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crowyhead's review against another edition
5.0
As I read books of poetry, I like to bookmark the ones I want to re-read, or share, or think about some more. This book was positively bristling with bookmarks by the end.
Complaint with Drought and Economic Downturn
Mock orange gone rusty and slack,
the hard, weedy pinks of hollyhocks--
oh, what might drink this dry light
and shine? In a season of such want
it seems nearly indecent, my child's brimful
laugh, her delight in the alley's sunblown gravel.
The real work is to remain human:
to remember that like the ashy stone
she fists and studies, then turns to offer,
she is only one among the others--
oh, I know, yet fall still to my knees,
make of my hands a cup. This rock I receive
as if her touch were alchemic, as if
her choosing and her giving are enough.
- Joe Wilkins
Complaint with Drought and Economic Downturn
Mock orange gone rusty and slack,
the hard, weedy pinks of hollyhocks--
oh, what might drink this dry light
and shine? In a season of such want
it seems nearly indecent, my child's brimful
laugh, her delight in the alley's sunblown gravel.
The real work is to remain human:
to remember that like the ashy stone
she fists and studies, then turns to offer,
she is only one among the others--
oh, I know, yet fall still to my knees,
make of my hands a cup. This rock I receive
as if her touch were alchemic, as if
her choosing and her giving are enough.
- Joe Wilkins
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