Windows/Walls/Yard/Ways

by Larry Eigner

Three hundred and twenty-two poems written between 1959 and 1992 by a poet in the tradition of William Carlos Williams.

Genres: Poetry

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

the window opening
 no, opened already
 nothing but the wind
[...]
 - June 19-September 9 90 (pg. 23)


turning to the wall
 putting my head against it

 as many trees as
 standing free in the street
 - October 16 65 (pg. 30)


Out in the yard
 the kids play

 at the party Why not

 think they enjoy it And the adults

 better for them less serious
[...] 
 - July 18 76 (pg. 64)


[...] 
walk a ways

 sand

 parallel

 smoke
 - January 6 88 (pg. 175)

Like the title of this collection, w i n d o w s / w a l l s / y a r d / w a y s, the poems of Larry Eigner feel disjointed. There is a unity but it doesn't necessarily register on a conscious level. Like the title, w i n d o w s / w a l l s / y a r d / w a y s. On first glance, they are four separate words that haven't been joined into a coherent sentence by any form of conjunction. But the words have so much in common: they appeal to a suburban setting; they are pluralized, with the exception of "yard"; they begin with "W", with the exception of "yard"... I'm not trying to suggest that all of Eigner's poems scattered words that appeal to a setting, or begin with a specific letter. On the contrary, these are superficial examples, perhaps bad examples all things considered. That Eigner's poems appeal to the unconscious makes it all the more difficult to provide an example. Perhaps describing Eigner's poetry should be approaches as Eigner approaches poetry, his philosophy (based on the average length of his poems) being less-is-more. The less thought we put into Eigner's poems, the more we're likely to get out of them. Eigner didn't bother to name his poems. Why should we? Why should we name them according to a style, or a group, or a movement? Let it be.

That said, the introduction by Robert Grenier (Eigner's editor) provides an insightful description of Eigner's approach to poetry...

"Music is human in the event" (of the poem?) it says somewhere in one of the so-many ('Beethoven'?) poems Larry Eigner, a man of range & capacity, has written with right index finger on his [Remington] or his old Royal portable in which "thinking with the things as they exist" (Zukofsky) on the typewriter - while remembering that "only the Imagination is real" (WCW) - hereabouts using his eyes & ears - has allowed to exist. Exists.
[...]

Here are a few of my favourite poems from this collection...

reflect

 world corners

 mountains ride

 and wind among branches

 leaves
 different lengths

 a wave bends

 moments

 what purpose

 sights

 sounds

 visions

 the earth goes round
 - December 19 71 (pg. 45)


what's
 what makes that happen

 something from in the past

 impinging on the sight

 and is pulling ahead

 don't scratch, No,

 the upholstery's needed

 stretch out is all right

 here sure a resonant crowd

 the animals mum

 about always

 or pets

 enough

 to roam

 variously

 fed

 rooftops and all

 headlights

 there goes

 the wind you think

 around the corner

 you can hear

 heavy in back

 life 

 till it levels out
 - April 11-5 83 (pg. 114-115)


 a d o t

a glimpse is space
 a time is a long
 thing to see
 - July 15 83 (pg. 120)

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not the ideal reader for this book.

Second read: a discussion in class brought up Shakespeare: does one aim to perfect a language or the language one already has? The relationship of Eigner's body to the page makes for a painstaking image in the reader's mind, not only for the effort needed to compose, but for the limited extent through which he was able to physically see his world, what would have been required of him to capture that.

[Pachyderm Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pendantic. #

#

While living, Larry Eigner captured

time/space/place

(both "inside" and
"outside" himself)

like none
other/before/or

after