[He Lived-Childhood Summers]

By Lorine Niedecker 1903–1970 Lorine Niedecker

He lived—childhood summers

thru bare feet

then years of money’s lack

and heat

beside the river—out of flood

came his wood, dog,

woman, lost her, daughter—

prologue

to planting trees. He buried carp

beneath the rose

where grass-still

the marsh rail goes.

To bankers on high land

he opened his wine tank.

He wished his only daughter

to work in the bank

but he’d given her a source

to sustain her—

a weedy speech,

a marshy retainer.

Lorine Niedecker, "He Lived Childhood Summers" from Collected Works, edited by Jenny Penberthy. Copyright © 2002 by the Regents of the University of California. Reprinted with the permission of the University of California Press.

Source: Collected Works (The University of California Press, 2002)

Biography

Niedecker's verse is praised for its stark, vivid imagery, subtle rhythms, and spare language, which Kenneth Cox described as "whittled clean." Concerned with the distillation of images and thoughts into concise expression, Niedecker described her work as a "condensery," and several critics have compared her poetry to the delicate yet concrete verse of Chinese and Japanese writers. Although Niedecker's long correspondence with

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