>Alison Croggon wrote:
>>
>> my father's olives
>> are bearing their first fruits
>>
>> hard green nubs
>> among the speechless leaves
>>
>> in a century the wind
>> will grace this grove
>>
>> with innumerable footprints
>> of silver on black
>>
>> and who will name the man
>> who nourished these saplings
>>
>> in a rabbit-cropped paddock
>> knowing more than he said
>>
>> when he soaked the hot dust
>> until the roots were deep enough
>>
>> to slumber through drought
>> and keep the ancient promise
>>
>> black and bitter and plump
>> in their autumn hands
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>
>Last line a problem. In whose autumn hands? "Who" is not clearly
>plural and there are two plural nouns between it and the ending.
Well for me, Frederick, the poem works in its minimalist way, & the last
line's hands seem to be those of the roots. I like the question without
the question mark, Alison...(& wrote this response before I read yours)...
doug
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
he said the President said
he would not kill anyone
anymore and the way he would not kill
would be to let the killers kill
and then he would not be a killer
Eli Mandel (circa 1970)
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