The Marsh

Edited and Curated by Brandon Menke and Sarah Dimick

Introduction

In the course of editing the essays for "Locating Lorine Niedecker," Sarah and I felt we were presented with a fabulous opportunity. Only rarely does one assemble the collective talents of poet-critics whose sensibilities in prose and verse intermesh with such felicity — a lyric ecology arising from shared mental weathers and inherited tendencies both emergent and submerged.

In the summer of 2023, while at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), we decided to add a set of poems to the cluster, and I undertook the task of . . . precipitating . . . "The Marsh." By soliciting poetic demonstrations of Niedecker's influence as well as brief reflections on that influence (when volunteered) from our contributors as well as those of friends and compatriots, I felt we could amplify our collective understanding of how Niedecker's poetry continues to resonate in the world of contemporary poetry.

I was inspired to assemble this portfolio by two estimable antecedents. Most immediately, there is the “Midwinter Constellation” folio, edited by Becca Klaver, that accompanied the superb Contemporaries cluster on Bernadette Mayer, edited by Kristin Grogan and David B. Hobbs. Interlinking passages of prose and verse, the collaborative, simultaneously composed meditation on Mayer's Midwinter Day represents the collective effort of 32 poets moving through the circadian cycles of Dreams, Morning, Noontime, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. Most germanely, there is Court Green‘s terrific dossier “Tribute to Lorine Niedecker,” published in March 2005 under the editorial vision of Arielle Greenberg, Tony Triglio, and David Trinidad. This watershed publication features contributions from some of the leading poet-critics who have helped establish the field, such as Anne Waldman, Lisa Fishman, Stacy Szymaszek, Elaine Equi, Eleni Sikelianos, Richard Meier, C. D. Wright, and many more.

In the spirit of extending the survey of Niedecker's influence, we decided to focus on new additions to the field and emerging voices. You'll find here works by Hannah Brooks-Motl, Stephanie Burt, Sarah Dowling, Tiff Dressen, Kelly Hoffer, Brandon Menke, Michelle Niemann, Sasha Steensen, and Kerri Webster. (Our marsh is a small sampling of the veritable efflorescence of post-Niedeckerian poetics, including the work of Wisconsin poet laureate Nicholas Gulig, Niedecker Fellowship winner Lauren Carlson, Nico Vela Page in Americón (2022), Poets House Emerging Poets Fellow Ricardo Hernandez, and Soham Patel in all one in the end—/water (2023), among others.) These poems speak urgently to landscapes under peril and their countervailing miracles, which endure in states of intellectual, imagistic, and sonic splendor and whose benefits we continue to draw.

Past clusters