NIEDECKER ON THE DANUBE.

As a huge fan of Lorine Niedecker, I'm happy to report that Carlos has posted three of her poems at Halfway down the Danube; here's one:

Consider at the outset:
to be thin for thought
or thick cream blossomy

Many things are better
flavored with bacon

Sweet Life, My love:
didn't you ever try
this delicacy—the marrow
in the bone?

And don't be afraid
to pour wine over cabbage

Of which Carlos says: "It nicely encapsulates the Wisconsin philosophy of life. (Especially the fourth and fifth lines.)"

That's the first poem in her 1964 collection Homemade/Handmade Poems (and was the first poem in each of the literally handmade booklets she sent to Cid Corman, Louis Zukofsky, and Jonathan Williams from which the collection was compiled); I can't resist adding the second one:

Ah your face
but it's whether
you can keep me warm

Posted by languagehat at June 28, 2005 11:31 AM