iowa

-

prairie's tall grass, pond,

sound of trucks - this new eighty

cut through th'heart 'f iowa

(12-14)

ladybug climbs map -
up thirty, uphill, upwind
beneath, cyclist sleeps
(3-10)






des moines ramp traffic
spares grasshopper - patiently,
northwest to southeast
(2-10)





outside dyersville,
fields of ripe corn and baseball -
fantasy's bullpen
(3-10)





neck deep in wapsi -
she's miles from retribution,
five feet from nettles
(11-13)




-->

lisbon biker gang –

town’s policeman doesn’t hear

its deafening noise

(6-15)

near dubuque, th'trappists

farm 'n silence - but th'hiker hears

locusts, ev'ry step

(11-14)

highway one onramp -
truckers' fumes, and the shrill cry
of redwinged blackbirds
(7-05)






english river bridge
to yonder amish window -
a banjo carries
(5-11)






dog hits tire at night,
when towns like ware are asleep -
but crickets hear it
(10-05)





ames farm's barbed wire fence -
monarch catches morning sun,
dance 'v monday's freedom
(2-14)



lincoln highway bridge
shelter from thunder, lightning
summer storm moment
(5-10)


-->

these small town churches,

best thing ‘bout ‘em, says th’britt sage,

th’meetings in th’basement



-->

iowa falls feed caps –

tale ‘f th’corn silo accident,

‘n’ th’time he couldn’t breathe

(6-15)

reads plates on 80
commutes through midsummer night
coralville- hey, maine!
(7-05)






quarter in wapsi,
wish floating downstream, through corn
ready for harvest
(1-07)






football saturday
cars backed up past hawkeye drive
beat minnesota!
(7-05)






crisp fall morn, cold look -
don't walk on the don't walk sign
in cedar rapids
(5-10)





born in bluffs - one fall,
in town, couldn' get off eighty,
and never came back
(1-13)






pottawattomie,
read through dead leaves on bumper,
frames this license plate
(9-08)






stone city gravel
roads sneak up on its buildings -
orion watches
(2-10)





leaving for padre,
champagne, map on small table
in winnebago
(4-10)







thirty five 'n' eighty =
warm tea, numb fingers, a choice:
texas or west coast?
(12-11)





burg poet's topic
as blizzard pushes through door -
ash and omelet grease
(12-11)





on one, near annie
drunken rider, car in drifts
argues which way's north
(3-10)

offer 'f place to stay -

in ames blizzard, th'pastor shows

a genuine faith

(12-14)

amana tourists
pick up mill workers' german -
outside, a blizzard
(2-10)

worst cold spell 'n twenty

years - jeff county farmer blames

the maharishi

(12-14)

amana woolens-
outside the mill, icy glaze
covers corn and brick
(7-05)





icy solon road,
eternal damnation sign
frames empty cabin
(7-05)







orange triangle -
buggy blocks kalona road,
wood wheels on packed snow
(7-05)







named this town lisbon
railroad, dreams, cities, people
but dreams don't till weeds
(7-05)




-->

shiloh road farmhouse –

pink porch means she’s marryin’ age,

he says – nice flowers!

(5-15)

-->

kalona dairy –

she hides behind engorged cows,

th’men talk ‘f barn raising

(5-15)

-->

her buggy, mud road

near one – always ‘n outsider,

but she’d have it worse

(5-15)

 

fresh rhubarb, cups of
sugar, sharp pie - black coffee,
ready for wellman
(3-10)

place called ivanhoe,

where one hits th’cedar – he’ll fish

n’ pick th’ripe mulberries

(5-15)

flood of ninety-three
june rains push skunk river - can't
leave town fast enough
(1-07)
-

kansas

-

longhorn by old fence,
plains rising, weeds grow up sign -
wichita, 50
(2-10)





way up the flint ridge,
spits back at steamy lowlands -
drier on high plains
(2-10)





no soul on high plains,
sun beats on barren rock - hawk
finds "toronto" sign
(3-10)






lawrence exit blues
busker, played in town through fourth -
last place 'til denver
(5-10)





walking the u.s. -
wind drags him back t'salina
sun pulls at his shoe
(1-13)







longhorn guards weed patch
on road west to wichita
sign of things to come!
(7-05)






wyandotte county
backroads cricket song lyrics
lost in translation
(9-08)






circle water tow'r
find kansas town name in sun
class of sixty two!
(9-05)






field of sunflowers
following sun to the west
over the flint ridge
(7-05)

parents harvesting,

but she's back'n this cafe booth, off

massachusetts street
(1-15)
 



whole field 'f ripe milo,
clear crisp air t'the m'ssouri line -
train whistle pierces
(7-05)






pittsburg student's shocked -
roommate's thanksgiving dinner
had no spaghetti
(12-13)

on through emporia,

light snow dusts golden flint hills -

change drivers, make tea

(1-15)

kansans always know
which way is west, to lean in
to the bitter wind
(7-05)






flint ridge longhorn warns
westbound traffic: high plains drifts
leave no sign of road
(9-08)






they'd mined galena-
one new year, sixty six caved,
car fell twenty feet
(1-07)






marais des cygnes sky,
warm wind billows northbound geese,
road weighed down by cars
(9-08)

just one wall stood when

lent'n twister razed flint hills church -

that wall had th'picture

(9-14)

dust storm stirs mem'ry -

old man in hays tax office

remembers childhood

(8-05)

place like leavenworth,

common man's rage against feds -

post office, tax day

(11-14)

phone poles in a line -
with no roads, how did spring rains
find garden city?
(2-10)






flint ridge view - behind,
steamy east; below, monarch,
up from mexico
(2-14)






red and blue balloons,
drunken graduates still in robes -
parents load the van
(5-10)

