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The Mad Farmer Poems
During the otherwise quiet course of his life as a poet, Wendell Berry has become “mad” at what contemporary society has made of its land, its communities, and its past. This anger reaches its peak in the poems of the Mad Farmer, an open–ended sequence he's found himself impelled to continue against his better instincts. These poems can take the shape of manifestos, meditations, insults, Whitmanic fits and ravings—these are often funny in spite of themselves. The Mad Farmer is a character as necessary, perhaps, as he is regrettable.Here are gathered the individual poems from Berry's various collections to offer the teachings of this amazing American voice. After the great success of the lovely Window Poems, Bob Baris of the Press on Scroll Road returns to design and produce an edition illustrated with etchings by Abigail Rover. James Baker Hall and William Kloefkorn offer poems here that also show how the Mad Farmer has escaped into the work of others. The whole is a wonderful testimony to the power of anger and humor to bring even the most terrible consequences into a focus otherwise impossible to obtain.
50 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2008
44 people are currently reading
1326 people want to read
About the author
Wendell Berry
295 books4,954 followersWendell Berry is a conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist, professor of English and poet. He was born August 5, 1934 in Henry County, Kentucky where he now lives on a farm. The New York Times has called Berry the "prophet of rural America."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
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March 3, 2017After reading these poems it is safe to conclude that Wendell Berry would despise having his work reviewed on Goodreads.
September 20, 2021
No more books by men this year. Used up my quota.
January 1, 2022
What lovely collection of poems that voice things that I’ve felt yet been completely unable to translate into wordy expression. I love the tone of the majority of the poems as they take elements of nature and politics and life and love and God and humanity and mash them all up into phrases that connect such vast ideas in my mind in unique ways. A short read yet worthy of much time spent pondering and reading aloud.
March 21, 2025
Short, different from Sabbath poetry, but I loved it.
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April 15, 2024very sane response to an insane world - "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Jiddu Krishnamurti. I need to farm....
Taken from Ahlaam who took it from someone else (: (but I will be returning Mr. Berry)
Taken from Ahlaam who took it from someone else (: (but I will be returning Mr. Berry)
March 27, 2025
Poetry has always been a tough read for me. So I like it when the author speaks plainly of what his poetry is about:
“Let me be plain with you dear reader. I am an old fashioned man. I like the world of nature despite its mortal dangers. I like the domestic world of humans, so long as it pays its debts to the natural world, and keeps its bounds. I like the promise of Heaven. My purpose is a language that can pay just thanks and honor for those gifts, a tongue set free from fashionable lies.”
“Let me be plain with you dear reader. I am an old fashioned man. I like the world of nature despite its mortal dangers. I like the domestic world of humans, so long as it pays its debts to the natural world, and keeps its bounds. I like the promise of Heaven. My purpose is a language that can pay just thanks and honor for those gifts, a tongue set free from fashionable lies.”
December 14, 2024
Poems from the point of view of an independent farmer who sees the greed of the larger culture coming closer and ruining the paradise of a life spent obeying nature’s rhythms. I’m with him in lines like “From the union of power and money . . . the mad farmer walks quietly away.” But his view of women is stuck deep in sentimentality in lines like, “So long as women do not go cheap / for power, please women more than men.” Sorry, that day is here. The nature of a mad farmer is to be wise, prophetic, and infuriating, and these poems obey no party line or platform. What a treat, to read Berry’s manifestos, love songs, and prayers written in biblical, Whitman-like lines that roll and swerve with beautiful language, quirky, and one of a kind. To add to its joy, this edition is gorgeous.
January 8, 2020
A few days after explaining to a friend that poetry is a genre that I generally avoid, or at least rarely turn to gladly, up pops a small collection by Wendell Berry in the local bookstore. Of course I had to read it, and it quickly moved the 'poetry genre' needle in the direction of my being likely to read more.
The poem I enjoyed the most was titled "The Reassurer", of which everybody should take some time to search out, and I won't be quoting here. However, here's some brief examples of others you will find in this brief collection that I will surely be returning to:
From "Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer":
"When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird.
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf."
From "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front":
"As soon as the generals and politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection."
From "Some Further Words":
"Neither this world or any of its places
is an 'environment'. And a house for sale
is not a 'home'. Economics
is not a 'science', nor 'information' knowledge.
