The Black Mountain Review - 1954

The Black Mountain Review is published four times a year by Black Mountain College, Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Editor: Robert Creeley
Contributing Editors: Robert Hellman, Irving Layton, Charles Olson

The Gardener

on the left branch, a
blossom. on the
top branch, a blossom.
which child is this.
which flowering
of me. which
gold white bloom.
which the force of my life.

Joel Oppenheimer

The First Frost

My ego has diminished considerably
since our last encounter.
The first frost of the year
has taught me many lessons:
first not to expect from you
what you cannot give me;
second, not to squander
my days, waiting for my ego
to make you its nude manifestation.

The first frost of the year
has effected me deeply.
It is cold, I now realize,
to spend a day in the country,
too cold to lay our hearts bare,
to walk through each other's life
stark naked.

Sanford Edelstein