Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE OLD MAN WHITTLES, by JULIAN LEE RAYFORD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OLD MAN WHITTLES, by                    
First Line: On some lumber by a yellow box car
Last Line: On a peach-stone.
Subject(s): Wood Carving; Whittling


On some lumber by a yellow box car
on a wharf,
A one-legged old man
sits in the sun and whittles.
He wears old pants
and an old brown coat,
And a rusty black hat shades
a blue-veined face of white whiskers.
He puffs away on an old brown pipe,
and cuts away on a peach-stone.
I sat down beside him and asked him,
"What's that gonna be, Grandpa?"
And he never looked up, but answered,
"Oh, nothin' much in partic'lar,
just whittlin'."
And he whittles away
and imagines strange things
on a peach-stone.





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