A knave with a degree is a knave. A fool
in public office is not a 'leader'.
A rich thief is a thief. And the ghost
of Arthur Moore, who taught me Chaucer,
returns in the night to say again:
'Let me tell you something boy.
An intellectual whore is a whore."
The poem I enjoyed the most was titled "The Reassurer", of which everybody should take some time to search out, and I won't be quoting here. However, here's some brief examples of others you will find in this brief collection that I will surely be returning to:
From "Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer":
"When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird.
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf."
From "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front":
"As soon as the generals and politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection."
From "Some Further Words":
"Neither this world or any of its places
is an 'environment'. And a house for sale
is not a 'home'. Economics
is not a 'science', nor 'information' knowledge.
A knave with a degree is a knave. A fool
in public office is not a 'leader'.
A rich thief is a thief. And the ghost
of Arthur Moore, who taught me Chaucer,
returns in the night to say again:
'Let me tell you something boy.
An intellectual whore is a whore."
December 20, 2022
some poems were a skip for me which is why i gave it 4 stars instead of 5, but the poems i didn’t skip were a full 5/5 beauty
“When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you to die for profit,
They will let you know.
So, friends, do something every day that won’t compute.
Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who doesn’t deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands.”
excerpt from Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation front
“When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you to die for profit,
They will let you know.
So, friends, do something every day that won’t compute.
Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who doesn’t deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands.”
excerpt from Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation front
August 20, 2025
Reading this book of poems felt like reading the mind of a an educated farmer from the colonial period who was frozen in the bottom of a lake (sort of like Captain America), rescued, and awoke in the 2000s to find that much had changed. In other words, it was awesome.
April 13, 2024
favourite poems:
- Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer
- Some Further Words
- Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
/
favourite lines:
“in a society gone insane with industrial greed & insecurity, a man exuberantly sane will appear to be ‘mad.’”
“When I fall let me fall without regret like a leaf.”
“If he raises a good crop at the cost of belittling himself and diminishing the ground, he has gained nothing.”
“To be sane in a mad time is bad for the brain, worse for the heart.”
“The world is baffled to pieces after the divorce of things from their names. Ceaseless preparation of war is not peace. Health is not procured by sale of medication, or purity by the addition poison. Science at the bidding of the corporations is knowledge reduced to merchandise.”
“The world is whole beyond human knowing. The body’s life is its own, untouched by the little clockwork of explanation.”
“The machine economy has set afire the household of the human soul, and all the creatures are burning within it.”
“I don’t believe that ‘scientific genius’ in its naïve assertions of power is equal either to nature or to human culture. Its thoughtless invasions of the nuclei of atoms and cells and this world’s every habitation have not brought us to the light but sent us wandering farther through the dark.”
“It is not ‘human genius’ that makes us human, but an old love, an old intelligence of the heart we gather to us from the world, from the creatures, from the angels of inspiration, from the dead — an intelligence merely nonexistent to those who do not have it, but to those who have it more dear than life.”
- Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer
- Some Further Words
- Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
/
favourite lines:
“in a society gone insane with industrial greed & insecurity, a man exuberantly sane will appear to be ‘mad.’”
“When I fall let me fall without regret like a leaf.”
“If he raises a good crop at the cost of belittling himself and diminishing the ground, he has gained nothing.”
“To be sane in a mad time is bad for the brain, worse for the heart.”
“The world is baffled to pieces after the divorce of things from their names. Ceaseless preparation of war is not peace. Health is not procured by sale of medication, or purity by the addition poison. Science at the bidding of the corporations is knowledge reduced to merchandise.”
“The world is whole beyond human knowing. The body’s life is its own, untouched by the little clockwork of explanation.”
“The machine economy has set afire the household of the human soul, and all the creatures are burning within it.”
“I don’t believe that ‘scientific genius’ in its naïve assertions of power is equal either to nature or to human culture. Its thoughtless invasions of the nuclei of atoms and cells and this world’s every habitation have not brought us to the light but sent us wandering farther through the dark.”
“It is not ‘human genius’ that makes us human, but an old love, an old intelligence of the heart we gather to us from the world, from the creatures, from the angels of inspiration, from the dead — an intelligence merely nonexistent to those who do not have it, but to those who have it more dear than life.”
