Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BALER by HAYDEN CARRUTH

Poet Analysis

First Line: YOU TOURIST COMPOSED UPON THAT FENCE
Last Line: and half-feathered sparrows, whipped by a bleeding snake
Subject(s): FARM LIFE; HAY & HAYMAKING; AGRICULTURE; FARMERS;

You tourist composed upon that fence
to watch the quaint farmer at his quaint task
come closer, bring your camera here
or fasten your telescopic lens
if you're too indolent; all I ask
is that when you go home you take
a close-up among your color slides
of vacationland, to show we pay the price
for hay, this actual panic: no politic fear
but tumbling wild waves down the windrows, tides
of crickets, grasshoppers, meadow mice,
and half-feathered sparrows, whipped by a bleeding snake.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org



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