Charles Reznikoff - Twilight Rhythms & Other Poems

Forgotten Poets #11 / forgottenpoets.substack.com

'Twilight Rhythms & Other Poems' [124 pages] brings together over 100 poems by New York poet Charles Reznikoff, including selections from Rhythms I (1918), Rhythms II (1919), Poems (1920), Urial Acosta (1921) & Five Groups of Verse (1927); with a number of restored illustrations by artist Coulton Waugh. While Reznikoff never attained success as a poet in his own time, his haiku and tanka-like work was later celebrated, first by Louis Zukofsky and the Objectivists in the 1930s, and then by the Beats in the 1950s. Allen Ginsberg in particular was a fan of Reznikoff's work, and affectionately called him "one of Walt Whitman's grandchildren."

. . . . . . . . . .

On Brooklyn Bridge I saw a man drop dead,

It meant no more than if he were a sparrow.

Above us rose Manhattan,

Below the river spread to meet bay and sky.

. . . . . . . . . .

It rains.

The elms curve into clouds of twigs

The lawns are empty.

. . . . . . . . . .

The Forgotten Poets Newsletter presents new collections of out-of-print and obscure poetry, with a focus on compressed & fragmented 'free' and 'new' verse from the late-1800s & early-1900s, & the early history of English-language tanka & haiku. Verses are carefully selected & spaciously laid-out, adorned with illustrations & ornaments from the books & magazines they originally appeared in.