Collecte Works (54 page)

explodes,

[I sit in my own house

…

of our day.]

I'm a fool

I am wise.

Revised to the present text for FPOP.

Origin
ser. 2, 2 (July 1961): 30.

On hearing/the wood pewee    T&G, MLBW
[FPOP].

Untitled in the following FPOP version:

This is my mew

as our days in a wild-flying world

last—

be alone.

Throw it over—all fashion,

feud.

Go home where the greenbird

is—the trees where you pass

to grass.

As above in
Neon
4 (1959): n.p.

T&G
adds the title and alters the lineation slightly.

Revised to the present text for
MLBW.

Along the river    
MFT, T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA, VV].

In both poem VI of “
FOR PAUL: GROUP FOUR
” MS (undated, probably 1951) and FPOP, the poem opens with the following line: I take it slow

T&G
variant line 6: gave me this

LN to LZ, Dec. 24, 1962: “I wonder if we dare to close the gap someday—What we feel, see, inside us and outside us melted together absolutely. There's this new sense in poetry—even I with lines into each other as ‘Along the river’—your contrapuntals—” (
NCZ
327).

He moved in light    
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA].

On MS dated Dec. 14, 1950, the poem is paired with “Keen and lovely man moved as in a dance.”

Poem XIII of “
FOR PAUL: GROUP TWO
” MS, dated Dec. 30, 1950, and poem XIII of
“FOR PAUL: GROUP TWO,
”
New Mexico Quarterly
21.1 (Spring 1951): 208.

LN to LZ, March 15, 1951: “I feel I'm on the way to something, especially with the use of lines and words that look backward and forward as “he moved in light…” (
NCZ
177-78).

Keen and lovely man moved as in a dance    
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP].

On MS dated Dec. 14, 1950, the poem is titled
“Office Blues,”
with variant lines 2-3:

to be considerate in his outdoor-lighted

glass-walled office. Industrial relations

LN's annotation: “(Industrial relations and business weren't all he knew, that's my meaning. But if the above doesn't do it, put Business in place of Industrial relations. How involved can you make this?—are
you
the lawyer-poet?) I've put back say and said—you can't condense this kind of thing—it's either this or nothing. These on this page I hadn't intended for
FOR PAUL
but now I don't know—Blues song and both springing out of looking for a job—what do you think?”

On the MS, LZ suggests a revision of line 2: lighted almost outdoor.

The “
FOR PAUL: GROUP TWO
” MS, dated Dec. 30, 1950, numbers the poem XII and revises lines 2-4:

to be considerate in his lighted, glass-walled

almost outdoor office. Business

wasn't all he knew. He knew music, art. The guy

Poem XII in “
FOR PAUL: GROUP TWO,
”
New Mexico Quarterly
21.1 (Spring 1951): 207, revises line 4: wasn't all he knew. He knew music, art.

Revised to the present text for FPOP.

He lived—childhood summers    
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP].

Six versions of this poem survive.

(i) undated, possibly part of the MS dated Aug. 21, 1950:

He lived. He had it—childhood summer

           thru bare feet

then years of handling money,

           silver cold and heat.

Forever the flood—out of it came

           his wood, dog,

woman, lost her, daughter—

           dog paws are warm.

He planted trees, buried carp

           beneath the rose,

Saw motion in the stillest

           as the marsh rail goes.

To bankers on the high land

           he opened his wine tank

and sent his only daughter

           to work in the bank.

(ii) MS dated Nov. 23, 1951:

He lived. He had it—childhood summers

          thru bare feet

then years of handling money,

          silver cold and heat.

Forever the flood—out of it came

           his wood, dog,

woman, lost her, daughter,

          finish, prologue.

He planted trees, buried carp

          beneath the rose,

saw how grass-still

          the marsh rail goes.

To bankers on the high land

          he opened his wine tank

who sent his only daughter

          to work in the bank.

But to her he gave a source

          to sustain her,

a weedy speech when she spoke,

          a marshy retainer.

