"Evening" By Philip Booth from Word of Mouth (Reading Response)

Philip Booth's poem seems to me at first read to be about a boy who is spending his summer with his father, who has split up from the mother. The line that says the boy is "almost happy" except for when he has to "finish the postcard he's almost written his mother" leads me to think that perhaps he enjoys spending time with his father more than being with his mother.  He possibly lives with his mother, so she probably has the duties of making sure the boy goes to school, does his chores, and maybe she even scolds him every now and then.  The boy may only see the father during the summer, so his dad is the one he has fun with.  The fact that the father doesn't even say grace before he and his son eat is a sign that he is the relaxed parent who doesn't place rules and restrictions on the boy.  The mother is the one who raises him, but the boy may not appreciate the mother for all that she does for him quite yet.  Everything seems so tranquil, from the fog that "rides in over small woods" to the "garden made from the field," and even the "flowers [that] grace the table."  The scene really seems like a vacation.  This poem is proof that a serene setting can be constructed within a poem with just the right words that set off certain images.  The imagery in this poem really takes me outside of my living room and puts me in the middle of a misty summer house garden.