The Farm

( ( ( 0 ) ) ) For more about James Reaney’s poems and a look back at the family farm where James Reaney grew up, see the 1971 TVOntario documentary “James Reaney” in the Canadian Writers series.

The Farm

There was a farm divided in two
1/2 of it surly brick maker owned
swale & slough clay & stiff
Into this from the western half
Jutted an orchard of 50 young trees
Captain Grape Arbour & Major Mulberry
Angel greening trees in whitewashed trunks
Roods & perches fought clayhole & swamp
& the lawns won, the gravel pit’s gone
Now the farm’s one.

James Reaney, 1969

(Note: “Roods & perches” are land survey measurements.)

For a closer look at “The Farm” and other emblem poems, see The Emblems of James Reaney by Thomas Gerry, available from The Porcupine’s Quill.