LN offers alternative lines 5-6:

beside the river. Out of the flood

came wood, dog

(iii) MS dated Dec. 1, 1951:

He lived. He had it—childhood summers

          thru bare feet

then years of handling money,

          silver and heat

beside the river—out of the flood

          came his wood, dog,

woman, lost her, daughter

          and she'll be gone.

He planted trees, buried carp

          beneath the rose,

saw how grass-still

          the marsh rail goes.

To bankers on the high land

          he opened his wine tank

and sent his only daughter

          to work in the bank.

But for her he was a source

          to sustain her,

a weedy substance in her speech,

          a marshy retainer.

LZ suggests LN remove “he had it” from line 1 and “then” from line 3, that she restore her earlier “finish, prologue” to line 8, and that she replace “who” with “He” in line 15.

(iv) A reconstruction in LZ's holograph dated Dec. 12, 1951:

Out of flood, came

            his wood, dog

woman, lost her, daughter,

            finish, prologue

He lived the water, buried carp

            beneath the rose,

Where like still grass

            the marsh rail goes

To bankers on high land

            opened his wine tank

that had his only daughter

            work in the bank.

But gave her a source

            to sustain her

a weedy speech—she spoke,

            a marshy retainer

His childhood summer

            thru bare feet

years of handling money,

            cold and heat

(v) The version in
Golden Goose
4.5 (Oct. 1952): 6, and also in FPOP is a revision of the Dec. 1, 1951, draft; lines 1-8:

He lived—childhood summers

           thru bare feet

then years of handling money's

           cold and heat

beside the river—out of flood

           came his wood, dog,

woman, lost her, daughter,

           finish, prologue.

line 11: where grass-still

line 17: But he gave her a source

line 19: a weedy speech

The sixth and final revision (which is the present text) appears in
T&G
and
MLBW.

I rose from marsh mud,          
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA, VV].

Conceived in June 1945—see
NCZ
151.

LN's Dec. 20, 1948, letter to Eugene Magner at the Lockwood Memorial Library, State University of New York, Buffalo, responds to his request for drafts that reveal compositional method:

I find that the main steps in a recent poem are at hand and enclose them. The papers are numbered in order of composition, beginning with mere note-taking to preserve images and idea. No. 2, a mere sketch, while at office work, intended free verse form. No. 3 after saying the lines to myself before sleep at night and on waking. No. 4 as sent to James Laughlin IV for New Directions. Final version, no. 5…will ask Mr. Laughlin to make two slight changes.

Enclosure no. 1, typescript with holograph annotations below:

the primordial slime—bits of things like algae. hair-like plants, equisetum—fern-like foliage with hollow stem. Planted willows in it. make my own beginning of creation. Arose from the primordial mud to go to a wedding, expensive affair in church. candles, satin, diamonds. One of those little girls who is a slave to International Sterling Silver. A long step from algae to the girl-slave, free to be a slave, a mind to support the silver kings. A long step from cell-division to the sweating of the male while the other takes her time acquiring silver and diamonds, donning and taking off satins. And he goes on sweating to pay for em. The church, with no other good for us than its rich silence, its candles and its organ tones. With some people there can be no procreation with The Church…and International Sterling.

Holograph notes:

mental cell division

earliest organism hardest thing in world—diamond—can't melt it

All history passed thru me in that half hr in church

white

gleam

rich silence with organ tones

silver

diamonds

sensuous green free vs hard silver convention

All flesh is grass

all blood and bones = grass

Enclosure no. 2, holograph MS:

Up from marsh mud

birds noisy

green frogs

to see her in the rich shade

of the church

little white slave girl

Satin, gleaming silver

These two united to serve

Solid Silver

Possession

Enclosure no. 3, typescript:

Up from marsh mud

algae, equisetum, willows,

sweet green, noisy

birds and frogs

to see her wed in the rich

rich silence of the church,

the little white slave-girl

in her diamond fronds.

Now in aisle and arch

the satin secret collects.

These two united to serve

Solid Silver. Possessed.

