Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, STOCK AND VERMONT PUNKINS, by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

STOCK AND VERMONT PUNKINS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I'll tell you what 'twas fun to do
Last Line: The same as hide and hair.
Subject(s): Food & Eating; Fruit; Hunger; Migrant Labor; Pumpkins; Vermont; Migratory Workers; Agricultural Laborers


I'LL tell you what 'twas fun to do
Along the last of Fall;
I'll tell you how we done it, too,
In case 'twould please you all;
And first, you have to have a block
Of good old frozen ground,
A cornbarn with a door and lock
And lots of stock around.

Yes; real old-fashioned frozen ground—
Not jest a gravel bed—
And lots of head of stock around,
Precisely as I said;
A cornbarn door that locks fusstrate,
And punkins ripe and good,
And then the charm will operate
Exactly as it should.

You next unlock the cornbarn door
And climb the steps with care,
And pick some punkins off the floor,
As big as any there;
You hold one up that's yellowish red,
The kind you know they like,
A-jest to see if any head
Is on a hunger strike.

Them golden punkins then you dash,
With all the strength you're worth,
And break 'em all to smithering smash
Against the frozen earth;
By Golferinus! how they crack,
The pieces, how they fly!
A-like as not the seeds come back
And hit you in the eye.

My Stars! the way them cattle rare
And butt and buck and hook:
The old red cow is everywhere
Before your eyes can look;
The two-year-olds, they stomp and stamp,
The yearlings come to blows,
The heifers wear a frothy guimpe,
The cosset blows his nose.

In spite of these unchristian checks
Each head a-gets a piece;
You watch the chunks go through their necks,
Like lawyers through a lease;
And, as you turn the cornbarn lock,
You solemnly declare
That punkins, sure, was made for stock,
The same as hide and hair.





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