My grandmother in her old age
Sold barley and groats at a stall
In the market place. She did not measure her cereal
More carefully
Than I must minutes.
— The Poems Of Charles Reznikoff: 1918-1975
Present Minute, Only Minute
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
In the summer of 2010 I read several books by and on Charles Reznikoff. He’s good for the soul. Anne Stevenson said this about him: “His work, indeed, displays the same variety as does the Bible: there are psalms and proverbs and celebrations and an inexorable energy in the plainness of the language.”
If you’re feeling brave, read Reznikoff’s Holocaust.