Kansas

-->takes ten t’avoid th’tolls – sun rises on th’haskell lands,
‘n’ he opens th’window
(1-18)







even’n th’modern day,
th’fort scott man, ‘n th’warm night, wants t’know
which side ‘f th’war you’re on
(12-16)







pride ‘f greeley county,
five hundred acres turned t’wheat –
traders made more’n him
(2-16)






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)



 

boxcar’s open door –
past hays, watches th’wheat, ‘n’ won’t sleep –
afraid they’ll slam it
(3-16)






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






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seventy people –
town ‘f horace nurtures its weeds,
‘n’ guards its railroad tracks
(1-18)







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)








free state fence t’climb,
patch ‘f woods in douglas county,
jacket for pillow
(9-17)






sixty six ‘n summer –
stopped ‘n galena, ‘n’ they told th’tale
‘f th’day main street caved in
(10-17)





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






longhorn’s doleful look –
guards th’weed patch, seems t’question why
you’d go t’wichita
(2-16)






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







phone poles like toothpicks –
b’lloon pilot likes th’grid of th’roads,
‘cept ‘long th’arkansas
(7-17)







phone poles on th’straight’way –
window’s open, but missed th’sign
f’r th’road t’ garden city
(1-17)





phone poles, road t’butler –
brother died playing chicken,
‘n’ summers take too long
(9-17)





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)






uphill, west near grant –
wind in th’face, sun on th’shoulder,
‘n’ th’sunflowers follow
(1-17)





boot hill’s ‘n illusion –
hot dusty town, nowhere t’go,
she says, now that’s real
(11-15)






no way out of dodge,
says th’actress, but where she’s gone
there’s no coming back
(11-15)






sunset, th’arkansas,
th’calm august waters, th’mem’ry
her dust-streaked cheekbones
(11-15)






longhorn ‘t th’wich’ta sign –
though th’field's wide, th’grass's plenty,
knows full well he’s trapped
(1-17)







weeds on th’cross ‘n’ flowers –
coffeyville man shows where th’kids
died playing chicken
(1-17)







parents 'r harvesting,
but she's back'n this cafe booth, off
massachusetts street
(1-15)









bar on mass’chusetts –
knows her parents’re harvesting,
she takes ‘nother drink
(10-16)





freight train, ripe milo –
few hours t’wichita, he too
‘ll live without water
(9-17)






-->

rows ‘f headstones, or’nge leaves
‘t th’national cemetery –
fort scott, too, fought th’war
(1-18)








mankato road, th’hawk
scans th’homesteads – th’leaves have fallen,
‘n’ they’re giving’m away
(1-18)






wakes up in th’acorns –
blue sign ‘n th’clear lawrence morning –
free state fence comp’ny
(10-16)






for th’bed ‘f leaves, climbs th’fence –
this part ‘f th’kaw valley’s got th’room,
fence sign says ‘free state’
(1-16)






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








back t’ward th’m’ssouri line
field ‘f ripe milo turns dark red,
setting in against th’drought
(10-16)








state line road houses
face each other – on th’kansas side,
at sunset, th’shofar
(7-16)




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ammunition plant –
back home ‘n parsons, his wife’ll put
sock ghosts in all th’trees
(10-17)






cardboard ghosts in th’trees –
even th’slightest dec’ration
makes parsons cheerful
(12-16)






so cold ‘n’ paranoid –
dirty looks ‘n old town, ‘n’ he thinks
‘t’s th’westboro fam’ly
(10-17)







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)






woods ‘f eastern kansas
welcome th’dry country hiker
even as they sleep
(1-16)





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






parsons schoolteacher –
at th’hol’days, tends t’overdo
her decorations
(12-15)







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)




-->

tourist bus’ness slowed,
‘n’ th’hard wind’s hit th’frozen prairie –
there’s no way out ‘f dodge
(10-17)







kids want t’go sledding –
th’only hill ‘n southeast kansas,
th’bridge over th’highway
(1-17)








mass street breakfast joint –
babe cries, winter comes through th’door –
th’poet finds th’lost pen
(12-16)




-->

flying through th’flint hills,
pulling th’overweight load through th’snow,
engine’s blown for sure
(9-17)





couple ‘f old silos,
frozen road t’topeka, th’time
t’think about injustice
(2-17)





big traffic – b’yond th’sign,
tonganoxie eudora,
th’foggy, icy fields
(12-16)



-->

manhattan square dance –
moms, dads, snow boots, do-si-dos,
th’kids’re checking their phones (11-17)


busy, th’traffic – the signs,
eudora tonganoxie,
glow ‘gainst th’icy fields
(10-17)







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)






south t’texas, march night –
th’turnpike lass, last lone soul b’fore
th’kaw nation coffee
(10-17)








‘nother march madness,
‘n’ th’lawrence man stays by th’telly –
least they should beat duke
(4-18)







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)









born at home ‘n th’high plains –
now th’flow’rs bloom, ‘n th’state ‘f kansas wants
th’doctor t’prove he’s real
(2-16)








tornado chaser,
dying t’run out t’pratt county –
has t’grade th’stack ‘f finals
(10-16)






cross ‘n’ flowers, road t’pratt –
th’kid needs t’hit th’gas, his dad too
died playing chicken
(6-17)






geese ‘t th’marais des cygnes –
like most folks, it’s rare when they
don’t know which way’s north
(12-16)





dark walls on th’inside
protect you from th’kansas sun –
nothing, from th’march wind
(1-17)






spring rains, pratt county –
wait years for th’good rainfall, then
spend three days on th’roof
(12-16)









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



 

prairie grasses flow’r –
dawn hits th’locked church near pratt,
he peeks in ‘t jesus
(2-16)









found th’rare mead’s milkweed –
stopped over ‘t th’marais des cygnes
t’see th’tallgrass prairie
(1-18)




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








ott’wa man’s complaint –
june tornado took his barn,
slipped under th’radar
(12-16)