Prairie Graveyard

Prairie Graveyard

Original Text
Marriott, Anne. The Circular Coast. Oakville, ON L6L5N9: Mosaic Press / Valley Editions, 1252 Spears Road, Units 1-2, 1981. URL: www.mosaic-press.com
1Wind mutters thinly on the sagging wire
2binding the graveyard from the gouged dirt road,
3bends thick-bristled Russian thistle,
4sifts listless dust
5into cracks in hard grey ground.
6Empty prairie slides away
7on all sides, rushes toward a wide
8expressionless horizon, joined
9to a vast blank sky.
10               Lots near the road are the most expensive
11               where heavy tombstones lurch a fraction
12               tipped by splitting soil.
13               Farther, a row of nameless heaps
14               names weatherworn from tumbled sticks
15               remember now the six thin children
16               of a thin, shiftless home.
17Hawk, wind-scouring, cuts
18a pointed shadow in the drab scant grass.
Publication Start Year
1945
Publication Notes
Sandstone and Other Poems. Toronto, ON: Ryerson, 1945.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
Form
free verse
Special Copyright

"Prairie Graveyard" &copy; copyright Mosaic Press, 1252 Spears Road, Units 1-2, Oakville, ON L6L5N9. Permission to republish in RPO is acknowledged with gratitude. URL: <a href="http://www.mosaic-press.com">www.mosaic-press.com</a&gt;