Jared Carter
Ladle
(Alexandroid)
Found in the weeds, this broken spoon
that someone carved
From walnut – meant to serve the noon
meal to men starved
From bringing in the hay, or who
were up all night
With breech birth – needed coffee, too,
before daylight.
Deep bowl and slender handle show
the even grain
Now cracked apart, from ladling snow
and summer rain.
Bio
Jared Carter lives in Indiana. His most recent book of poems, Darkened Rooms of Summer, is available from the University of Nebraska Press.