Produce Wagon

Roy Scheele is professor emeritus of English at Doane University. He is the author of a dozen chapbooks and collections, including A Far Allegiance (Backwaters Press, 2010) and The Sledders. His verse and prose poems have been frequently anthologized, most notably in Strong Measures and Models of the Universe.

“In the best of poetry-unmistakably present and resonant to the reader-we find the physical embodiment of wordcraft: sound, rhythm, music. What Roy Scheele creates on the page is poetry’s equivalent to the enlightenment of the senses.”-Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews “What is wonderful about a ‘produce wagon’ is its approachability, where we may select this fruit, that melon, to sample-and it’s all so good; otherwise, the produce would never have made it to the wagon. Roy Scheele’s Produce Wagon is like that. Every poem is delicious.”-Mark Sanders, Western American Literature "Produce Wagon made me smile poem after poem and will bring up wonderful memories of family and love."-karla k. Morton, Roundup Magazine “Roy Scheele is a poet of deep observation and patient discernment. Exquisite in prosody and immaculate in precision, each poem is a hall of mirrors where memory and desire refract off the sharp edges of the observable world.”-Nina Murray, author of Alcestis in the Underworld “A lifetime’s collection of small and precious things: the pinpoints of the senses, the topography of the soul, these myriad wonders of eloquent plainsong-Roy Scheele’s incomparable, revelatory landscapes of acuity and affection.”-Stephen Behrendt, author of Refractions and other collections “Ted Kooser’s observation has it right: this gorgeous book is first and always music, but enriched by unforgettable imagery, compelling narrative, and ekphrasis. Scheele creates Nebraska-that former sea now prairie-as the setting of the poet’s life, here hauntingly worded, inhabited, and enlivened by intimate memory.”-Rhina P. Espaillat, author of And After All

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction by Ted KooserFrom Accompanied, 1974RemembrancesThe Welcome MatFlowering CrabAt Brim on the Little BlueRock OpeningsA Metaphor for the Evening StarThe Gap in the CedarFrom Noticing, 1979NoticingA Kitchen MemoryFishing Blue CreekPoppiesAugustMissing YouWhat Swept by on a Winter MorningHow the Fox Got AwayFrom The Sea-Ocean, 1981The Sea-OceanSpring GreensNebraska U.S. 20The FallsFocal PointA Turn in the WeatherWinter OnionsRemembering AnnaGrandpa MacFrom Pointing Out the Sky, 1985Making ChangeSaturday Mornings in the Radio YearsThe CatchThe Farm in ArkansasUncle LouSandhill CranesCrossing the FieldAt the Drought’s HeightCisternsRe-CreationA Walk Round the Monastery FarmChanging the FlowersA ReverenceHoping for RaspberriesStairwayAnsel Adams: Aspens, New Mexico, 1958LichensA Look AroundMid-August in the MountainsLightning BugsFloating on My Back in the Late AfternoonFrom The Voice We Call Human, 1991Next MorningA Hot Afternoon with Nothing to DoClare’s Last PoemAntique WrenhouseSalt Valley GrangeSnowfence in Late AprilVietnam MemorialPallbearingHeron Feeding in RainReinsFrom To See How It Tallies, 1995Driving after DarkLilac StormRitualStrayedWitnessIn MinnesotaPassageReflectionTo See How It TalliesVigilFrom Short Suite, 1997Winter Cloud CoverDivinerRipeness Is All, Is AllOctober RetortCrowbarDeep AutumnFirst BiteThe Hunter, HomeFrom From the Ground Up, 2000At Summer’s Height, in HungaryJanuary PrimroseFirst SightingReckoningBack through CaliforniaPlanting a DogwoodTent LightFrom the Ground UpBlackFormFrom A Far Allegiance, 2010GongFishheadsX-Ray FittingThe SquarefoldA Day at the Dentist’sProduce WagonIn the Near DistanceHorse Creek RoadCertificateThe Carny CircuitAcross the SandhillsA FresheningWoman Feeding ChickensUpriverLaid Down at Mesa VerdeWest of VegasUnder MagnificationThe Water Meadows, WinchesterNear Dorchester, in Dorset, from the TrainO’Keeffe’s Barn with SnowFrom The Sledders, 2016Simple GestureDiscovering GravityThe SleddersIn PossessionToward EveningThereforeLaughterSimilitudeFor InstanceWatching You Open Your New, Many-Hued UmbrellaThe Earth Coming Green Again: Uncollected PoemsThe Earth Coming Green AgainA CounterpoiseThe Sparrow’s WayDakota BurialHousehuntingIn Blowing SnowThe HadderwaysLate Autumn WoodsNoodlerAfter ThingsDancerCover of DarknessNew PoemsWright Morris: Clothing on Hooks, The Home PlaceDale Nichols: Morning ChoreLunching with FriendsSalon Noir, NiauxIn the ClearClimbing RoseFernThe Long RiseFlat WaterFour ObservationsThe Sign SaidGroundersSeventh-Grade ArtRemember MeKingfisherLowbush ClustersAt the Station