Lorine Niedecker

 

In the great snowfall before the bomb


In the great snowfall before the bomb
colored yule tree lights
windows, the only glow for contemplation
along this road 

I worked the print shop
right down among em
the folk from whom all poetry flows
and dreadfully much else. 

I was Blondie
I carried my bundles of hog feeder price lists
down by Larry the Lug,
I’d never get anywhere
because I’d never had suction,
pull, you know, favor, drag,
well-oiled protection. 

I heard their rehashed radio barbs—
more barbarous among hirelings
as higher-ups grow more corrupt.
But what vitality! The women hold jobs—
clean house, cook, raise children, bowl
and go to church. 

What would they say if they knew
I sit for two months on six lines
of poetry?

John Ashbery

  The New Spirit (excerpt) I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one way. And next the thought came to me that to leave a...