Harvest Poems

Harvest Poems Carl Sandburg 125pp.

Harvest Poems is a collection of Carl Sandburg’s poetry from the entirety of his career. It is a remarkable “best-of” series, highlighting the greatest poems and verses from his life’s work. Carl Sandburg is a remarkable poet, in his verse he captures the broad sweep and grandeur of life in America through intimate portrayals of men and women throughout the country.

Sandburg’s style not only works wonders through its close focus, but also through a devastating sense of humor. Little lines, the twisted faces of gargoyles poking out from behind a more serious image.

These poems can paint their broad and sweeping pictures, especially in the selections from longer works. But the short poems are wonderful as well. Sandburg can take just a single little image and paint it in a longing, beautiful way. There is an almost Chinese feel to some of the pieces, when Sandburg will use the sparsest, smallest imagery, but fill a short poem with the entirety of a moment. “Fog,” one of my favorite poems from the whole volume, is an example of this technique par excellence.

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Harvest Poems leads me to discuss one of the wonderful aspects of doing this project-sometimes I re-read a book and find myself welcomed into the arms of an old friend. Good books only get better when you come back to them. Sometimes, however, I end up reading an author I’d never come to. When this happens, I find myself reacting in two ways. Sometimes I understand why I’d never read their work and don’t get very upset. But with authors like Carl Sandburg, I read them and get absolutely furious that I hadn’t read them yet. At the same time, it is a rare treat to read a poet with such tremendous skill.

Would I recommend Harvest Poems? Yes.

Score: 4.7/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? Most certainly yes.

-Mr. Cheddar