farmers
life on the farm is a practical life.
I mean you’re practically bare, just you
and the dirt, and yea, the blessings of
sky, the curses of blights. or maybe no.
maybe you just grow dirt.
some of us clean and straighten olding
rusting nails. any waste is food missing
from your plate.
but mostly, practically, you just work,
work and wait. blossoms come brief.
mostly, practically, you just start
things out, leaning in with a shove.
then wait and watch for the wheel
to turn. it’s hard work. even doing
nothing is labor’s slow rhyme.
yea, sometimes it’s amusing like
when cows chase an old worn tire
down the hillside slope. or when
uncle slips, falls into the pond and
comes dripping back into the house.
although we try not to laugh, not
too much. we each take a share
that way.
and when things go bad or ill or
broke, like when the cat gets sick,
you make a bed from an old blanket,
hope for the best, take what you get.
tell the children, don’t get attached.
you don’t spend on what don’t grow
the crops. practical bones.
maybe us too.
and maybe that’s some part why
we gave up the farm, chasing tires
down the hill.
neil reid © april 2012
Your piece has a rural sensibility that I like, Neil. I especially like the practicality of this bit:
and when things go bad or ill or
broke, like when the cat gets sick,
you make a bed from an old blanket,
hope for the best, take what you get.
Hoping for the best this month,
Brenda
Chasing old tires down the hill is a great image. The practical & the threadbare gets hammered in this poem Neil. I’m greatly interested in the farming/country life, and I’m hoping, it would inspire more poems this April.
Nothin like a farm….nothin like a good laugh with a friend as the tires travel like wind swept tumbleweeds….. nothin like thinkin bout havin a nice cup of tea with you…..
I’m still here…
hugs
Vicki
Well there’s a good reason not to have gone to bed as yet. Off work tomorrow so I’m misbehaving as a treat. Charmed as ever by your kindly warmth, as I too remain your friend…
yours, neil