David Foster Wallace as Childhood Poet

The writings of the late David Foster Wallace now live at the University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center, which recently acquired his archives.

Assembled by his widow, Karen Green, and apparently salvaged from a garage overrun with spiders, it includes hundreds of books from Wallace's personal library, as well as multiple drafts of various novels and non-fiction essays.

It also includes whimsical childhood musings, like the poem about vikings, below: "If you were to see a viking today, it's best that you go some other way," wrote a six- or seven-year old Wallace.