[John Whitworth]

1.

Preacher’s Grove
for John Stern

I carried an axe, a whetstone and two files,
not sheaves of poetry but drop-forged steels.
Sixteen, I could have tramped for fifty miles
if not for the blood pooling at my heels.
Mole foam was uninvented, and my boots
were brutal.All my scouts were little brutes,
scraping their knees while tripping over roots.

Recall an earlier day: at age eleven
I shouldered my enormous haversack,
some twenty pounds (the sleeping bag weighed seven.)
The bigger boys carried the heavier loads,
far more than any Tenderfoot could pack.
All of the paths we hiked were logging roads
to reach a campsite I recall as heaven.

It was a grove of virgin Norway pine.
Older, I’d hike alone there, afternoons
when I’d no map and compass course to line,
no Pioneering Merit Badge to teach,
only a switchback trail, a steep incline,
only the chorus of the distant loons—
and all the listeners I longed to reach.

[Mary Meriam]

I know this poem very well and love it - another heartbreaker. "All my scouts were little brutes" - just delicious.

[Janice D. Soderling]

I have a qualified guess. Good work as per ususal.

[Lance Levens]

Not many spherians are able to use the word "haversack." A fine piece.

[Jayne Osborn]

I don't remember seeing this one. I love the content, but can't help wondering why the rhyme scheme is different for each stanza. (Or is it a form I don't recognise?)

[John Whitworth]

You have seen it, Jayne because you made that same remark. I don't know why the rhyme scheme is different.

[Susan McLean]

I'll just say that I like that the rhyme scheme varies in each stanza. It allows for a greater element of surprise, gives the poet more flexibility, and yet maintains the same mix of rhymes: two of two, one of three.

Susan

[Ann Drysdale]

Whose woods these are, I think I know...

[Catherine Chandler]

John,

When you posted this a few days ago on another thread I commented on it. My comment seems to have been deleted when you opened the new thread. It would be nice if you could retrieve the comment and repost it. Thanks.

Cathy

[Michael Cantor]

It's a competent occasional poem, but doesn't push to get sufficiently beyond that. Not enough magic in this one for me. I'd love to see a rewrite. Get rid of the forced "bruits/roots" rhyme, eliminate the repeat of "recall" in S2, introduce more vivid language. Polish, polish, polish. Rewrite, rewrite. rewrite. My usual kvetch.