July 21, 2023
[a train journey read among many train journeys]
II
At night make me one with the darkness.
In the morning make me one with the night
V
Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your
house catch fire
XII
Let me wake in the night
and hear it raining
and go back to sleep
…surprised by nightfall to be weary
the bodies of men, able in the heat
and sweat and weight and length
of the day’s work, eager in their spending,
attending to nightfall, the bodies of women
sleep after love, dreaming
white lilies blooming
cooly out of the flesh
… fox tracks in snow, the impact
of lightness upon lightness
unendingly silent
…Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Swear allegiance…
The First Amendment:
2.
To be sane in a mad time
is bad for the brain, worse
for the heart. The world
is a holy vision, had we clarity
to see it -- a clarity that men
depend on to make.
we take poisoned medicines to heal them of the poisons that they breathe, drink, and eat,
[I love an Oxford comma]
Come all ye conservatives and liberals
who want to conserve good things and be free,
...I know
a 'fetus' is a human child.
I loved my children from the time
they were conceived, having loved
their mother, who loved them
from the time they were conceived
and before...
By chance? Prove it, then, and I
by chance will kiss your ass.
II
At night make me one with the darkness.
In the morning make me one with the night
V
Don’t own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your
house catch fire
XII
Let me wake in the night
and hear it raining
and go back to sleep
…surprised by nightfall to be weary
the bodies of men, able in the heat
and sweat and weight and length
of the day’s work, eager in their spending,
attending to nightfall, the bodies of women
sleep after love, dreaming
white lilies blooming
cooly out of the flesh
… fox tracks in snow, the impact
of lightness upon lightness
unendingly silent
…Go with your love to the fields.
Lie easy in the shade. Swear allegiance…
The First Amendment:
2.
To be sane in a mad time
is bad for the brain, worse
for the heart. The world
is a holy vision, had we clarity
to see it -- a clarity that men
depend on to make.
we take poisoned medicines to heal them of the poisons that they breathe, drink, and eat,
[I love an Oxford comma]
Come all ye conservatives and liberals
who want to conserve good things and be free,
...I know
a 'fetus' is a human child.
I loved my children from the time
they were conceived, having loved
their mother, who loved them
from the time they were conceived
and before...
By chance? Prove it, then, and I
by chance will kiss your ass.
February 26, 2020
I'm coming to the conclusion that Wendell Berry may be one of the last great American writers. At least of the old style of American writers in love with the land and what it gives to us.
The Mad Farmer Poems is a beautiful little collection of conflations and conundrums concerning where we, as a society, are at, and worries about where we might be going. At once, in love with the earth and the soul, Berry brings these conceptions together to force the reader into seeing the damage we have done and question what we might do, either to amend or to hasten the end.
If you have ever dreamed of tilling soil, planting a garden, or worry about the current state of things, then perhaps I might recommend this little book of poetry to speak to your soul.
The Mad Farmer Poems is a beautiful little collection of conflations and conundrums concerning where we, as a society, are at, and worries about where we might be going. At once, in love with the earth and the soul, Berry brings these conceptions together to force the reader into seeing the damage we have done and question what we might do, either to amend or to hasten the end.
If you have ever dreamed of tilling soil, planting a garden, or worry about the current state of things, then perhaps I might recommend this little book of poetry to speak to your soul.
July 27, 2023
i had high hopes for this little collection, as i found it through an interesting book of essays about heretical herbs.
there are interesting and poignant moments, such as this line near the beginning: “whose hands reach into the ground and sprout,” and these: “Listen to carrion—put your ear / close, and hear the faint chattering / of the songs that are to come. / Expect the end of the world. Laugh.”
however, the majority of these poems are just didactic and a little dull. i think what i’d hoped for was something lively and animist, poems that foreground the natural world, but what i got was a celebration of a certain archetype of man, who is very much a rugged individual and definitely has a superiority complex over those not like him. also, we get it, machines are bad.
oh well. it’s short enough that i read the whole thing. this book definitely confirms my suspicion of wendell berry’s overall vibe, and i won’t waste my time reading any more of his work.
there are interesting and poignant moments, such as this line near the beginning: “whose hands reach into the ground and sprout,” and these: “Listen to carrion—put your ear / close, and hear the faint chattering / of the songs that are to come. / Expect the end of the world. Laugh.”
however, the majority of these poems are just didactic and a little dull. i think what i’d hoped for was something lively and animist, poems that foreground the natural world, but what i got was a celebration of a certain archetype of man, who is very much a rugged individual and definitely has a superiority complex over those not like him. also, we get it, machines are bad.
oh well. it’s short enough that i read the whole thing. this book definitely confirms my suspicion of wendell berry’s overall vibe, and i won’t waste my time reading any more of his work.
