M.R. Lowe - Old Burying Ground (1928)

Forgotten Poems #97 || Reissue #14

    
              —: Old Burying Ground :—

       A thin gray stone
       crumbling and worn
       leans over a rectangle of daisies
       and tall grass.

             “Orena
       Consort of..................
       Born Ap......  ..2, 1798
       D.....  …........1845
       May her sou.  r...... in peace.”

       An aspen drips
       thin yellow leaves

       From somewhere above
       comes the shrill piping
       of a mocking bird.
    

M.R. Lowe (p. 1928) studied at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and published this poem in the Prairie Schooner, the school’s literary magazine, edited by Maurice Johnson. Other poets appearing in the journal included Chou Han, who’s work was featured in Forgotten Poets last year, and Marion Edward Stanley, who went on to publish in Poetry magazine, and interview numerous well-known poets, including William Butler Yeats and Carl Sandburg.

    
       The only poem I know by Lowe:
       If you find more, please let me know!
    

Like Emily Holmes Coleman’s “Poem”, Lowe’s verse has 14-lines (as in a sonnet), and contains one of each of the 4 most common short stanza lengths used in English-language poetry at the time: the couplet (2-line stanza), tercet (3-line), quatrain (4-line), and cinquain (or quintain; 5-line).

Taken as a whole, Lowe’s poem also divides neatly into two halves, with an abrupt “cut” between stanzas 2 and 3. We are not told why these fragments are placed next to one another (i.e. there is no appeal made to “meaning”). Instead we must explore the possibilities found in the gaps and silences between them (i.e. “mending”). Each half also has its own internal “cut” producing further layers: the description of the gravestone cut against the fragmented inscription, the aspen cut against the mockingbird.

In particular, the second-half makes for a striking standalone verse, and its form is highly reminiscent of Japanese tanka, a popular influence on numerous 1910s and 20s “new” verse poets (including F.S. Flint, Edward Storer, Adelaide Crapsey, Amy Lowell, Langston Hughes, Lewis Alexander, et al.);

   
        An aspen drips
        thin yellow leaves

        From somewhere above
        comes the shrill piping
        of a mocking bird.
    

Compare this to one of W.G. Aston’s tanka translations, popular among “new” poets, from the late-1890s;

    
       Among
       The hills the snow still lies—
       But the willows
       Where the torrents rush together
       Are in full bud.
    

In tanka, this technique is called “ku’gire” (literally: phrase-cuttings, scraps, pieces, fragments, etc.). In hokku and haiku, descendants of tanka, the same effect is achieved through the use of “kire’ji” (literally: cutting/joining-words, etc.). The impact of the poem arises from fragmentation and suggestive combination, rather than description and stated explanation . . .

    
             for m.r. lowe
                   by dick whyte

              dawn
       all bloody and golden,

       the branch
       how many leaves

       lighter now
       

Forgotten Poets Presents:

Forgotten Poems, a living anthology of obscure and out-of-print poetry from the late-1800s and early-1900s. Explore the archives:

More poems about stones . . .

More poems about birds . . .

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