|
TAKE HEART
A Conversation in Poetry
Edited & Introduced by Wesley McNair, Maine Poet Laureate
Bruce Guernsey of Bethel has appeared twice before in the Take Heart
column. Today he offers a group portrait of a family at the dump.
|
The Dump Pickers by Bruce Guernsey
On Sundays
carting my trash to the dump
I’d see them swarming
the piles like gnats,
a whole family of pickers
straight from Mass:
Dad’s suit, white
as the noon sky, Junior
in a polka-dot tie -
in bright, patent leathers
his small, pale sister.
From the highest of piles
Mother shouted orders
through a paper cup,
the men hurrying under
her red, high heels,
dragging metal to the pickup,
the little girl giggling,
spinning on her toes
through the blowing paper
like a dancer, a little twist
of wind in the dust.
|
|
Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.
Poem copyright © 2012 Bruce Guernsey. Reprinted from Rain: Poems, 1970-2010, Ecco Qua Press, 2012 by permission of Bruce Guernsey.
Questions about submitting to Take Heart may be directed to David Turner, Special Assistant to the Maine Poet Laureate, at 207-228-8263 or poetlaureate@mainewriters.org. |
|