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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A MAN'S VOCATION IS NOBODY'S BUSINESS, by JAMES GALVIN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Overcome with humility in the american west Last Line: Bound for the edge of the world Subject(s): History; Past; West (u.s.); Youth; Historians; Southwest; Pacific States | |||
Overcome with humility in the American West, Boys grew up incorruptible in old photographs. In shirts without collars, They stand next to the year's prize hog, Thinking into the wind. Taller than fathers or brothers, The edges of kitchen doors In sod houses Recorded the ambitions of boys to grow Tall enough to see more Of the landscape as it took Its turns for the worse. From the top of a silo you could see How the land had a hard time Just holding up its fences, Holding out for water, just holding Back the sage and larkspur. In eastern Colorado, old men and boys Rode the fences together. Once a year, in late summer, They lifted the fence wires to the tops of cedar posts For the tumbleweeds to blow under. This is no secret. The tumbleweed is a bristling genius Bound for the edge of the world. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WESTERN WAGONS by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET DRIVING WEST IN 1970 by ROBERT BLY IN THE HELLGATE WIND by MADELINE DEFREES A PERIOD PORTRAIT OF SYMPATHY by EDWARD DORN ASSORTED COMPLIMENTS by EDWARD DORN AT THE COWBOY PANEL by EDWARD DORN A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN |
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