Death & Dying

Cooney Potter

by Edgar Lee Masters 1868–1950

From Spoon River Anthology (1916)

Death & Dying

I inherited forty acres from my Father
And, by working my wife, my two sons and two daughters
From dawn to dusk, I acquired
A thousand acres.
But not content,
Wishing to own two thousand acres,
I bustled through the years with axe and plow,
Toiling, denying myself, my wife, my sons, my daughters.
Squire Higbee wrongs me to say
That I died from smoking Red Eagle cigars.
Eating hot pie and gulping coffee
During the scorching hours of harvest time
Brought me here ere I had reached my sixtieth year.

MLA

Masters, Edgar Lee. “Cooney Potter.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/masters/58/.

Chicago

Masters, Edgar Lee. “Cooney Potter.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/masters/58/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Edgar Lee Masters