Best Midwestern Poems

I am deprived of my old sweet relief,
Turning the page but turn to the leaf.
I spill out myself to sanction some space
To which I can...

Read more of this work...

“ Did I ever tell you, you are my hero? 
  Did I ever tell you, you are everything 
  I wanted to...

Read more of this work...

When ceilings were cast on dreams
air thickened, swelling lungs 
with unbreathable mediocrity

pen is clutched
in reluctance of dim witted judgement,
small minded skewed views,
all pushing towards 
Oprah...

Read more of this work...

A day’s routine so easily holds me captive.
I confess to mindless, museless departures,
Brainless unpoetic habits so unreflective,
That I cannot dwell in momentary textures. 

But January...

Read more of this work...

our angel who sleeps so peacefully there
the foundation that supports all our lives
no momma' didn't die; she moved upstairs

hands that can play Amazing Grace with...

Read more of this work...

I grew up and out on a four family-owned,
and cooperatively-organized,
extended matriarchal farm.

Four interdependent 1940s through 1970s patriarchally managed businesses,
without substantial questions about who should wear...

Read more of this work...

FRENCH GIRLS  


                     ...

Read more of this work...

I hear your voice;
standard American,
perfectly Midwestern,
nothing out of the ordinary.

Enchanted, I want more:
I press play, I press pause;
I rewind, and repeat.
My eyes rest on your...

Read more of this work...

I live in a beautiful state, but my heart will always
be in Iowa. The quote, from the famous 1822
song "Home! Sweet Home!" was used in
other...

Read more of this work...

The golden grain stretched out like sheets
upon the Kansas plain, like birthright,  innocent
behind the festered sun.
Some were unaware of upstarts 
in the rolling Minnesota...

Read more of this work...

"I have to get to Key West!"
Said Brian through the car window
To no one but the expanse of sea
Outside.

Though everyone in the car heard him.
"We're...

Read more of this work...

It's hard to think in Either-Or Deductive,
while speaking and acting in Both-And Inductive.

For example,
If my Brother is kind and loving
(and he usually is),
and really not...

Read more of this work...

A family portrait lies in the middle of the street
amongst cars now upside down;
Piles of rubbish as far as the eyes can see
in what once...

Read more of this work...

2:30 in the morning 
All normal people are asleep 
Raining down in South Dakota 
Driving up from I-35

Miles of Midwestern highway 
Cornfields connecting towns 
A...

Read more of this work...

A frigid December night in a somewhere Midwest town,
He'd been out late on some errands, buying stuff he needed;
Came home dog-tired, ready to shower and...

Read more of this work...