Selected Poems

Selected Poems by Carl Sandburg [PS 3537 .A618 A6 1991] sits quietly on the shelf, a thin volume of poetry. The front flap notes "This volume contains the poems upon which Sandburg's reputation and career were established."

The NPR Morning Edition interview with the editor, Paul Berman, refers to this as a new collection focusing on the Midwestern poet's early works, what the editor calls Sandburg's "great period."

On the back flap of the book, 'eminent critic Malcolm Cowley once observed that Carl Sandburg 'turned the Mid-western voice into a sort of music". Paul Berman divided the poems into seven sections. 'Fog' is not in the 'Chicago' or 'Fogs and Fires' sections but in 'Handfuls' (page 81). I wonder why he put it there?

The fog comes...
...and then moves on.


-kss