The Complete Poetry of James Hearst THE COMPLETE POETRY OF JAMES HEARST Edited by Scott Cawelti Foreword by Nancy Price university of iowa press iowa city University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 Copyright ᭧ 2001 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Design by Sara T. Sauers http://www.uiowa.edu/ϳuipress No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. The publication of this book was generously supported by the University of Iowa Foundation, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Northern Iowa, Dr. and Mrs. James McCutcheon, Norman Swanson, and the family of Dr. Robert J. Ward. Permission to print James Hearst’s poetry has been granted by the University of Northern Iowa Foundation, which owns the copyrights to Hearst’s work. Art on page iii by Gary Kelley Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hearst, James, 1900–1983. [Poems] The complete poetry of James Hearst / edited by Scott Cawelti; foreword by Nancy Price. p. cm. Includes index. isbn 0-87745-756-5 (cloth), isbn 0-87745-757-3 (pbk.) I. Cawelti, G. Scott. II. Title. ps3515.e146 a17 2001 811Ј.52—dc21 00-066997 01 02 03 04 05 c 54321 01 02 03 04 05 p 54321 CONTENTS An Introduction to James Hearst by Nancy Price xxix Editor’s Preface xxxiii A journeyman takes what the journey will bring. nineteen twenty-four The Isle of the Setting Sun 3 The Painter 5 Voices 6 nineteen twenty-five Part of an Eternal Dialogue 6 nineteen twenty-six Around the Bend 7 The Burden 8 The Contract 9 The Experiment 9 In April 10 The Reason for Stars 10 nineteen twenty-seven Beauty 11 Belief 11 nineteen thirty Frost 12 nineteen thirty-one The Body of One 13 Country Men 13 nineteen thirty-two Clover Swaths 14 Robin in the Straw 15 Seeding 16 nineteen thirty-five The Grail 17 nineteen thirty-six Dead Crows 18 Everything was just barely enough. nineteen thirty-seven Barns in November 21 Blue Again 22 Cows Bawl on Sunday 22 Fall Plowing 23 Farm on a Summer Night 23 First Snow 24 The Forest 25 The Movers 26 Now I Have Taken to the Fields 27 Plowman 27 Reflection 28 Seventy Times Seven 28 Sparrows in Spring 29 Summer Rain 29 Theology 30 The Warning Cry 30 Winter Field 31 nineteen thirty-eight Dark Flower 31 Evening 32 When a Neighbor Dies 33 Winter Solstice 34 nineteen thirty-nine March Mourning 34 On Relief 35 Spring West of Town 35 vi contents nineteen forty After the Son Died 36 False Warning 37 Invocation 38 Meeting a Pheasant Hunter in Our Grove 39 Quarrel 40 The Same in This as Other Lands 40 The Sun at Noon 41 What really counted was the work I could do. nineteen forty-three After Chores 45 After Cornhusking 46 The Army 46 Boundary Lines 47 Choosing 47 The Fencerow 48 Free Man 49 Good Friday 49 Guarding the Fire 50 The Hammer and the Rat 51 Homesickness 52 How Many Shadows Has a Man 52 Logician 54 The Neighborhood 54 The Old Dog 54 The Other Land 55 Snake in the Strawberries 55 Spring Barnyard 56 Stranger 57 Stolid Farmer to His Son 57 Time Like a Hand 57 The Vine 58 Winter Shower 59 The Young Old Timer 60 contents vii nineteen forty-four Burn the Cocoons 60 nineteen forty-five Inquiry 61 I learned resistance from a heart of oak that lay charred in the grate, it was in the fire from the very start and still is solid. nineteen fifty-one Accident 65 The Advantage 65 After Cornhusking 66 After the People Go 66 All Anyone Could Say 67 Analogy 68 Between Snow and Stars 68 Burning a Dead Heifer 69 Construction 70 Crow’s Impatience 70 The Deacon Goes for His Sunday Paper 71 The Debtor 72 Fog 72 For a Neighbor Woman 73 The Great Coincidence 74 The Harvesters 75 Impudence 76 Late Spring 76 Mad Dog 77 Memorial Day 77 No Leaves? No Apples? 