Denise Levertov, date unknown.(Wikimedia Commons)
Denise Levertov, born on this day in 1923, was The Nation’s poetry editor in the 1960s. Her first poem in our pages was “The Sage,” published in the issue of November 1, 1958.
The cat is eating the roses: that’s the way he is. Don’t stop him, don’t stop the world going round, that’s the way things are. The third of May was misty; fourth of May who knows. Sweep the rose-meat up, throw the bits out in the rain. He never eats every crumb, says the hearts are bitter. That’s the way he is, he knows the world and the weather.
To mark The Nation’s 150th anniversary, every morning this year The Almanac will highlight something that happened that day in history and how The Nation covered it. Get The Almanac every day (or every week) by signing up to the e-mail newsletter.
Richard KreitnerTwitterRichard Kreitner is a contributing writer and the author of Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America's Imperfect Union. His writings are at www.richardkreitner.com.