Radical

by Marianne Moore 1887 – 1972

Tapering

to a point, conserving everything,

this carrot is predestined to be thick.

The world is

but a circumstance, a mis-

erable corn-patch for its feet. With ambition,

imagination, outgrowth,

nutriment,

with everything crammed belligerent-

ly inside itself, its fibres breed mon-

opoly —

a tail-like, wedge-shaped engine with the

secret of expansion, fused with intensive heat

to the color of the set-

ting sun and

stiff. For the man in the straw hat, stand-

ing still and turning to look back at it —

as much as

to say my happiest moment has

been funereal in comparison with this, the con-

ditions of life pre-

determined

slavery to be easy and freedom hard. For

it? Dismiss

agrarian lore; it tells him this:

that which it is impossible to force, it is

impossible to hinder.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. If you want to join: Listen to a poem from the month of April on One Poem Only, then write your own in response. I will pick one for each day to read in June for a special series: One Poem After 🍎🍏 Submissions close May 15.

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