August 20, 2022
I was chatting with a fellow graduate student at an end-of-the-year get together back in April, and I'd mentioned that I was trying to read more poetry, and that I specifically liked rural poetry. He recommended Wendell Berry and dropped off two books at my studio. This was one of them.
Definitely fits with what I'm interested in, as well as gives rural life a more radical touch. This is a short book, and the poetry is vivid, yet easy to read. It's not hugely abstracted, which is something I appreciate.
Definitely fits with what I'm interested in, as well as gives rural life a more radical touch. This is a short book, and the poetry is vivid, yet easy to read. It's not hugely abstracted, which is something I appreciate.
Read
January 29, 2023At night make me one with the darkness.
In morning make me one with the light.
In morning make me one with the light.
December 25, 2013
Well I recently saw Bill Moyer's interview with Wendell Berry (which is available on youtube by the way) so I know why Mr Berry is a bit mad.
The black willow trees on the bank of the river by his family farm are dying and the likely cause is the coal mining upriver doing some damage to the water upon which the black willows depend. Seems like a no brainer to me. I think I would be upset too.
Unfortunately I find these poems more interesting in many ways then his earlier writings of which I have browsed quite a few. I guess I am a bit mad myself and a bit of understanding of Mr Berry's dilemma adds much much to appreciating this writing, though I do hope Wendell can have his water and willows restored and go back to feeling calmer again.
I think his perspective and current annoyances come through well here.
You might wish to see if you do as well. I do hope Mr Berry is successful in his wishes.
The black willow trees on the bank of the river by his family farm are dying and the likely cause is the coal mining upriver doing some damage to the water upon which the black willows depend. Seems like a no brainer to me. I think I would be upset too.
Unfortunately I find these poems more interesting in many ways then his earlier writings of which I have browsed quite a few. I guess I am a bit mad myself and a bit of understanding of Mr Berry's dilemma adds much much to appreciating this writing, though I do hope Wendell can have his water and willows restored and go back to feeling calmer again.
I think his perspective and current annoyances come through well here.
You might wish to see if you do as well. I do hope Mr Berry is successful in his wishes.
Read
September 21, 2019'When I rise up
let me rise up joyful
like a bird.
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.'
'... So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it. ...
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. ...
Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.'
let me rise up joyful
like a bird.
When I fall
let me fall without regret
like a leaf.'
'... So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it. ...
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. ...
Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.'
December 29, 2015
"As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection."
!
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection."
!
April 18, 2018
I carry these poems with me everywhere in my mind.
November 25, 2019
This is a book of poems I will find myself reading again and again.
December 2, 2020
Sorry to disappoint those who enjoy these, but I have to say: Wendell Berry is not a good poet.
Read
January 5, 2026Wendell Berry is one of those names that I encounter time and time again in the environmental literature that I read, so, naturally, I got curious about his work. The Mad Farmer Poems was perhaps a slightly unconventional choice for my first Berry, as it seems to be far from his most popular work, but I'm glad it ended up this way since, well, I thoroughly enjoyed it! As the author himself puts it, this is a collection of poems that "embody a vision of sanity breaking forth into a world driven crazy by dreams of wealth, power, and ease"—a topic more relevant now than ever. The "Manifesto" and "Some Further Words" were probably the standouts for me, although there were so many wonderful lines throughout the collection that I'm really struggling to pick which ones to share... but I guess that's a rather lovely problem to have, isn't it?
"Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it."
"As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it."
"The machine economy has set afire
the household of the human soul,
and all the creatures are burning within it."
"It is not 'human genius'
that makes us human, but an old love,
and old intelligence of the heart
we gather to us from the world,
from the creatures, from the angels
of inspiration, from the dead—
an intelligence merely nonexistent
to those who do not have it, but
to those who have it more dear than life."
