Basic HTML Version
G OLD SM ITH /Y IDD ISH POETRY AND AMERICAN JEWISH IDENTITY
41
GLANZ-LEYELESS
T h e ch ief theore tic ian o f the
Inzikhists,
and a m ajor voice in
American Yiddish poetry, was Aaron Glanz (1889-1966) whose
pen name was A. Leyeless. Even befo re the organ ization o f the
Inzikhist
g roup , Leyeless had published a volume o f expe rim en ta l
poems with the telling title
Labyrinth.
In the 1930’s he crea ted the
persona o f Fabius Lind, the poe t’s
alter ego,
whose very name
symbolized the m a tu re , intellectual, sensitive and activist, m od
e rn Yiddish poet, alive to both the m ode rn world and his trad i
tional cu lture . What is especially exciting abou t Leyeless’ poetry is
the fact tha t it was always on the move — p rob ing feeling, expe ri
menting. It is the poetry o f the m ode rn Jew in quest o f the totality
o f modern ity while loyal to his people, his cu lture , his faith and
himself. Leyeless’ poems reco rd the en tire adven tu re o f Yiddish
lite ra tu re in twentieth cen tury America and they reflect and pon
d e r the odyssey o f the Yiddish language the world over in m od
e rn times.
Our poem of a sevenfold heaven,
Our poem
—
nourished with the dew and poverty of every land,
Can it not once again irrigate every soil?
Behold, we have gone far beyond A, B, and C.
Our poem
—
a blade of grass, a little flower yesterday,
Is now a rare and lovely growth.
(“T su Aykh D ikhter Yidishe”)
I see but the sparkle of one dot
—
Yiddish. It is my mission, passion and meaning of life.
I can pour out a barrel of logic to the last drop
To water the blossom of love to the word-weaving
Of a wandering nation. Every wind and breeze
Is enough to turn its forest into a clump of woodchips.
Who cares? Word-weaving rings the most enchanting of sounds:
I am.
(“Amerike un Ik h ”)
Jacob Glatstein (1896-1971), an early colleague o f Leyeless, was
the twentieth cen tury poet o f Juda ism
par excellence.
T h e r e was no
aspect o f m ode rn Jewish experience th a t d id no t find expression
in his deeply though t poems. Glatstein b rough t to Yiddish poetry
complete self-identification with Juda ism and the Jewish people,
humanitarianism , wisdom, h um o r and genius. His work is a cul