Farm Prose Poetry Poems

A yellow notice on the gate with bold letterhead states
Noxious Weed Commission and then, in smaller red print, declares: 
Demand Notice to Remove Thistle.

This notice is a sudden smack behind the noggin. 
Bringing attention to a purple, spiky blossom 
on top of an orb wound tightly around a ball of seeds, 
swaying in the breeze and heeding this question:
What did you do?

To make the County use its bureaucratic might 
and declare thistle plants a blight, a public nuisance 
worthy of persecution.  And any resistance will cause 
an appearance before a judge who'll levy 
fines and imprisonment.
What did you do?

Shock begins to wane and reason filters into the brain;
this thistle, that goats devour like its a treat,
it explodes into a cotton suite that birds 
use...

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Dottie had been looking past the relatives for sixteen days
Staring out the window, at the pasture, seeing angels
They motioned for her to come, but she...

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We were accustomed to being in the military living in the
barracks, having inspections and following the rules.
Yet, at summer's zenith, my sweetheart and I and...

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Leaking through the worn, gray boards, like a trickle from a dream. Where gentle thoughts raised prayers through the loft, tiers spilled out tears, remembering...

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I grew up in a small rural Iowa town
my parents were spawn of farmers
we had “farms” out in the country
we did not live on them...

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I was was born in Ottawa, Canada and have lived here all my life and have 
never wanted to leave.  It is a beautiful...

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I saw peacock feathers stuck in fences when I was a child.
The farm next to my grandparents raised peacocks.
They were the prettiest colors of purple...

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It is a cold morning in Iowa 
Not bitter like January knife wind days
But cool enough for a jacket
I wish I had brought one out...

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Anger whisked herself into a gray frenzy of clouds, bordering on black.
A snow blizzard might be on her way; the wind picked up. I looked...

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She had the hourglass potato figure no one looks at twice
Who cares? She says, wrapping an apron with daisies around it.
She did not care either,...

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I do not have
apparent estates,
fungible assets,
Farm, cattle
boats ...
I don't live in
sumptuous mansion,
luxury flat,
I live in socks
waters, four
distressed walls ...
I shelter daughters and grandchildren
on the living...

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Mariah needed to get to the Hollywood Hills
She recognized this mission was her destiny
Tell everyone her mother encouraged her
It was 1974, when rides were free

She...

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The strangers came and went into the house.
I barely noticed; my dirt had just been delivered.
A truck load of rich, black, northern Iowa farm soil.
I...

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Everyone has a wild child; she is sometimes the middle child.
And in our case I will call her T-burger, because that is her nickname.
This happened...

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She was a crazy old coot of a woman; most of us made fun of her.
Not in front of her face, we were socialized. But...

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