COME THE HARVEST by Paul Hunter

Poetry. From John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell to Robert Frost and Wendell Berry, every generation or two it seems a poet has to redefine our shifting relationship to the land. "Over the river and through the woods," Americans retain their comfortable myths about farming, and their agrarian roots, though for better or worse most are now several generations removed from the rural life. Paul Hunter reaches back to 19th century practices and values, and by the end leaps ahead to the agribusiness and suburban sprawl of the 21st century. We are all in there somewhere, in how we value versatility and hearken to the mystery of growth, how we both shun and are drawn to the backbreaking labor and long contemplative silences of working on the land--how we stand apart, tilling our thoughts.