Nebraska
What have we crumpled and tossed
into the trashcan across the blacktop
if not decades of forfeited days
and those broken-feathered
regrets pinned under glass. Groaning,
incapable of elegance, still I long
to be those undulating grains by
the roadside in the great between.
Crows caw out of sight as I pump
gas and watch your hair blowing
in the angled light. Sing me your
favorite birdsong. Whisper the cloud’s
name. Tomorrow we’ll dream in Iowa
of corn that is not just corn, but
the emblem of that junction between
innovation and form, function and all
that blisters under the sun’s unforgiving
eye. I want to infiltrate each kernel,
peer through the veiled yellow-white,
recover sweetness, flatten the curve.
“Nebraska” first appeared in the journal ONE ART. Thank you to editor Mark Danowsky for taking this piece.
O at the Edges 
Observe and live, carry on?
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That is the path I’ve chosen!
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More than once, your observations have led to a poem which triggered a response from me into my observations out of which popped a poem – like this morning, your reference to crows
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I seldom saw crows in Texas. Now I see them daily. A privilege!
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They keep creeping into my poems
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Mine are inhabited by birds, and I imagine always will be. I can’t help it!
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Wow, what a lovely lyric, so sonorous.
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Thanks very much!
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So evocative, Bob; all my senses were engaged. A perfect summer poem.
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Thanks, Cate. The drive from Oregon to Indiana was quite memorable!
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Fresh take on road trip essence! The couple of times I’ve driven/ridden through cornfield country have been oddly invigorating. Seems that so much of the same would dull one’s interest, but had the opposite effect on me. Enjoyed this refresher!
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I much prefer the smaller local fields to the behemoths, but they’re all interesting.
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Just fantastic, one of my favorite of yours.
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Thank you very much!
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No crows in Texas?
A fresh landscape is like beginning a new book–you’ve captured that. (K)
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Plenty of crows, just not in my neighborhoods. 😕 I’m still taking in the new landscape – much to learn!
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It’s all good.
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This Nebraskan approves of your musings.
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Thank you. It was an interesting, inspiring trip!
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