Denise Levertov (1923-1997)

Denise Levertov was a British-born American poet. Born in Ilford, Essex, England, her mother was Welsh, and her father was an Anglican parson who had immigrated from Germany, and had been raised a Hasidic Jew before converting to Christianity.

She was educated at home, had an early childhood enthusiasm for writing, and at the age of 12 sent some of her poetry to T. S. Eliot who replied with a two page letter of encouragement.

She served as a civilian nurse in London during the bombings of World War II.

Her first book of poetry, The Double Image, was published in 1946.

“Triple Feature”

Innocent decision: to enjoy.
And the pathos
of hopefulness, of his solicitude:

--he in mended serape,
she having plaited carefully
magenta ribbons into her hair,
the baby a round half-hidden shape
slung in her rebozo, and the young son steadfastly
gripping a fold of her skirt,
pale and severe under a
handed-down sombrero—

                      all regarding
the stills with full attention, preparing
to pay and go in—

to worlds of shadow-violence, half-
familiar, warm with popcorn, icy
with strange motives, barbarous splendors!

“O Taste and See”

The world is
not with us enough.
O taste and see

the subway Bible poster said,
meaning The Lord, meaning
if anything all that lives
to the imagination’s tongue,

grief, mercy, language,
tangerine, weather, to
breathe them, bite,
savor, chew, swallow, transform

into our flesh our
deaths, crossing the street, plum, quince,
living in the orchard and being

hungry, and plucking
the fruit.