Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Hay Day

Beautiful, the fourteen-hundred-pound round

bale of sweet brome the grower and I roll

from the back of his truck against the usual tree.

The geldings can hardly contain themselves.

They smelled and came running across the field

and now they look and nicker, and move in

even before I can cut loose the four long

Sponsored
Sponsored

bands of twine from the edge, where they nip instead

the greenest, sweetest stuff from the wound center

of the man-high wheel of it. They feed there

for most of an hour, long after I’ve written the check

and the hay man’s made his way back home

and it being August I relax on the porch

with a beer my wife brought home from town

and, knowing my usual routine on such days, slipped

into the freezer until just minutes ago, so that

I might sit and watch the horses, having had

all they want, move in slow circles around

the great black walnut’s vast expanse of shade,

then stop — BJ, the troublesome elder, and Red,

the beautiful, genuinely exceptional ride —

as always in the same precise relation to one another

(Red at forty-five degrees and a little back) —

before taking off around the fence line

at a trot, then a canter, and then, for just a few

beautiful moments, a dead and joyful run.

Robert Wrigley lives with his wife, the writer Kim Barnes, and their children, on the Clearwater River in Idaho. His most recent collection of poetry is Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems, published by Penguin in 2006. “Hay Day” originally appeared in New South: Georgia State University’s Journal of Art & Literature. Copyright © 2009 Robert Wrigley. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Photo credit: Matt Valentine.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?

Beautiful, the fourteen-hundred-pound round

bale of sweet brome the grower and I roll

from the back of his truck against the usual tree.

The geldings can hardly contain themselves.

They smelled and came running across the field

and now they look and nicker, and move in

even before I can cut loose the four long

Sponsored
Sponsored

bands of twine from the edge, where they nip instead

the greenest, sweetest stuff from the wound center

of the man-high wheel of it. They feed there

for most of an hour, long after I’ve written the check

and the hay man’s made his way back home

and it being August I relax on the porch

with a beer my wife brought home from town

and, knowing my usual routine on such days, slipped

into the freezer until just minutes ago, so that

I might sit and watch the horses, having had

all they want, move in slow circles around

the great black walnut’s vast expanse of shade,

then stop — BJ, the troublesome elder, and Red,

the beautiful, genuinely exceptional ride —

as always in the same precise relation to one another

(Red at forty-five degrees and a little back) —

before taking off around the fence line

at a trot, then a canter, and then, for just a few

beautiful moments, a dead and joyful run.

Robert Wrigley lives with his wife, the writer Kim Barnes, and their children, on the Clearwater River in Idaho. His most recent collection of poetry is Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems, published by Penguin in 2006. “Hay Day” originally appeared in New South: Georgia State University’s Journal of Art & Literature. Copyright © 2009 Robert Wrigley. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Photo credit: Matt Valentine.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Next Article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.