Carrying Water to the Field: New and Selected Poems

by Joyce Sutphen, Ted Kooser (Introduction)

Joyce Sutphen’s evocations of life on a small farm, coming of age in the late 1960s, and traveling and searching for balance in a very modern world are both deeply personal and familiar. Readers from Maine to Minnesota and beyond will recognize themselves, their parents, aunts and uncles, and neighbors in these poems, which move us from delight in keen description toward something like wisdom or solace in the things of this world.

In addition to poems selected from the last twenty-five years, Carrying Water to the Field includes more than forty new poems on the themes of luck, hard work, and the ravages of time—erasures that Sutphen attempts to ameliorate with her careful attention to language and lyrical precision. 

 

Genres: Poetry

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

Joyce Sutphen (born 1949) is an American poet, currently serving as Minnesota's Poet Laureate. She is the state's second laureate, appointed by Governor Mark Dayton in August, 2011. Sutphen also serves as a professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has easily become my favorite collection of poetry. Carrying Water to the Field by former Minnesota Poet Laurate Joyce Sutphen includes a wide range of poems from her previous publications as well as some new poems. My favorites are the ones where she describes her childhood and the lifestyle of central Minnesota. Joyce grew up in the same county as my grandma, and never before have I resonated so much with a poetry collection. Never before have I been able to say, with conviction, I know that, I can see that, I wonder if my grandma was among the kids you mention seeing. From describing the birth of a calf, the tractor at harvest, and the landscape during a tornado watch, the concrete, vivid language enlivens my part of the country and the people who labor there. And this is the power of poetry: revealing our ordinary in extraordinary ways for others to experience an existence that is perhaps similar or different than their own. Beyond encouraging me to write about my “ordinary” childhood, Carrying Water to the Field reminds me how much we need writers of every place, culture, and language to write about their diverse experiences because you never know who you’ll touch. Or who will say, “That’s me. That’s my place. Those are my people.” Or who needs to says those things.

[Sue Schraer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breath- takingly good.

[Joann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I grew up in Iowa, not much earlier than Sutphen grew up in Minnesota, many of her poems brought back memories. Parents who accepted hard work but opened their arms to embrace their children when comforting was needed. Beautiful fields, hard snowy winters, farm animals. They are all in these poems, thoughtfully constructed. I am grateful that Sutphen shared her memories to help me remember carrying water to my grandfather in the field.

[Thaddeus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice capstone for Sutphen to be highlighted by Kooser’s poetry series. The selected poems highlight her outstanding career and the new poems are focused on memory, age and death in that quiet Minnesotan farm way.

[Mike Dennisuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyce Sutphen’s poetry has a strong midwestern, rural feel. It speaks with midwestern values and the changes experienced growing up in the 60’s.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful.

[Tom Melsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of poems