How would you paraphrase this poem? he was a big man says the size of his shoes
laying on a pile of broken dishes by the house
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room, and a good god fearing man
says the bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun
but not a man for farming says the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn
a woman lived with him says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire
money was scarce says the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole
and the winters cold, says the rags in the window frames
it was lonely here says the narrow country road
something went wrong says the empty house
in the weed choked yard. stones in the fields
says he was not a farmer
the still sealed jars
in the cellar say she was left in a nervous haste
and the child? it’s toys were strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm a rubber cow
a rusty tractor with a broken plow
a doll in overalls. something went wrong they say