Jean Valentine
The Carriers

The father was a carrier

He had five buckets

How did he carry it all in those five buckets?

And the men on the ship.  They were all carriers,

heads & backs & shoulders—Lonely, father,

little brothers, I miss you.  So.  Heavy-laden. 

 
Found In Volume 34, No. 01
Read Issue
  • jean valentine
Jean Valentine
About the Author

Jean Valentine is the author of nine books of poetry, including Door in the Mountain, New & Collected Poems (Wesleyan, 2004).  She has been a Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded the Shelley Memorial Prize by the Poetry Society of America in 2000.  She lives in New York City.