"I stand alone at the foot "
Of my father’s grave,
Trembling to tell:
The door to the granary is open,
Sir,
And someone lost the bucket
To the well.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright © 2004 by William Kloefkorn, whose most recent book of poetry is Still Life Moving, WSC Press, 2007, illustrated with pastel paintings by Carlos Frey. Reprinted from Alvin Turner As Farmer, Logan House, 2004, by permission of the author and publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.