Vintage Colorado Poetry Poem of the Week January 3, 2005
	Diary of a Country Gentleman Day starts ere dawn; a raucous cock Warns me that coyotes trail my flock. I grab my pants and take my gun--- To rout the thieves, before the sun Unfurls across the plains.  Chores then . . . And milk to cool.  Eat, next . . . By ten Grasshopper poison is all spread, My hands are raw, and thick my head. A hot wind burns in from the west . . . A setting turkey leaves her nest; The cut worms too, are bad, I see--- They wreck my crops, they fill each tree, When they are moths.  Well now to grind A sickle for the hay.  I find Some sections must be changed.  At noon The postman comes (with duns).  Too soon Time passes by.  Too short the day To cultivate---to put up hay. I lug some swill out to the sow, With dusty sleeve I mop my brow: My feet are dragging in their tracks, I take the milk things from their racks. The sun goes down . . . It still is hot. Now the day is done . . . But I am not!                 --Gertrude McDaniel
			Reprinted from anthology, Silver Souvenir: The Poetry Society of Colorado, 1921-1946.  Sage Books, Denver, 1946. Copyright, 1946. Fair use. Vintage Colorado Poetry would welcome hearing from the poet's family. Gertrude McDaniel lived in Rye. In later years, she moved to California. Thank you to her family for the information.
					Home Archives Previous Poem of the Week