Thursday, April 14, 2016

ARTSPEAK! 2016: Poem #14 "Harvest"

Welcome to day 14 of my National Poetry Month poem-a-day-project ARTSPEAK! in which I respond to images found in the online collections at the National Gallery of ArtPlease join me, if you feel so inspired! 

But first, please visit Jone at DeoWriter to see how our Progressive Poem is progressing!

This year's ARTSPEAK! theme is "Plant. Grow Eat." It was inspired by the release of my latest book FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market.

Here are the poems so far:

"Anticipation (in the Garden) after George Moore in the Artist's Garden by Edouard Manet
"Gathering Fruit" after Gathering Fruit by Mary Cassatt
"Bread's Lament" after Boy with Basket of Fruit by an unknown American artist
"After the Fire" after Ruined Farm by Hubert Robert
"Cow at the Gate" after Landscape with Open Gate by Pieter Molijin
"I Am the Plate" after Still Life with Milk Jug and Fruit by Paul Cezanne
"Courtship (According to the Cat)" by Winslow Homer
"Courage" after Planting Corn by Stanley Mazur
"Orchard Barber Shop" after Gardener Pruning a Tree by Jacques Callot
"Gardener's Companion" after The Watering Can by Georges Seurat
"Triolet for Planting Day" after The Artist's Garden at Eragny by Camille Pissarro

I selected today's piece The Last Days of Harvest by Winslow Homer because it's what our gentleman in yesterday's poem was yearning for.... the fruits of labor! But it isn't that simple, is it? The harvest takes work, too, as these boys are well aware.


Harvest

While our fathers
pluck pumpkins

we shuck
and shuck
and shuck.

With a little
luck
we'll be done
in time
for lunch.

Meanwhile
the corn sings:

rustle, crinkle,
crunch.



2 comments:

  1. In "rustle, crinkle, crunch" you captured the sounds of the moment.

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  2. I've shucked corn, not easy! Waiting for that wonderful harvest dinner after work is not easy either. Nice capture of this picture. Isn't it wonderful in the detail?

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