Too Many Defeats Dull the Spirit

The worst was
too damn much rain,
the corn opening its first leaf,
the beans just breaking through—
you know a beanstalk
arches its back to open
the crust of ground and pulls
the leaves through after it.
Rain washed the earth down
like a silt glacier and
covered everything, smothered it,
killed it.
I had only a couple of low corners
but Henry Jensen lost all his bottom land.
He replanted twice, too late for corn
and still the beans could hardly
break through. It gave Henry
a kind of emotional seizure and
he stayed inside his house for a week.
His wife said he spent all his time
sitting in the bedroom under an umbrella,
but you have to allow for a woman
planting some ornamental borders
around the plain truth.