“My daughter, writer, sits and floats” (Niedecker 13). Lorine Niedecker uses her mother’s perspective to describe herself. Her mother was deaf, and Niedecker made sure her audience knew that when they read many of her poems. The works from Niedecker include many feelings and emotions. However, in some of her work, Niedecker makes it difficult for her reader’s to capture the mood of the poem. With some negative and some positive, the poems from Niedecker can be somewhat confusing for the readers and can raise many questions.
As I read more and more of Niedecker’s work, I come across many intriguing questions. For example, did Niedecker even like poetry? Why did she choose poetry? What inspires her writing? Is the tone positive or negative? In much of her work, I find that Niedecker uses mixed emotions. Some poems feature such detail and beauty. The scene it creates can be captured and it is riveting. However, some of Niedecker’s words hold a negative connotation, and it can be hard to interpret her feelings throughout the poem. One poem in particular, “Poet’s Work,” features somewhat of a confusing scene and, in turn, raises many questions for me.
In this particular poem, Niedecker talks about how her grandfather told her to learn a trade. The trade Niedecker chose was to, “sit at a desk and condense,” (Niedecker 60). However, the next lines of the poem make it seem as if Niedecker was not happy with her choice to write poetry. As Niedecker wrote, “No layoff from this condensery” (Niedecker 60). This particular part of the poem has me drawn to those same four questions. Looking at one view, it would seem as if she is unhappy with her choice, but doesn’t know what else to do. In another view, it seems as though Niedecker doesn’t get a break because there is too much to write about. Therefore, this piece of work from Niedecker features many mixed signals.
While Niedecker used many different emotions, scenes, and techniques to make her poetry stand out, I find them to be confusing. Her work did not stand out to me because I had a hard time interpreting her feelings. She seemed to use mixed emotions, and that raised many questions for me. Though I was able to answer most of the questions by reading, I have one unanswered question. Although she continued to write it, did Niedecker actually like poetry?
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