Tywhoppity Bottoms
written in octaves
Tom gathers broken branches
and stubs his toes on roots.
Tywhoppity’s rich bottom
is tidied up each autumn.
The ache and pain he stanches
to reap September fruits.
Tom gathers broken branches
and stubs his toes on roots.
Re-staking his best grapevines
on the hillside on his knees,
he rakes up leaves and stubble
along with rocks and rubble.
The smell of fragrant pond pines
makes this old farm boy sneeze.
Re-staking his best grapevines
on the hillside on his knees.
His body takes a beating
his mind stays in control.
Each year his land gets littered
but he is not embittered.
It’s nature the man competes
against with heart and soul.
His body takes a beating
his mind stays in control.
Crops gathered without delay
hand-picked by one-man crew.
Bottoms broadcast with clover
provides a winter cover
Keeping Blackford Creek at bay.
This bottom - his world view.
Crops gathered without delay
hand-picked by one-man crew.
June 25, 2019
Brian Strand, YOUR PERSONAL PERFECT POEM PICK contest, 3rd place.
Tywhoppity Bottoms isn't some place you can find on Google Maps or Wikipedia. It is a small area of bottomland that surrounds Blackford Creek, which creates part of the county line that divides Daviess and Hancock counties in western Kentucky. According to legend, Tywhoppity was given its name by Union soldiers during the Civil War, who remarked the sound of the creek against the rocks made a ty-whop-it-ty sound.
When we bought a home on Tye Ave., many times I referred to our area as Tye-whoppity Bottoms especially when our creek (Blackiston Run) rose and got into our neighbor’s house.
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