Hoeing by John Updike

Dark Fields
The second stanza is just about perfect, I think.  Oh to write like this, simply to write like this...

Hoeing by John Updike

 I sometimes fear the younger generation
 will be deprived
 of the pleasures of hoeing;
 there is no knowing
 how many souls have been formed by this
 simple exercise.

 The dry earth like a great scab breaks,
 revealing
 moist-dark loam --
 the pea-root's home,
 a fertile wound perpetually healing.

 How neatly the great weeds go under!
 The blade chops the earth new.
 Ignorant the wise boy who
 has never rendered thus the world
 fecunder.


Comments

  1. I've rendered thus the world, but could never write like that.
    The hours I've spent hoeing are many.

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  2. That second stanza, oh yes. It's been years and years since I've read that poem, and it always feels like the first time. Good stuff there.

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  3. Oh...to be a great writer/poet like Updike...sigh....

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  4. You're really diving into poetry with both feet! Love it. xo

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  5. The second stanza is my favorite too - how beautiful!

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  6. that is so lovely. the second stanza is so beautiful and rich. xo

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