This is Poetry Moment on WPSU – a weekly program featuring the work of contemporary Pennsylvania poets. Your host is poet Marjorie Maddox, a 2023 Monson Arts Fellow, author of more than 20 books, and retired professor of English and creative writing at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University.
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Welcome to Poetry Moment.
As any carpenter, gardener, or farmer can tell you, the act of creation can feel miraculous. Combine hammer, nail, and wood, and—behold—a dresser. Pair seed and dirt and—presto—new life. Poet Jessica Whipple agrees. Of course, all of this requires time and dutiful labor. In today’s poem, “Work / Life,” Jessica Whipple captures the blessed bounty of work—be it for poem or peony.
Jessica Whipple writes for adults and children. Her poetry has been published recently at ONE ART and Whale Road Review, and in Funicular and Door Is a Jar. Her poem "Broken Strings" was nominated for a 2023 Pushcart Prize. Her picture books Enough Is... and I Think I Think a Lot are available anywhere books are sold. She lives in Eastern PA and inhabits the places where picture books and poetry intersect, but you can find her online at AuthorJessicaWhipple.com
Residing in Amish Country, Jessica Whipple has witnessed her neighbors’ seasonal interactions with the land. She explains, “I’m part of that, too, even though I’m not a farmer. I harvest peonies that I didn't plant and do very little to care for—they were here when we moved into our home.” Listen to this poem of new life, wonder, and gratitude. Perhaps you, too, will witness a type of miracle.
Here’s “Work / Life” by Jessica Whipple
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A man coaxes a dresser to stand up
from a schematic on his workbench.
A woman snips peonies.
She rights their heavy heads
in a jar on her dining room table.
What makes them beautiful
is too much for them to bear.
And possibly the most direct route to upright
is the miracle of corn and soybeans
standing in ripples on this Pennsylvania land.
Three draft horses move as one to wake the earth,
hitching gear jangling as if to say,
“Get up, take up your mat, and walk.”
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First published in Funicular Volume 4, Issue 3 (2023)
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That was “Work / Life” by Jessica Whipple. Thanks for listening.
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Listen for Poetry Moment with Marjorie Maddox Mondays during Morning Edition and All Things Considered on WPSU. You can more episodes at wpsu.org/poetrymoment.
Our theme music is by Eric Ian Farmer.
