The Gifts
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Detroit gave me birth
like the snapping of
sheet metal, and her streets
still bleed.
But Missouri taught me
to see.
The Germans came
Grooming the valleys
with white frame houses
gripping the hills
with scoured brick towns,
the cisterns and weathervanes.
Now is the time of the Maifest, *
the hopes for a new plowed soil.
The men become stern strutters
in overalls.
And the rivers fill the women
with reveries.
Now I know
with my feet,
the waters,
the rocks, and the clays.
I am gifted with the brown rings
of trees.
Published Black Buzzard Press 1982.
*The Maifest (or Mayfest in English) was celebrated by German immigrants in Missouri. Their descendants continue the tradition to the present day. It is the traditional German celebration of the arrival of spring and is now celebrated around the world.
Copyright © Thomas Wells | Year Posted 2020
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