I was recently fortunate to be invited to a private reading (in someone's apartment no less) by Samuel Menashe, and was quite impressed with his work. Dana Gioia has championed him--and wrote the introduction to his recent collected edition entitled The Niche Narrows. As Gioia writes in his intro:

Menashe has devoted his entire poetic career to perfecting the short poem–not the conventional short poem of 20-40 lines beloved of magazine editors, but the very short poem. As anyone surveying his Collected Poems (1986) will discover, few of his poems are longer than ten lines.


A few of his poems I found particularly striking:


Improvidence

Owe, do not own
What you can borrow
Live on each loan
Forget tomorrow
Why not be in debt
To one who can give
You whatever you need
It is good to abet
Another’s good deed

***

The Living End

Before long the end
Of the beginning
Begins to bend
To the beginning
Of the end you live
With some misgivings
About what you did

***

Sleep

gives wood its grain
Dreams knot the wood

***

The Niche

The niche narrows
Hones one thin
Until his bones
Disclose him

***

Telescoped

The dead preside
In the mind’s eye
Whose lens time bends
For us to see them
As we see the light
Shed by dead stars
Telescopes enlarge

Interesting poet, Tom. It seems he's no youngster either, as he's in his late seventies.

Here's a link to a few more poems online by Menashe.

Six Poems

He is an interesting poet, though I usually regard his poems as mere fragments of poems. Like, he catches a little tune but never develops or finishes it. Nonetheless, he has a great ear and a Zen eye.

It's a shame this thread isn't receiving more attention,Tom. Manashe's an interesting poet. I like his terse style and his refusal to develop a theme beyond one idea and metaphor.

Reading his poetry recently, I've not wanted to tackle more than one a day, but have wanted to savour each one. For the most part, I've liked them.

I do wonder, though, if he's fallen into the trap of being able to write in only one style. What happened to range?

Freda

You know Freda, I tend to agree with you in regards to a narrow niche, so to speak. Menashe found his particular niche and seems quite comfortable there. Of course, one person's niche is another person's rut, so who's to say? But what I like about his work is that it is so succinct and pared down and I do think he has a wonderful ear. No, these are not big poems, but he reminds me, in a sense, of the Little Dutch Masters: he found what works for him, and within a narrow stylistic range, he has exploited that niche for all it's worth. I don't know Tim--I kinda like that he gives you what appears to be a fragment and makes you do the rest. There's something to be said for that, I think.

Tom, As you know I love a short poem. But even the shortest of poems should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. By way of contrast read Kay Ryan, who is absolutely terrific.

Hmm, Tim, I guess that depends on how you are defining a beginning, middle and end. I will agree that much of Menashe can read as fragmentary--but I do think there is something to like about that, when the fragments are intriguing. Of course not all of it works, but I find myself reading him the same way Freda does--as a starting point for a mediation.

I will look up Kay Ryan on Google and see what I can find. Thanks for the suggestion.

Tom

Hi Tom!

Some of these strike me as much better than others.

"Improvidence": the candid point of view is so today, and "Sleep" is art as magic.

I like "The Niche" too, but I wonder what type of niche it is. It reminded me of references by beat or 60s poets who spoke of a "niche" with contempt: once you fit in it, you were through. I wonder if Menashe is speaking of that kind of niche. "Disclose him" is an interesting notion, but the rhythms do nothing for the poem, unfortunately. Thanks for posting these!

Terese

I suspect what Menashe means by "niche" is the narrowing circumstances of each life, those facts that define and enclose us but also give us a place to inhabit. Then, it becomes the grave at the end, by a very effective "sleight of eye." I like this poet very much, and am glad to say that he will be reading for us at the Newburyport Art Association Gallery, on September 18, at 7:30 pm. He'll be reading with David Slavitt, as part of the Powow River Poets Monthly Reading Series.

Rhina

I'm hoping to make it up to Newburyport for one of the Powows soon, and thanks for letting us know about the Menashe/Slavitt reading.

Menashe's first two lines are a description of confinement: "Hones" sounds valuable for one's work, but I sense Menashe means there's an ambivalence to the disclosing, and an ambivalence to the niche.

Bones disclose, but who reads them except a seer? He's saying a good deal for these few words, but I wish there were more.

Terese