Best South Dakota Poems

Of course on this night we are supposed to be asleep so Santa 
could come, but we hadn't been home from Midnight Mass very long, and the 
invigorating cold was not conducive to sleep.  Even the hot chocolate did not do 
much to help...

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In 1957 I took my teaching certificate back to the land of my mother.  
She was raised on a cattle ranch in the north central area of Nebraska.  The 
famous Sand Hills.  It was there I found my cowboy and we ranched...

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The location of the Spring Creek School was on a flat, nestled 
between the cliff on the north and the Little White River on the south.  The river 
flowed in from the northwest, circled to the south of the school about a quarter 
mile...

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There were seven Indian Government schools.  All built alike.  The 
one I'm writing about is Spring Creek.  He Dog, Soldier Creek and White River, 
Grass Mountain, Two Kettle, and Black Pipe were the other schools.  The 
Headquarters for these schools was...

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The surrounding grounds were prairie grasses and brush.  Trees were 
scattered along the west boundary while the eastern area was furnished with a 
heavier growth of various kinds of trees.  Willows and buffalo berry bushes lined 
the bank.  If you were so...

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There’s a soft glimmer of day on the horizon
As a vanquished sun is swept away by dusk’s dark flow
With a slender slip of a cloud stretched North to the South
That floats on the sweetness, the texture of marmalade glow.

Dark clouds above me are still catching...

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the home of the brave
indian caves,exploring time
lets go.we can walk...

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dear Mr. maniacally-raving-mad-
repugnican-
representative
Daugaard, 
if a kid in your school has a gun &
your teacher has a gun,
and the teacher fires first, 
or the kid fires first &
somebody misses &
hits other kids
promoting a domino effect of a
bloodbath,
will you think then
that the idea of 
putting guns in...

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In the cold and rolling hills of a barren South Dakota,
On bleak and uncaring reservations of the Lakota,
Live both the ancient and the young of a once proud native race—
Living with America, whiskey and a fall from His grace.

We now bring contributions of food and...

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It was mid-October, several years ago
In some little town in South Dakota, can't remember the name
An hour before sun down, still some day light
I was filling the truck with fuel, getting ready to go
All of a sudden, the sky turned black as they came
Must have...

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Gigantic pylons of wind-carved granite
Form astonishing pillars of natural wonder
Sculptures to rival Borglum's finest faces
Perilously perched along the winding trail
Punctuating the Black Hills with awesome
Commas of towering mystical totems
Where once the proud Native Americans
Roamed with the buffalo in blessed peace

written August 25, 2021...

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Four faces
ten cows
40 people
a river runs through it
Aberdeen Rapid City Sioux Falls
crops of corn soybeans 
hog factory ethanol highway interstate 
flat plains shadow of Rockies
sparse vast country music cowboy hats
pickups tractors American flag whackos
jacks coyotes
buffalo paddlefish grasshoppers deer crows
vulture walleye pheasants otters cattle grain
green sky...

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Made a cuppa coffee this morning
Forgot about it
I think I ate breakfast
Can’t remember what
I combed my hair
Singular
Musta brushed my teeth
They’re back in my mouth
I wear a shirt that reads
“IF FOUND PLEASE RETURN”
Socks that disagree with each other
Shirts that read like a virtual menu
Shoes that tie...

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Into the badlands we travel with hearts full of infinite hope.
Ecosystem in this national park fosters four hundred species of life.
Sedimentary layers of pink, tan and white look like soap.
Into the badlands we travel with hearts full of infinite hope.
Oglala Lakota people named it land...

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Katie’s ribs pressed against her skin,
the sharp angles of a body once soft.
She lifted her blouse, let me see—
the stubs, the little bumps,
two perfect incisions smooth as marble.
I swallowed.
Physically lubricious—I couldn’t do it.

Her perfume fought the chemo stench.
Coiffed mascara, a careful face,
a practiced smile, teeth...

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