One great poem to read today: Lucie Brock-Broido’s “Am Moor”
This April marks the 30th iteration of National Poetry Month, which was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending one great poem to read every (work) day of the month. We make no claim (except when we do) that these poems are the “best” poems in any category; they are simply poems we love. The only other thing they all have in common is that they are available to read for free online, so you can enjoy them along with us. The internet is still good for some things, after all. Today we recommend:
Lucie Brock-Broido’s “Am Moor”
I first read this poem in grad school, in a class on the ecstatic in poetry, taught by the great poet Lisa Russ Spaar. It is an homage to the Austrian Expressionist poet Georg Trakl, who died of a cocaine overdose in the psychiatric ward of a military hospital in Kraków at the age of 27. Whether his death was intentional remains unclear, but he had been sent to the ward after a previous suicide attempt, which was precipitated by the stress of his work as a medical officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I.
I don’t think you need to know this or anything else about this poem to feel its ecstatic power: the resonant thuds of the lines are enough, the weaving of the baroque and the barren is enough, the playful seriousness is enough. But I like to read it as a sort of slant translation—am is German for on—that pulls relentlessly on the thread of sound and meaning until it gets to the very bleating heart of it. Besides, the moorlands are so hot right now, or so I’ve heard.
Emily Temple
Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.
