the translation
of Basho
---
I lay down
[ - ] with brilliance
I saw a star whistle
[ - ] across the sky
before dropping off
-
To whom
can I leave
[ - ] Audubon's Avocet
[ - ] on green sportsman's cloth
[ - ] wide oak framed
[ - ] above warm polished
[ - ] copper-braced sweet-smelling
[ - ] cedar box
when I must leave
this fly away
-
Margaret Fuller
She carried books
and chrysanthemums
to Boston
into a cold storm
-
Watching dan-
cers on skates
Ten thousand women
[ - ] and I
[ - ] [ - ] the only one
[ - ] [ - ] [ - ] in boots
Life's dance:
[ - ] they meet
[ - ] [ - ] he holds her leg
[ - ] [ - ] [ - ] [ - ] up
-
Hospital Kitchen
Return
the night women's
gravy
to the cleaned
stove
-
Chicory flower
on campus
Open-field
[ - ] blue wheeled
[ - ] [ - ] gone by hot noon
to revolve
[ - ] earth-evolved
[ - ] [ - ] mind city
-
Fall
Early morning corn
shock quick river
edge ice crack duck
talk
Grasses' dry membranous
breaks rick-tack tiny
wind strips
-
LZ's
As you know mind
aint what attracts me
nor the wingspread
of Renaissance man
but what was sensed
by them guys
and their minds still carry
the sensing