I have several "iron spears' on the farm - called crowbars, they have varying points from, sharpish to splayed, for the jobs you mention. They have a thickened head, like a giant, heavy pin. And I have dropped mine on my foot more than once, and thus it possesses an unmentionable nickname. As in 'give me the...'.
It belonged to my grandfather's father, is handforged, has his name hammered into it, is about 5'9" or 10" and weighs about five or six kilos. If you have used it all day, as I have, to dig drainage trenches, you become intimate with it...
c
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rachel Loden
Sent: Wednesday, 26 July 2006 12:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "What the Gravedigger Needs"
Hi Patrick,
The bicycle is for the gravedigger, as he finishes up one grave and goes on to the next. If there is a next, I guess, on a given day. My husband says the burial didn't happen all at once, at least in the old days--planks were laid across the grave after the casket was lowered, then branches from a fir tree. Later the gravedigger came back and filled up the chasm. Cheers!
What did your granddad's iron spear look like?
Thanks for the kind words,
Rachel
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Patrick Mc
> Manus
> Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 7:20 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: "What the Gravedigger Needs"
>
> Thanks Rachel was very interested in bicycle from grave to grave was
> that for the officiant not the mourners -how many friends does one
> bury at a time
>
> My grandad used to have a very usefull 'iron spear' a lethal thing to
> drop on feet -disappeared over the years not seen another good for
> getting at tree roots Enjoyed form of the poem Cheers P old P
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rachel Loden
> Sent: 25 July 2006 11:32
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: "What the Gravedigger Needs"
>
>
> If you're so inclined, one of my poems from the new issue of New
> American Writing is at Poetry Daily today, and afterwards for a year
> in the archives:
>
> http://www.poems.com/
>
>
> How to get a copy (from the editors, Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover):
>
> New American Writing 24 (2006) has just been published and can be
> ordered directly from New American Writing, 369 Molino Avenue, Mill
> Valley, CA 94941, for $13 ($2 off the cover price).
>
> You can save $3 an issue, a total savings of $9, by ordering a
> subscription for three annual issues. To do so, send a check for $36
> to the above address.
>
> To use a credit a card, order single copies or subscriptions online
> through the NAW website, www.newamericanwriting.com.
>
> The 220 page issue contains a generous Nathaniel Mackey feature
> including "The Atmosphere is Alive," an interview with the poet by
> Sarah Rosenthal and a representative selection of his poetry and
> prose.
>
> Also featured are translations of the poetry of Pura Lopez-Colome
> (Jason Stumpf), Pablo Neruda (Clayton Eshleman), Aase Berg (Johannes
> Gorranson), Vladimir Holan Josef Horacek & Lara Glenum), Yang Jian
> (Wang Ping and Alex Lemon), Yao Feng (Christopher Kelen), Eugenio
> Montejo (Kirk Nesset), and eight poems of Nguyen Trai, 1380-1442, one
> of Vietnam's greatest poets (Nguyen Do & Paul Hoover).
>
> As always, poetry in electrifying English: Pierre Joris, Rosmarie
> Waldrop, Clayton Eshleman, Mac Wellman, Karen Garthe, Martine Bellen,
> Rusty Morrison, Joanna Klink, Edward Smallfield, Joseph Lease, Brian
> Teare, Diane Newman, G.C.
> Waldrep, John Olson, Campbell McGrath, Devin Johnston, Lisa Isaacson,
> Ethan Paquin, Douglas Messerli, Caroline Knox, Rachel Loden, Terence
> Winch, Todd Swift, Patrick Pritchett, Craig Watson, Stephen Vincent,
> Fred Marchant, Valerie Coulton, Maged Zaher, Carol Ciavonne, Sandra
> Park, Curtis Bonney, George Kalamaras, Daneen Wardrop, Katie
> Degentesh, Michael Magee, Sharon Mesmer, Susan Maxwell, Barbara Jane
> Reyes, Susen James, Noelle Kocot, Chad Faries, Nathan Hauke, John
> Sakkis, Daniel Tiffany, Max Winter, James Meetze, Lori Shine, and
> Andrew Early.
>
>
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