78 The Oracle 78 The Orchard Man 79 Point of View 80 Protest 81 viii contents The Return 82 Statement 83 The Thief 83 Threat of Weather 84 Three Old Horses 85 What Was That? 86 His road is hard who bears within himself seeds of the sun, who sees how patient earth cracks and strains to bring a flower to bloom . nineteen fifty-seven Harvest Claim 89 Surprise 89 nineteen fifty-eight Music for Seven Poems 90 The Old Admonitions 94 The Questioner 94 Success 95 nineteen fifty-nine The Barn 96 The Cricket 96 Emerson’s Page 97 The Reminder 98 The Shadow 98 Time of Contrition 99 Time to Act 100 I stand my ground and warm the air with a man’s presence . nineteen sixty First Signs 103 See How the Wind 103 contents ix Time’s Laggard 104 Vigilance 104 Weed Solitude 105 nineteen sixty-one Advice to Farmers 105 Animal Tracks 106 The Bird 107 Cross Purposes 107 Love 108 A Matter of Fact 108 My Father’s Care 109 Owner 109 Quiet Sunday 110 Tired of Earth 110 The Waster 111 nineteen sixty-two Autumn Love 112 Beggared 112 Birthplace 113 Blind with Rainbows 115 Change toward Certainty 118 Farmhand 119 Grandfather’s Farm 120 His Daily Pack 120 Landmark 121 Late Meadowlark 122 Limited View 122 Many Hens Do Not Make Light Work 123 Mexico (San Miguel de Allende) 124 Moment toward Spring 124 Need for Grass 125 Need of Solid Ground 126 The Red Flower 126 Scatter the Petals 127 Spring Gymnastics 127 Spring Lament 128 x contents Spring on the Farm 129 A Stray 130 To an Old Sow 130 Truth 131 The Unprotected 132 The Visit 132 The Well 133 I bring you a gift of apples now mellowed past spring’s desire . nineteen sixty-three Discovery 137 Home 137 Utopia 138 The Wasted Corner 138 nineteen sixty-four Buried Seeds 139 The Captain Ashore 139 Karma 140 Love’s Apostate 140 Reprieve 141 The Return Flight 141 Tasters 142 Unearned Gift 142 Wilderness Token 143 nineteen sixty-five Apple Harvest 144 The Balance 144 Behind the Stove 145 A Chance Meeting 146 Claim of Two Countries 146 Cold Snap 147 Common Ground 148 The Farmer’s Season 148 contents xi For God’s Sake 149 Forsythia 149 Hen Pheasant 150 Hog Economy 151 Home Place 151 Indian Summer 152 Marred 152 Noisy Morning 153 A Place to Sit 154 The Quarrel 156 Second Look 156 Shortcut 157 The Storm 157 Undertow 158 Wilderness Ways 159 nineteen sixty-six Conservative 159 Day’s Routine 160 Elegy 160 Line between Seasons 161 Out of Bounds 162 Potencies 162 Retired 163 Tornado 163 Words of a Season 164 ...avision turns stones of fact to miraculous bread. nineteen sixty-seven Before Frost 167 Bowed Strength 168 The Change 169 Close the Accounts 169 Cold’s Verdict 170 Forewarned 171 xii contents In Doubt 171 Intruder 172 It Was Like This 173 Little Bull 173 Love in Autumn 174 Love’s Survival 174 Love’s Ways 175 The Meeting 175 Men Give More Than Promises 176 Metamorphosis 177 The Molehill 178 Morning Walk 178 The New Calf 179 Ownership 180 Penance for Anger 181 Plea for Single Focus 182 Progress 182 Propped Apple Tree 183 Revival 184 The Search 184 Signed by Your Kiss 185 Three Sides to a Farm 186 Time’s Flail 187 Trials of Ownership 188 We All Bear the Mark 189 What Shall We Do? 190 Wren in the Vervain 190 . bury the work in its old clothes, let’s go inside to learn how fire lives on top of ashes and watch shadows of light leap to the windows. nineteen sixty-eight After Years Apart 195 The Call 195 contents xiii End of April 196 Fear of Renewal 197 Fourth of July at Aspen 197 Games Are Never Free 198 Giant Fear 199 Let’s Go Inside 199 The Oldest Season 200 The Rescue 200 Sadness Weeps 201 Saturday Morning 201 Spring Fever 202 Spring Rain 203 The Strongest Magic 203 The Test 204 Warm-Eyed Memory 204 A Way to Measure 205 A cow is a completely automatic milk manufacturing machine. It is encased in untanned leather and mounted on four vertical movable supports, one on each corner. nineteen sixty-nine Bluejay and I 209 The Chipmunk and I 209 Cry Shame 210 Destruction 211 Dogma 211 A Green Voice 212 Hard Words 213 Leaves Like Tears 213 Names for an Obstacle 214 Not Floods but Emptiness 214 Once Glimpsed 217 Stranger, Share Our Fire 217 Valley and Mountain 218 View by View 218 xiv contents Weeds of Anger 219 What Is a Cow? 219 Wish for a Season 220 Don’t bring any more naked questions for me to clothe with answers. Styles change too fast to keep up with and I’m going out of business. nineteen seventy Between Neighbors 223 The Blame 223 Come On, Let’s Go 224 The Day of the Hawk 224 Day’s Facts 225 Deaf Ear 226 Discarded 226 Don’t Ask the Professor 227 The Face of Things 227 The Farmstead 228 Frustration 229 Let’s Not Fool Ourselves 229 Moment Like Love 230 News of Your Coming 230 Resort to Calm 231 Routine Keeps Me 231 The Smile 232 Sounds around a Man 233 Stormbound 233 To a Loquacious Friend 234 To Run or Sit 234 Vacations 235 What Wind 236 contents xv Anger and hate find new voices each generation for blasphemies not dreamed of under the big trees.