Pauline Cahn - 2 Short Poems (1918-22)

Forgotten Poems #84 || Reissue #1

    
            —: Rest :—

      I am so tired—so tired.
      I see too many people,
      Read too many books.
      Do too many things.

      I hate the theaters,
      I hate my work,
      I want you,—only you . . . .
      Come to me between the cool sheets
      And let me burrow my head in your shoulder.
      Kiss my two eyes . . .

      The moon is making peaceful patches
           on the yellow coverlet;
      The hoof-beats of my thoughts are growing faint.
    

The following poem is a striking reflection on (presumably) Cahn dating men of different ethnic backgrounds—one European, one African American. Note that of the two it is the African American man she sees herself settling down with, and going the distance: walking together. These are the kinds of poems that were written by and published by men all the time about women, but which was rarely articulated from the woman’s perspective.

     
             —: These Two :—

       His flesh is white velvet,
       And his, brown leather;
       I shall tear the white velvet
       And fashion me
       A wanton gown
       In which to dance before the world.
       But of the brown leather
       I shall build me a pair of boots
       In which to walk.
     

Pauline Cahn was “a young New York City poet.” (The Measure, 1922) She is likely the same Pauline Cahn who attended Columbia University, beginning in 1912, and in her junior year was the associate editor of both the Mortar Board and the Barnard Bulletin, and the assistant business manager of the Bernard Bear. The following year she was the editor-in-chief of the Barnard Bulletin. Later published poems in the underground poetry magazines Pagan and The Measure. Nothing more is known of her life, apart from these two striking poems.

This post is the first in a wave of One Year Celebrations. Over the next little while, I will be reposting a bunch of early issues, with additional poems, and new research. Pauline Cahn was the first ever poet I published here. I wasn’t writing “after poems” yet, and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the newsletter, besides posting the occasional poem I liked. Can’t believe it’s one year on, and there are over 600 of you lovely readers out there, reading these poems. It blows me away! Thank you all so much! And a special thanks to the fabulous poets

Gloria Horton-Young

,

Deborah Brasket

, and

M Sarki

for being the first to comment on the original edition of this poem—sorry to say I have deleted it now, but I really appreciated the support! Lotsa love.

Interestingly—before I started the newsletter I was at a bit of loss in terms of what to do with the thousands of public domain poems I had collected over the years, and started posting poems on Reddit every now and then. As it happens Cahn’s “Rest” was by far the most popular poem I ever posted, getting over 500 upvotes and even briefly making it to the front page. While I barely use Reddit these days, it was a good experiment in terms of learning what a general audience responded to, and it ended up being the reason I chose Cahn as my first post, besides generally loving her work! And since I didn’t write an “after poem” for Pauline back then, I figured I better write one now:—

    
              —: After Pauline Cahn :—

       sleeping too much
       not sleeping
       enough

       jealous of the sun

       survival
       brings out
       the lizard in me
    

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:

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