In Evening Light

Grass is springing now beside the stream; last night

the water looked like hammered metal. jhh

  

My Life by Water

My life
  by water—
    Hear

spring's
  first frog
    or board

out on the cold
  ground
    giving

Muskrats
  gnawing
    doors

to wild green
  arts and letters
    Rabbits

raided
  my lettuce
    One boat

two—
  pointed toward
    my shore

thru birdstart
  wingdrip
    weed-drift

of the soft
  and serious—
    Water

Lorine Niedecker

The Oxford Book of American Poetry, edited by David Lehman, Oxford University Press, 2006. page 482.

The life of Lorine Niedecker was full of trial. The biographies by Jenny Penberthy and Margot Peters are both well-written. As well as making you (if you are a woman poet, especially) glad you live now, they give an insight into her era of poets. Her complete works are available, and a selected poems, The Granite Pail, is a wonderful grouping. I am particularly fond of Lake Superior, a unique blend of poetry, prose and history, beautifully presented by the publisher in a soft white paper cover, wonderful to touch.

An examination of this poem will give a poet several strategies to try. I love the short lines, the repeated indentations, the abandoned punctuation, and most especially the fresh compound-words, often presented without hyphens. Use these strategies in writing about someplace you particularly love when you set yourself the task of a new poem. Good night, Lorine, rest well!