Lawn-Mower

Read "Lawn-Mower" at The Eldritch Dark:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/290/lawn-mower

This poem from Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) references Procrustes, the villain from Greek mythology who, as Wikipedia notes, "attacked people by stretching them or cutting off their legs, so as to force them to fit the size of an iron bed."

CAS worked informally as a gardener after his 1954 marriage and move to Pacific Grove, California. It could not have been an easy occupation at his age (early sixties) and this poem, slight as it is, reflects a broader dissatisfaction with human civilization and its preference for compliance and obedience.  The obvious metaphor of the cut grass may not be highly original, but it communicates the poet's ideas perfectly.