Summer in the Yakima Valley

Summer in the Yakima Valley by Ruth Roach Pierson is a poem of many contrast. From going to the delightful sounds and movements of the day to the nervousness and loneliness of the night. In the sunlight the speaker moons over the "Santa Rosa plums, and Bing and Queen Anne cherries." The speaker loves her farm taking a glance at every detail. The jerky noise of the sprinklers and perfectness of the orchard trees. It is obvious that the speakers heart is taken by the farmhouse and all its joys. hanging out with her cousin "stomping uneven ground careful of cow pies" But as the sun goes behind the hill and the day turns to night the perspective of the speaker begins to change. As she sits "in the attic room in that house on top of the hill" her heart turns stone cold with fear. Fear of the " coyote's hungry cry" and hurt how that in a moment her happy place can turn into a nightmare. As the poem changes the surrounding sounds begin to change. Instead of the "hum and hiss of a low-flying spray plane" is taken over the howling of a coyotes cry. It is evident in this poem that there is contrast within the sound, movement and how the speaker feels. It shows how just the slight rotation of the earth can set a completely different mood in someones soul or happy place.