Carrying Water to the Field

Joyce Sutphen grew up on a farm in Stearns County, Minnesota. She is a professor emeritus of English at Gustavus Adolphus College and is Minnesota’s poet laureate. She is the author of seven poetry collections, including Straight Out of View, Coming Back to the Body, and Naming the Stars, and is a coeditor of To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present.

"Precise in the language of everyday, rich in wisdom and maturity, Joyce Sutphen's newest collection, her eighth, speaks to her comfort with farm life, travel, aging, the distortions of memory."-Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews "Representing nearly a quarter-century of published work, Carrying Water to the Field attests to Joyce Sutphen's accomplishment as a lyric poet dedicated to clarity and concision. . . . The reader can dip in, selecting one perfectly crafted poem at a time and relish the weight and feel of each in their palm."-Elizabeth Hoover, (Minneapolis) Star Tribune "Perhaps you are interested in a poet’s journey, or the story of a family, the value of meaningful work, the beauty of things well-crafted, or the muscle and music of words. Perhaps the Heartland as a place intrigues you, or maybe you are fascinated by the places the heart will take us. If any of these things matters to you, then no matter how you choose to read Carrying Water to the Fields, you’re likely to find rewards."-Tracy Rittmueller, Lyricality “How rare to see lyric tenderness sustained over years with no stumble into sentimentality. This remarkable collection wields a keen blade of attention, a nonchalant elegance. The reigning landscape is the Minnesota family farm of Joyce Sutphen’s girlhood, a world lost not only to her but to America. The mind at work here is not nostalgic, but piercing, acute. The city of her adulthood, her travels (especially to Ireland), and the tally of enduring and broken relationships form a faithful history of our raucous times. Chekhov comes inevitably to mind, with his remorseless stories set in the dustscapes of the Russian provinces. No regionalist, he. Joyce Sutphen is our Chekhov, only in poems.”-Patricia Hampl, author of The Art of the Wasted Day “The writing in Carrying Water to the Field is faultless: the language is limpid and accurate, the choreography is unerring, the forms are balanced and satisfying. And even more satisfying is the fact that this brilliant technique justifies and is justified by the truth value of these poems, which usher us into the reality of time, change, loss, and memory’s belated and beautiful insights.”-Vijay Seshadri, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Three Sections: Poems “It is poetry that Joyce Sutphen finds in owls, marshes, tractors, harrows and mason jars: just as (amid the urgent matter of contemporary existence, literary life, love, and human frailty) she shows us the very heart and soul of her working, rooted prairie people, as shy of being caught in a poem as they once were reluctant to be photographed, but perfectly captured for us in this sweeping account of life that is both specific and universal. A stunning collection of poems.”-Anne-Marie Fyfe, author of The House of Small Absences

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Ted KooserSelections from Straight Out of ViewStraight Out of ViewThe FarmTornado WarningFeeding the New CalfMy Father Comes to the CitySt. Joe, the AngelusIn BlackFrom Out the CaveGreat Salt LakeHolland Park at DuskRiding East to DoverReading Sylvia Plath in LondonEdgar's DreamDeath Becomes MeSuppose Death Comes Like ThisWhat You WantedA Kind of DeliveranceIn Quest of AgatesLiving in the BodyCrossroadsSelections from Coming Back to the BodyHomesteadingComforts of the SunGirl on a TractorA Poem with My Mother in ItApple SeasonFields in Late OctoberCasinoOf VirtueThe Silence SaysA Kind of VillanelleHer Legendary HeadNot for BurningThe Temptation to InventBookmobileRodin on FilmArrangement in Grey and BlackWhat the Heart Cannot ForgetOlder, Younger, BothComing Back to the BodyInto Thin AirThe AssumptionSelections from Naming the StarsNaming the StarsRaku SongsHow We Ended Up TogetherThe Problem WasLosing TouchPolaroid # 2Ever AfterThe Sound of No One CallingAisle and ViewThe Apostate's CreedEmptyWhat Comes AfterIn the WakeThis BodyNow That Anything Could HappenWhat to PackGetting the MachineSome Glad MorningAt the MomentNow, Finally, a Love SongSelections from First WordsFirst WordsThe Body I Once Lived InMy Legendary FatherThe Kingdom of SummerThe AuntsMy LuckJust for the RecordBringing in the HayMy Dog, PalHarrowThe Oat Binder""H"" What Every Girl WantsThe First ChildMy Brother's HatThese Few PreceptsIn Vermeer's PaintingThings You Didn't Put on Your RésuméHow to ListenThe Last Things I'll RememberSelections from After WordsA Dream of Empty FieldsTaking StockThe Scythe""Perfect Weather for Hanging Wash"" My Mother's Secret LifeThe ExamGrandma ClaraSeptember Afternoon, WritingMy Grandmother Sells Her Strawberry FieldThe Queen of Summer LawnsMy Sister's School PapersTwo Girls on a HayrackThe Blue in the DistanceThings I KnowBell Bottom BabyThe Suzuki MotherWe Have Come This FarNext TimeDominoesThe Last Perfect SeasonSelections from Modern Love & Other MythsWhiteoutOn the Shortest DaysWinter's NightLike ThatIt's AmazingThe Hampstead SonnetsBird on a Wall in County ClareThe Last StrawThings to Watch While You DriveThe Idea of LivingThe Lost ProphecyOne Thousand and One NightsThe Poem You Said You Wouldn't WriteThe One Constant ThingDeath, Inc. Even in My TimeThe Posthumous Journey of the SoulAll the People I Used to BeFor the Evening LightSay ItThe Book of HoursSelections from The Green HouseIrish SuiteA Bird in County ClareA Postcard from the BurrenAt ClonmacnoisePlaying the PipesThis Beautiful PaperSnow, Snow, SnowThe Sound of a TrainWriting PoetryWhy We Need PoetryReading the Notes in the Norton Anthology of PoetryThe Birds WalkingThe CardinalStill LifeConstable CloudsBird Song, Cannon River BottomsGoodThe CupNew PoemsI. LuckThose HoursSomeone Just Like YouIn Iowa City One NightPrimitiveToo Much LuckThe SignalThe Fortune Cookie WriterEleanor Beardsley in ParisMiraclesChickadeesAt Los AlamosWhat the Music RequiredSo CloseThe Light Left OnII. WorkThe Long CenturiesWhat He Doesn't Tell UsWorkHoeing Potatoes with My GrandmotherHorseshoes with MauriceMore of EverythingMy BrothersMy Mother Breaks Her AnkleSnowmen at the FarmOpenBecause of the SunProdigalIII. AgainThe Last ApplesAutumn AgainCarrying Water to the FieldStayWhat We Didn't Talk AboutMy Father, DyingAfter You Were GoneSunday Afternoon in Early MayReading Anna Swir in OctoberFor the Letter WritersWithoutHow I'm DoingIsla, MorningYour NameMaking Do