Dead, Yes, Forgotten, No.

Picture this- six people standing around a grave marked Neidecker, reading poetry and filming the momentous event. The wind blows through the trees and reminds them of a woman named Lorine. She was not a well-known poet when she was alive- in fact, she kept her poetry a secret, afraid that if people found out, they wouldn't treat her as they had before. Because she wasn't well-known during her lifetime, Lorine Niedecker has earned a spot on the Dead Poet's Bash tour.

The Dead Poet's Bash tour is a movement aimed at making sure dead poets are remembered

for their poems and insights into life. The tour has traveled all over the country visiting over twenty states to remember all sorts of poets, from Robert Lowell to Edgar Allan Poe himself. Their website (www.deadpoes.org), which promises that "no dead poets were injured in the making of this website", provides more details on the tour if you're interested.

If you had gone to the celebration yourself, you would have noticed a hand-l

ettered sign along the side of a busy road, letting you know that the dead poets weren't far off. This simple homemade sign seems to remind us that Lorine Niedecker wasn't wealthy or of a high social class. Instead of living in a big Victorian manor, as some may suspect of a poet, she had a tiny cottage on Black Hawk Island to call her own. It was there, and perhaps on her five mile journey to work along the river each day, that she found the inspiration for so many of her poems.

Along the river

wild sunflowers

over my head

the dead

who gave me life

give me this

our relative the air

floods

our rich friend

silt

By Lorine Niedecker

Thanks for listening!

Maggs