Unfinished Understanding

Those meadows and the creek, he says fine grass, all that sheep yonder already hay put up, good alfalfa Oak trees and hawthorne, he says, everything you see house and barn milk cow and cat everything you see It rains in summer In winter, it will snow that creek will always flow In the fall, you see the woods go bare in winter sticks enmassed with ice You got whitetail in the woods, he says good meat come season You got good corn soil and grass grows three foot high You got squirrel, and your game birds But watch out for thistle Damn stuff grows like trees You need a dog, I got me a hound Berries grow at every hand Good leaf mold for your garden Wild onion, mushrooms, hazel nuts You got plenty if you got patience, he says You got to know where it’s at Seasons come short here the air is always thick with change I’ve seen rain out of a blue sky. You get to know all the signs when the birds disappear the bugs and frogs and such they got their changes too

13 April 1973