Tenacity in a Midwestern Cornfield On the wires crows sing their funeral dirge as the Land below them drains its last movement. The flatness of the geography mocks the mind with Its barren drought, its shriveled cornstalks Collapsing under the heat of errors. Past mistakes Shake their heads via zig-zag motions in the enduring air; Inspiration is a wasteland here, sapped as Moisture by the already-dying soil as if failure Is further needed To prove to this withering thinking-place that giving up doesn't cease with Surrender, endings differ From ends. But the scenery crackles with just One glance, the corn only have the memory Of yellowing ideas long past gone To grow for. And isn't that enough? Continuing to wait When the waiting has already left you, Keeping up with something in a Field of nothing. Standing guard at the doorway - Until you catch up with changing And the change catches up with you.
Jennifer Tung's questions:
1. Do you think it is the visual imagery that drives the theme of this poem, or the theme that drives the
imagery?
2. What is, in your opinion, the theme of the poem?
3. What overall tone does this poem project?
Thank you for reading!!