Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CELAN by TIMOTHY LIU

Poet Analysis

First Line: HE WOKE / EACH DAY / NOT KNOWING

He woke
each day
not knowing

which hour
would be
the worst,

then made
a grid
of language

out of ash --
learned not
to trust

his own
mother
tongue,

knowing
all along
how it

would turn
on him
in the end.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org



Home: PoetryExplorer.net