Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter

“Driving toward the Lac Qui Parle River” by Robert Bly (1962)

This poem also appeared in Silence in the Snowy Fields and contains several of the same elements—driving, evening, solitude, rural Minnesota—as “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter.” This poem also employs some of the surrealist images Bly was well-known for in this collection. For example, the speaker notes that the “soybeans are breathing on all sides” (Line 3) of the road, personifying the plant with human characteristics.

“Snowbanks North of the House” by Robert Bly (1981)

This is one of the most famous poems from The Man in the Black Coat Turns—one of Bly’s later collections. An emotionally bleak offering dealing with grief, the poem still utilizes the winter landscape of the Midwest and centers on thoughts regarding solitude. Like “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter,” it employs long lines and significant use of end-stops.

“Winter Poem” by Robert Bly (1999)

Here, Bly reads a poem from the collection, Eating the Honey of Words. Natural imagery is created in the same sharp, controlled way as in “Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter.” Bly correlates the winter ant’s “slow, dim-witted ways” to the human’s desire to hide emotional wounds and become isolated. As is usual in his poetry, he connects objective observation with emotional resonance.