Two American Scenes

Part of our revived "Poetry Pamphlet" series, Two American Scenes features two masters of the essay discussing "found material."

Excerpts:

It was given to me, in the nineteenth century,

to spend a lifetime on this earth. Along with a few of the sorrows

that are appointed unto men, I have had innumerable enjoyments;

and the world has been to me, even from childhood,a great museum.

— Lydia Davis

Bad rapids. Bradley is knocked over the side; his foot catches

under the seat and he is dragged, head under water. Camped on

a sand beach, the wind blows a hurricane. Sand piles over us like

a snow-drift.

— Eliot Weinberge