VALERIE WORTH POEMS ABOUT FARM ANIMALS

Hello and happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Betsy at I Think in Poems for Roundup.

So, farm animals. I may be live in the suburbs, and I may lovelovelove the energy of big cities, but my heart is and always will be in the country. At the start of our marriage, my husband and I tried on the country life with 40 acres, a garden, a chicken coop and goats. Alas, as soon as the children began to arrive, the country girl gave way to the city comforts. I love where we live now, with all its conveniences and don't have any desire to return to country living full-time. I do, however, love to visit! These Valerie Worth poems gave me an opportunity to do just that:

horse

In the stall's gloom
His back, curved
Like a high sofa,
Turns on unseen
Legs, looms closer,
Until his long
Head forms above
The door, his face
Of thin silk over
Bone: to be stroked
Carefully, like
Fine upholstery
On a hard chair.

- Valerie Worth

scene from the movie

There's never in the history of the world been a more horse-loving girl than I was. I knew everything there was to know about horse. I lived and breathed and dreamed and hoped horses. Some of the best hours of my life have been spent in the company of Daisy, Starfire, Rusty, Honey, Cherry, Cinnamon and her foal, Sugar. I've never met a horse book I didn't like, and if I could have traded places with Alec Ramsey on that deserted island with the Black? Oh, I would have, snake and seaweed and sunburn and all. One of these days I'm going to write (another) horse book. (Pretty much all my childhood writing centered around horses!)



cat

The spotted cat hops
Up to a white radiator-cover
As warm as summer, and there,

Between pots of green leaves growing,
By a window of cold panes showing
Silver of snow thin across the grass,

She settles slight neat muscles
Smoothly down within
Her comfortable fur

Slips in the ends, front paws,
Tail, until she is readied,
Arranged, shaped for sleep.

- Valerie Worth

For the love of cats! I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have a cat. Our current cat-residents are named Maggie (for my paternal grandmother) and Bobby (for my mother-in-law, whose name was Bobbie). 



duck

When the neat white
Duck walks like a toy
Out of the water
On yellow rubber-skinned feet,

And speaks wet sounds,
Hardly opening
His round-tipped wooden
Yellow-painted beak,

And wags his tail,
Flicking the last
Glass water-drops
From his flat china back,

Then we would like
To pick him up, take
Him home with us, put him
Away, on a shelf, to keep.

- Valerie Worth

I have fed lots of ducks in my day, and geese. I can't think of a better way to use up the last of a loaf of white bread! A book that often comes to mind is David Shannon's DUCK ON A BIKE. Leave it to a duck to start a farmyard trend. :)






pig

The pig is bigger
Than we had thought
And not so pink,
Fringed with white
Hairs that look
Gray, because while
They say a pig is clean,
It is not always; still
We like this huge, cheerful,
Rich, soft-bellied beast --
It wants to be comfortable,
And does not care much
How the thing is managed.

- Valerie Worth

Of course, who can think of a pig without thinking of Wilbur in CHARLOTTE'S WEB? Also, I was born in the Year of the Pig, which is considered good fortune. For a long time I was a bit annoyed that I should get "Pig" when I would have chosen a different animal for myself. But, you know, I've grown to love this about myself.



cow

The cow
Coming
Across the grass
Moves
Like a mountain
Toward us;
Her hipbones
Jut
Like sharp
Peaks
Of stone,
Her hoofs
Thump
Like dropped
Rocks:
Almost
Too late
She stops.

- Valerie Worth

I can't think of cows without thinking of my mama. During her childhood she was very involved in 4-H and raised both beef and dairy cattle. Her prize-winning dairy cow was a Jersey cow named Penny. I love this picture of my mom and Penny(with her 4-H sponsor and a slew of awards!):

tractor

The tractor rests
In the shed,
Dead or asleep,

But with high
Hind wheels
Held so still

We know
It is only waiting,
Ready to leap--

Like a heavy
Brown
Grasshopper.

- Valerie Worth

Okay, so this isn't a living farm animal, but it's pretty essential to farm life... and it can be something of a beast. My father has taken some amazing photos of old tractors, most recently in North Dakota (where he lives). Here's one I like a lot:

How do YOU feel about farms and farm life and farm animals?