Djuna Barnes - Lament of Women & Other Rhythms

Forgotten Poets #22 / forgottenpoets.substack.com

'Lament of Women & Other Rhythms' brings together a collection of New York poet Djuna Barnes' poems and drawings, including the complete 'Book of Repulsive Women' (1915), alongside a generous selection of her verse originally published in underground poetry and arts magazines (1911-23), and her second full-length collection, 'A Book' (1923); with the short-story 'Finale' (1918); and 20 newly restored illustrations and portraits by Barnes.

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-: This Much & More: -

If my lover were a comet

Hung in air,

I would braid my leaping body

In his hair.

Yea, if they buried him ten leagues

Beneath the loam,

My fingers would learn to dig

And I'd plunge home!

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-: Finis: -

For you? For me?

Why then the striking hour,

The wind among the curtains, and the tread

Of some late gardener pulling at the flower

They'll lay between our hearts when we are dead.

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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.