-

kentucky

-


rock climbers, the red -
uncommon tongues, but common
single-mindedness
(10-10)






certain hard spirit -
hates harlan's folk 'n' th'festivals -
'stead'f gas, 's got liquor
(2-14)




-->

up main t’ward th’highway,

his fog ‘f doubt, school ‘r’work, lifted –

th’slugger bat statue!

(5-15)

go back to l'u'ville,
locals drink 'n' shoot crackers, and
don't care f'r city folk
(1-07)






paducah street fair
elvis impersonator
even has jeweled belt!
(7-05)






just north of campbell,
a nap too restless, a field
'f roadside tobacco
(12-09)







absolutely lost,
paris streets, background colors,
the leaf hesitates
(10-10)






paint lick hooligans -
halloween mischief, saved for 
those who might be gay
(2-14)





holler fog, wood smoke,
fiddle, banjo, dulcimer -
pike county saints day
(2-14)






lou'v'lle traffic slows,
icy roads unusual
before thanksgiving
(9-08)








hazard county fog,
coal comp'nies, workers' accounts -
woodstove's acrid sting
(10-10)






cali to murray,
car dead, she reckons with gap,
frosted cables spark
(8-11)






glazed ice, knox entrance -
'lost it all,' he says, 'th'day they
went off the gold standard'
(2-14)






old scot in the boone:
name 'cumberland' chills our bones -
hot stick, winter fire
(10-10)








orion and friends,
mountain air on combs parkway -
utter lack of cars
(10-10)







across river bridge
to louisville - northern march
in rearview mirror
(10-05)

three years, lex waitress,

still not a fan of th'irish, 'r

wildcat basketball

(10-14)

-->

came for th’quilt fest’val,

she knows paducah, ‘n’ she knows

bowties ‘n’ log cabins

(5-15)

 


-->

lower town tourists –

he likes th’fest’val quilts, she likes

th’patches in his jeans

(5-15)

 

th’quilt festival shows off

th’home arts – but she’s far from hers,

‘n’ he doesn’t have one

(5-15)

came for the derby,
liked iced tea, local accents -
hers especially
(9-08)






-

louisiana

-

plantation's secrets -
humid night stops myrtles' clocks
for timeless complaint
(5-10)






shreveport diner grits,
butter and honey, sunrise
to fry an egg with
(9-08)

from th’garden district

window, th’days get more sultry –

inside, th’fan slows down

(5-15)

-->

tales ‘f old storyville,

august rains, red lights – she pours

‘nother hurricane 
(6-15) 



-->

th’guy can pay up front,

she says, ‘r in all th’other ways –

wind ‘n’ rain pound canal

(6-15)

-->

soft jazz on th’radio,

out ‘n basin street, th’edge ‘f th’hurr’cane-

she goes back to sleep
(6-15) 

marie laval's name -

calls on voodoo, but too late,

betting on the saints

(10-14)

ma raised her cath'lic,
he worshipped n'orleans football -
they married saints' day
(3-14)

trucker's souls' day prayer

for those who're caught between worlds

rest stop, baton rouge

(11-14)

'laska to florida,
traffic thins, ten near m'tairie -
time f'r thanksgiving nap
(6-13)

just off basin street,

busker's night ends - frigid dawn,

old cemetery
(10-14) 





stone's throw from n'orleans -
crawdad gumbo, zydeco,
'r own kind of christmas
(12-11)






playing the 'bon temps' -
fiddler gets a little french,
gumbo t'fight the cold
(12-13)







buskers hide bottles,
illicit french quarter port -
champagne soon enough
(5-10)

canal t’esplanade –

on this night, wolf moon’s stronger

than all th’clubs combined

(5-15)

vagrancy's a crime
'f'you'll get on out of n'o'l'ans
save jail cells for gras
(8-05)





bourbon street fiddler's
yankee accent fades away -
parade approaches
(8-05)





tourists in n'orleans
gave mardi gras to the world -
we flee t'lafayette
(9-08)





morganza spillway:
give the river what it wants -
atchafalaya
(5-11)





waiting to give blood,
on a seedy n'orleans stoop -
magnolias blooming
(9-08)





parish bingo hall -
she bristles at the comment:
'skimpy' easter dress
(12-13)

wisteria blooming -

cajun voice reaches quarter's

parisian tourists

(10-14)

kudzu envelops
spirit, blocks april sunshine -
far from ponchartrain
(9-08)

cam’ron parish beach –

wide ‘n’ sparkling, but th’joy ‘f spring, gone,

guess she knows too much

(5-15)

ten west t'ward texas -
"wisht i'd traveled when i's young" -
wildflowers beckon
(5-10)


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