New Goose

Prairie City, Illinois: The Press of James A. Decker, (1946). First edition of Niedecker’s rare first book, published by the same press and in the same year and format as Louis Zukofsky’s third book Anew; in 1941, Decker had published Zukofsky’s second book, 55 Poems. Presentation copy, inscribed on the front free endpaper by Niedecker to “A. O. Barton from Lorine Niedecker.”It is just conceivable that the recipient was Albert Olaus Barton (1870 – 1947), a distinguished journalist in Wisconsin. New Goose was an inconspicuous debut by a brilliant poet who spent most of her life on Black Hawk Island on the shores of Lake Koshkonong near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and kept in touch with the world at large through correspondence with friends and mentors such as Louis Zukofsky, Cid Corman, and Jonathan Williams, who published two major collections of her poetry. Basil Bunting once called Niedecker “the best living poetess”, adding: “No one is so subtle with so few words”. An inconspicuous debut by a brilliant poet who spent most of her life on Black Hawk Island on the shores of Lake Koshkonong near Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and kept in touch with the world at large through correspondence with friends & mentors such as Louis Zukofsky, Cid Corman, and Jonathan Williams, who published two major collections of her poetry. Basil Bunting, an English objectivist of a sort, once called Niedecker the best living poetess, adding: "No one is so subtle with so few words. A fine copy, extremely rare in the dust jacket. Preserved in a cloth clamshell box.. Small 8vo, original orange cloth, dust jacket. A fine copy, extremely rare in the dust jacket. Preserved in a cloth clamshell box.