Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODE TO THE SHOVEL, by PEGGY SHUMAKER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE TO THE SHOVEL, by                    
First Line: When your one tooth bites / cold earth, turns it round-faced
Subject(s): Shovels


When your one tooth bites
cold earth, turns it round-faced
to soak up sun

when blisters turned callous
only sand you smooth, when
fine grain flows,

braided river to the interior,
when stubborn clods
get your point,

let loose clotted roots
that bind, when
after a hard day

you're stuck
upright as a sundial,
upright as a belfry,

what odd seed
shall we tuck inside
for you to cover over?


Copyright © Peggy Shumaker.
http://www.unl.edu/schooner/psmain.htm
Prairie Schooner is a literary quarterly published since 1927 which
publishes original stories, poetry, essays, and reviews. Regularly cited in the
prize journals, the magazine is considered one of the most prestigious of the
campus-based literary journals.






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