Page 74 - SampleIssue

KING PELLINORE’S LITERARY MAGAZINE

LAUGHING CORN

by Carl Sandburg

THERE was a high majestic fooling
Day before yesterday in the yellow corn.
And day after to-morrow in the yellow corn
There will be high majestic fooling.
The ears ripen in late summer
And come on with a conquering laughter,
Come on with a high and conquering laughter.
The long-tailed blackbirds are hoarse.
One of the smaller blackbirds chitters on a stalk
And a spot of red is on its shoulder
And I never heard its name in my life.
Some of the ears are bursting.
A white juice works inside.
Cornsilk creeps in the end and dangles in the wind.
Always—I never knew it any other way—
The wind and the corn talk things over together.

And the rain and the corn and the
sun and the corn
Talk things over together.
Over the road is the farmhouse.
The siding is white and a green
blind is slung loose.
It will not be fixed till the corn is
husked.
The farmer and his wife talk
things over together.

74