Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CORNPICKER POEM by ROBERT BLY

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: SHEDS LEFT OUT IN THE DARKNESS
Last Line: IS WAITING, ITS ITS EMPTY GAS CANS AROUND IT
Subject(s): FARM LIFE; AGRICULTURE; FARMERS;

Sheds left out in the darkness.
Abandoned granaries, cats merging into the night.
There are hubcaps cooling in the dark yard.
The stiff-haired son has slouched in
And gone to bed.
A low wind sweeps over the moony land.

Overshoes stiffen in the entry.
The calendar grows rigid on the wall.
He dreams, and his body grows limber.
He is fighting a many-armed woman;
He is a struggler, he will not yield.
He fights her in the crotch of a willow tree.
He wakes up with jaws set.
And a victory.

Ill
It is dawn. Cornpicking today.
He leans over, hurtling
His old Pontiac down the road.
Somewhere the sullen chilled machine
Is waiting, its empty gas cans around it.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net