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Bitter Taste

Text of Poem

I ate the sour grapes and tried
to forget them as I walked to the
field, kicking the dust, the smell
of smartweed hot in my nostrils.
A striped gopher whistled,
grasshoppers snapped from the grass,
a bullsnake pulled his spotted rope
across my path, a bobolink rode
a timothy stalk, grain ripened
under the wind. I breathed
deeply, unclenched my hands,
spread them to the sun, felt
comforted by facts, but my mouth
tasted bitter all afternoon.

First Line
I ate the sour grapes and tried
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1971
Original Citation
Kansas Quarterly 3 (Summer 1971) 84.
Complete Poems
239
Word Count
78
Poetic Form
open
Themes