Enclosure no. 4, typescript with the following variants:

line 1: I arose from marsh mud,

lines 11-12: United for life to serve/silver. Possessed.

Enclosure no. 5, typescript with the following variants:

line 1: I rose from marsh mud,

line 9: In aisle and arch

In “
THREE POEMS,
”
New Directions
11 (1949): 302, with “Don't tell me property is sacred” and “Sunday's motor cars.” Appears here with line 6: Now in aisle and arch

LN regretted that this poem was excluded from
MFT.

In
Poor.Old.Tired.Horse
. 1 (undated, probably March 1962): n.p., with
“Linnaeus in Lapland.”

Dear Mona, Mary and all     Unpublished [FPOP].

The Aug. 30, 1955, MS sent to Dahlberg inserts a line between present lines 9 and 10: Instead of by the government

Don't tell me property is sacred!     
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP].

Undated MS.

With “I rose from marsh mud” and “Sunday's motor cars” in
“THREE POEMS,”
New Directions
11 (1949): 302, with a variant final line: with poor eyes and a house.

In FPOP line 3, “rolling” is replaced with “riding.”

Wartime     T&G, MLBW
[FPOP].

Untitled in MS dated 1945, in the
New Mexico Quarterly
20 (Summer 1950): 208, and in FPOP.

In
NMQ
it is number “I” of
“TWO POEMS”—
“II” is “Swept snow, Li Po.”

In MS and FPOP, variant line 4: whose stillness is alive.

In MS,
NMQ
, FPOP, and
T&G
, variant line 7: with noise and flame, by learning change

Revised to the present text for
MLBW.

The poem
“News,”
lines 5-6, offers an early occurrence of line 12 (see p.79).

February almost March bites the cold.     
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA].

MS dated March 5, 1951:

line 1: In February almost March I bite the cold.

LN's alternative line 1: In February almost March we bite the cold.

line 8: There are no objects here, only velocities.

LZ notes his suggested omissions from lines 1 and 8 on the MS.

MS dated March 19, 1951, accepts his suggestions and revises to the present text.

LN to LZ, dated March 15, 1951: “I have lots to say about Feb. almost March but we're both fed up talking about it. Her a goddess? Because I mention Eden (God?)? You see, this thing of changing a poem means a different thing, different rhythm and pretty soon the whole original idea and movement in the mind of the writer is gone and the whole thing would have to be done over. However, I'll keep your suggestions. Copy of it enclosed” (
NCZ
178).

Montevallo Review
1.4 (Summer 1953): 12, with a variant line 8: no object here

People, people—     
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA].

First appearance FPOP.

In a five-poem group titled
“IN EXCHANGE FOR HAIKU,”
Neon
4 (1959): n.p.

July, waxwings     
T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA].

FPOP has two variants:

line 1: July, the waxwings.

line 4: a dead

In the five-poem group titled
“IN EXCHANGE FOR HAIKU,”
Neon
4 (1959): n.p., line 1 reads as above and line 2 reads: on my berries

In EA, line 1 reads: July—waxwings

Old man who seined     
MFT, T&G, MLBW
[FPOP, EA,VV].

First appearance FPOP.

In a five-poem group titled
“IN EXCHANGE FOR HAIKU,”
Neon
4 (1959): n.p., in
“EIGHT POEMS,”
Monks Pond
1 (Spring 1968): 5, and in
The Voice That is Great Within Us: American Poetry of the 20th Century
, ed. Hayden Carruth (New York: Bantam, 1970).

Mother is dead     T&G, MLBW
[FPOP].

Until
T&G
and
MLBW
, this was the first poem in a numbered three-poem sequence titled
“THE ELEMENT MOTHER.”
FPOP titles the poem
“She's Dead.”
The second poem in the sequence is
“The graves”
(see following note) and the third is
“Kepler”
(see below). The sequence survives in FPOP and in
Origin
ser. 2, 2 (July 1961): 29, but dissolves in
T&G
and
MLBW.