Carl Phillips thought Oppen might have titled his poem “Psalm” to hide its lack of substance. After reading it (and Hopkins’ “The Principle of Foundation”) more closely, he decided it earns its name.


Psalm
BY George Oppen
In the small beauty of the forest
The wild deer bedding down—
That they are there!

Their eyes
Effortless, the soft lips
Nuzzle and the alien small teeth
Tear at the grass

The roots of it
Dangle from their mouths
Scattering earth in the strange woods.
They who are there.

Their paths
Nibbled thru the fields, the leaves that shade them
Hang in the distances
Of sun

The small nouns
Crying faith
In this in which the wild deer
Startle, and stare out.

“Psalm” by Goerge Oppen, from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1975 by George Oppen. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.