Long Ozarks Poems

I am an Outlander
Who lives on a high hill
Overlooking a man-made lake
That once was a rapidly rushing river
Along whose banks the Ozarks Bluff Dwellers and the Osage and then Delaware
Hunted, fished, and created shelter
For their...

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I was born in Sunny Southern California, in the hottest month of the year! cries out my mother.  California is known for its drought season; one we just came out of, it lasted four...

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And a good morning to you.Today I have a lot to get done so will concentrate on telling you about Lorsie which was the name I called her. If I get my chores done we...

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Ask and remember 
Every time I think of you.

Ask your friends, they say to remember your kindness, your dimple, and your smile given to everyone you met from a store clerk to the governor.
Ask your...

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Isn’t she beautiful?
When you top a steep slope and look down upon her hills, tumbling over each other for miles, covered in greenery of new spring, you realize that she, the land, is immaculate.
But she,...

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In the foothills of the Ozarks lived a man named Jed.
He was so poor, and barely kept his family fed.
He struggled to survive and never had quite enough.
The land he lived on was full of...

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The sun raises up over the ridge 
The sky shines a multitude of colors
Pink with a tinge of purple 
That only lasts for a few precious moments

Some mornings the clouds 
Come down from the sky...

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Our riverbank launch at dawn
where dense forest chills the breeze,
where cottonwood leaves flutter like wings,
and weeping willow penumbras tease.

Glistening, rippling turquoise water churns.
Crystal swirling pools symphonic and aglow,
elliptic aluminum crafts coast over craggy stones, 
riverbed...

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Growing up in the Ozarks, for brother, sister and me
meant, for the most part, that we were totally free.

We had freedom to explore, to roam about at will,
there was no one to fear in those...

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My wife and I have spent a good deal of our lives living between the city limit signs of one metropolis or another. As urban dwellers, we were constantly bombarded with the rumble of noises...

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5/30/22
"Much Larger"
Getting smarter
Working harder
Open to barter
Occasionally taking a charter
Nearby a harbor
Sometimes wearing armor
Buying crops from farmers
When necessary I display ardor
In order to reach farther
There needs to be a departure
Brush your teeth or there will be...

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Broken Hearts ??????

Pain which lingers on forever in the mascaraed of our bleeding hearts, we subject ourselves to vulnerability caution to the wind of the darks, you are this & I am that now let’s...

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My Valley

Tucked away in the north-central part of the state, about ten miles or so from where the clear and slow-moving water of the Grand River mixes with the quickly rolling mud of the Missouri...

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It isn't the dawn of another spring,
nor is it the clean mountain air.
It isn't the resort atmosphere, 
or blossoms waving everywhere.
It isn't the poems we like hearing,
or the good taste of Myrtie Mae's.
It can't be...

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The Ozarks is filled with barefoot hillbillies,
so it says in all them old books.
We are all just lazy, stupid, and silly,
least that’s how they make us look.

Layin’ on a creek bank chewing on a straw,
with...

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When I was a lad growing up in the small village of Wakenda, I would sometimes sit on the back porch and watch the stars move across the night sky. I would listen to the...

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Caves and lakes, pine trees, apple orchards.
Festivals to honor summer, spring, and fall.
Arkansas has the hillbilly music I grew up on.
Blue grass too. Grab a fiddle and join us! 

The roads are winding and hilly...

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streaks of jet plane residue linger in the morning sky
I wonder if they were racing home or to work? I say.
My husband leans into me. 
Hopefully home, he tells me. 

The Ozarks hold us in...

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It’s wanting from a few years of neglect,
relentless weeds crowding out the flowers.
But like they say, her bones are pretty good,
with some hard work and time we’ll make it ours.

Replace a few boards to repair...

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The LOZ;
the place to be;
the party town of Missouri 
is where I call home. 

The hills of the Ozarks 
house every known allergen, as 
well as families that are cooking
something to be paranoid about.

This man-made...

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Everybody keeps asking me, “Hey Jerry.”
Are all the things you write about really true.
‘Cause they find it pretty hard to believe, 
I’ve done all of the things I say I do.

If I really did all...

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The Ozark Mountains stretch across
Five states in the U.S. – 
Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Arkansas and yes,

Some parts of Illinois are, too,
Considered in the mix.
To city folk, the Ozarks
Can be rightly called “the sticks.”

I’m watching Netflix’s “Ozark”...

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Ozarks are brutally hot
Heated discussions and disappointment.
August is a potential fireball
Backs are sticking to leather car seats.
Animals escaping from the west arrive daily

Grass is dried brown, our earth parched
Cultivation of garden is a pipe dream
This...

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I love these Ozark hills,
that lie amidst the rocks and hills.
The sunshine and rain, and harves of grain
and the call of the whipporwill,

The beautiful trees that sway with the breeze,
The neighbors are friendly and kind;
There's...

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