Thursday, December 2, 2010

EARTH ~





Robert Francis


Born in Upland, Pennsylvania on August 12, 1901

Robert Francis moved to Amherst, Massachusetts in 1926

after graduating from Harvard. His first book of poems

Stand Here With Me appeared in 1936.

By 1940 he began building

his home Fort Juniper on the outskirts of town, which since

the poet's passing in 1987 has become a legendary spot

and home or studio for many other poets.

Collected Poems 1936-1976 makes a fine companion.

The poem below is drawn from that collection.

I have worked with this poem with every age group,

including with strangers when reading out on the street.

It chimes.


~



SILENT POEM


backroad----leafmold---- stonewall---- chipmunk
underbrush---- grapevine---- woodchuck---- shadblow



woodsmoke---- cowbarn ----honeysuckle---- woodpile
sawhorse---- bucksaw---- outhouse---- wellsweep



backdoor ----flagstone----bulkhead---- buttermilk
candlestick---- ragrug---- firedog---- brownbread



hilltop ----outcrop---- cowbell---- buttercup
whetstone---- thunderstorm---- pitchfork----steeplebush



gristmill---- millstone ----cornmeal ----waterwheel
watercress---- buckwheat---- firefly---- jewelweed



gravestone---- groundpine ----windbreak---- bedrock
weathercock ----snowfall---- starlight---- cockrow






I-VERMONT ~