June 15, 2023
This is the second Wendell Berry collection I've read (only partway through A Timbered Choir, but I'm LOVING it so far). However, the Mad Farmer Poems didn't hit the nail on the head for me. While there are several good ones in here, the misses outnumbered the bulls-eye hits.
I didn't necessarily agree with all the Mad Farmer's conclusions, and most of the poems read more like spoken word rather than conventional poetry (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
That said, there were several good poems in this collection that I'm definitely going to be coming back to. There's something about the archetype of the farmer that points back to the simpler life many of us long for, but are not able to grasp. So in that regard, hats off to Mr. Berry.
Excited to dive into more of this guy's poetry collections!
I didn't necessarily agree with all the Mad Farmer's conclusions, and most of the poems read more like spoken word rather than conventional poetry (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
That said, there were several good poems in this collection that I'm definitely going to be coming back to. There's something about the archetype of the farmer that points back to the simpler life many of us long for, but are not able to grasp. So in that regard, hats off to Mr. Berry.
Excited to dive into more of this guy's poetry collections!
October 21, 2025
"I know a 'fetus' is a human child." "Health is not procured by sale of medication, or purity by the addition of poison." "An intellectual whore is a whore." "A fool in a public office is not a 'leader.' A rich thief is a thief."
All of these quotes were taken from one poem, "Some Further Words." But just as the title implies, many of the poems in this collection consist of similar statements. The Mad Farmer Poems are just the complaints of an old fashioned conservative about the parts of the world that don't fit into his ideals. If you want to read it, just sit down in your bookstore and thumb through it. It's not worth the $30 spent for a hardcover or the $14 spent for a paperback.
All of these quotes were taken from one poem, "Some Further Words." But just as the title implies, many of the poems in this collection consist of similar statements. The Mad Farmer Poems are just the complaints of an old fashioned conservative about the parts of the world that don't fit into his ideals. If you want to read it, just sit down in your bookstore and thumb through it. It's not worth the $30 spent for a hardcover or the $14 spent for a paperback.
November 22, 2022
Evocative, colorful, sensorial poetry, even if I think there's a ceiling to how good poetry can be without rhymes (maybe I have the brain of a child).
Some of the poems sound like chapters from Proverbs of Solomon.
Don't try to typecast him into a political position, it won't work... If only more people were like this. I'm sure the farmer has at least one hot take you'll hate and one you'll love. The crankiness is by design, by the farmer's own admission... with only a sour tinge of superiority sometimes. Short and sweet, but worth pausing to appreciate.
Some of the poems sound like chapters from Proverbs of Solomon.
Don't try to typecast him into a political position, it won't work... If only more people were like this. I'm sure the farmer has at least one hot take you'll hate and one you'll love. The crankiness is by design, by the farmer's own admission... with only a sour tinge of superiority sometimes. Short and sweet, but worth pausing to appreciate.
January 14, 2023
sticks in your head and makes you go mad.
bold and unapologetic, and though I personally disagree with some of Berry's sentiments - he holds some very traditionalist views - I love his style and passion.
bold and unapologetic, and though I personally disagree with some of Berry's sentiments - he holds some very traditionalist views - I love his style and passion.
December 31, 2023
A quick read through of one of my favorite collections to finish off my reading goal for the year. I bought this collection because it houses one of my top 3 favorite poems Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front where Berry lays out a beautiful manifesto to living against the grain of capitalism. “Do something everyday that doesn’t compute”. This witty and wacky collection is a must read for any one wanting to get into the mind of Mr. Berry.
May 1, 2024
Poems around Wendell Berry's contrarian themes. A few of these also are within "The Peace of Wild Things," the best WB collection I've read. Some of this collection falters, but the ones that shine shine enough for the rest. Be contrarian against a culture that seeks to oppress through distraction, through manufactured corporate urgency, through constant comparison. Be contrarian in a culture where cynicism and self-imposed isolation in the name of "progress" is the norm.
January 22, 2026
The king of blue collar poetry - and I mean that in the BEST way. Wendell proves to me time and time again that I can be so chill if someone holds beliefs that don't align with mine, as long as they are able to articulate them eruditely and most importantly, beautifully. AND serves as a reminder that you don't have to resonate deeply with 100% of someone's values in order to admire, respect and (dare I say) adore them. I love these poems and I love Wendell.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews