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October 26, 2006

If he Wrote it Today, It Might be called "Sand"

T
here is a new anthology of Carl Sandburg Poems out, edited by Paul Berman. In an interview on NPR this morning Berman discussed some of Sandburg's poems with Susan Stamberg, including this one:
Grass
by Carl Sandburg

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work--
I am the grass; I cover all.
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass.
Let me work.

"Grass" was published during World War I, when dissent was not greeted gently. I suppose that if Sandburg were writing today, he might write a poem like this and call it "Sand." In school we got a sunnier picture of Sandburg, celebrating American life, but he was more complicated than that. Click here to hear "Grass" and "Fog" recited by Sandburg.

Posted by TFW at October 26, 2006 10:55 AM

Comments

I guess I had good teachers (or less sunny ones) because, back in the '80s, Grass was my first taste of Sandburg, and it was in class.

Posted by: Terry Karney at October 27, 2006 11:56 AM

Thanks for the reminder of "the other Carl Sandburg," as Philip Yannella titled his book. Sandburg did change over time to become much more conservative, but the early radical poet and journalist still has plenty to say.

Posted by: Sally at October 31, 2006 12:24 PM