Newsletter sign up

Be the first to know when new American Life in Poetry columns are live.

Column 781

Carrot

Intro by Ted Kooser
03.08.2020

Lest we for­get our veg­eta­bles, here’s a poem by James Bertoli­no about one of our dear­est and health­i­est ones. The poet lives in Belling­ham, Wash­ing­ton, and this is from his book, Every Wound Has A Rhythm, from World Enough Writ­ers, Kingston, Washington. 

Carrot

The carrot says
don’t be confused

by appearances.
My lacy green

friendship with air
gives me the confidence

to make demands
of dirt. Consider me

a prospector probing
with my own gold.


Share this column

Disclaimer

We do not accept unsolicited submissions

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 ©2012 by James Bertolino, "Carrot," from Every Wound Has A Rhythm, (World Enough Writers, 2012). Poem reprinted by permission of James Bertolino and the publisher.   Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.