Near Keokuk
Near Keokuk - meaning Summary
Labor and Respite Beside Water
The poem depicts thirty-two Greek laborers pausing by a creek after a long day of hard work. It contrasts their physical toil—shoveling gravel in leather shoes—with moments of relief: cooling their feet, eating simple food, smoking pipes, sharing stories about people and places, and watching the stars. The closing image of a childlike deep sleep suggests rest, communal intimacy, and quiet dignity after labor rather than explicit drama or moralizing.
Read Complete AnalysesTHIRTY-TWO Greeks are dipping their feet in a creek. Sloshing their bare feet in a cool flow of clear water. All one midsummer day ten hours the Greeks stand in leather shoes shoveling gravel. Now they hold their toes and ankles to the drift of running water. Then they go to the bunk cars and eat mulligan and prune sauce, Smoke one or two pipefuls, look at the stars, tell smutty stories About men and women they have known, countries they have seen, Railroads they have built- and then the deep sleep of children.
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