Lamoni, Iowa

The factory siren tells workers time to go home
tells them the evening has begun.
When living with the tall man

whom I didn’t love, I would wander
the streets, dreaming of Italy.
Trekking the handful of avenues

with him, he would say look there
between pink cobblestones,
there’s manure like mortar.

The sweet smell of it Wednesday nights,
the night before auction,
when the misery of cows greets me

heading home through town.
Lake quiets, tired of my lies.
When will I tell truths again?

The siren. My love is home.
Nights, we stay in and X the days.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Deborah Ager's poem Summer Nights

12 Comments

  1. melanie says:

    What on Earth? How does manure smell sweet???

  2. Julius says:

    I LIKE MONKEYS AND POEMS AND I LIKE POEMS ABOUT MONKEYS AND I THINK U SHOULD MAKE ONE CUZ.. I LIKE MONKEYs……. AND CHOCALATE MILK!! POeMs rUlE!!!!

  3. ashraf dossoki ali says:

    dear
    I read your poetry , its very sensetive , express the contembrary life tired , me as a poet, and my friend ahmed hanafi _is a poet too _ who read this verse , we felt that you write what we want to say , but you can say that you said what we want
    congratulation keep in touch

  4. Armand says:

    This poem is great! Relationships and feelings about them are complex thing that are hard to write about. In writing about things like ” the few avenues”, she is saying more about the nature of the couple that the actual streets of the town. I enjoy that kind of subtelty.

    Amore, Armand

  5. Ed says:

    I would say it is about wanting more time with her better half and the line about lake is speaking figuatively of her mind…aka
    mind grows still… tired of the chaos.
    I wonder if the factory isn’t actually a cattle slaughterhouse and so she has second thoughts about what her man does for a living too…hmmmm

    -Eddy

  6. raja says:

    your poem is very super. i like very much… every word important to our life….
    by
    s.raja.

  7. heather says:

    Well, I’ve actually read better poetry than this. She needs to put a little more work into the poems she writes. I think it may be better if she would write poems with more energy in them. She could do better.

  8. IrisMunoz says:

    I really iove all your poems dont stop writting ok i really liked the lake

  9. Krystal Hardaway says:

    You have some talent in making something bad sound good well your a great poet don’t let anyone tell you your not.
    -Krystal(age 16)

  10. Lyndsey says:

    I personally think that this poem is the best out of all the ones shown except for The Lake. These two poems that I have mentioned are the best.

  11. Desiree' Jamison says:

    I really enjoyed this style of writing!Your style seems 2 speak of personal encounters,and I like that!!!

  12. Steve says:

    The poem Summer Nights is difficult to read. The story is disjointed and seems to be filled with contradictions. I counted at least half a dozen. example:(” … whom I didnt love” – ” my love is at home.”) ( We Walk the streets…My Love is at home??? ) ok ..is she with a mysterious lover? or is he, the tall man, in two places at the same time???etc.. Lake Quiets, tired of my lies.???what does that mean?? what are her lies? and why would her life style or choices affect the lake??? I do not personally like the clipped editing for the sake of rhythm. Not sure what the point of the poem is .. not focused or clear..definitely not one of her stronger pieces…

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