Here the grass is just as green
The grass that is green
Sky as blue, bluer
Horizon as vast as the restless sea
Clouds of dust rise from the bare land
Like swirling mists on Aughrusbeg
Here my heart is empty
Mind clear as the cloudless sky
No sky-reaching ben tempts me
From the daily demand
Office, business, mundane stresses
Still the garden patch to be ploughed
Here the grass is just as green
The grass that is green
But where are the swans of Lough Anilaun
Land without memory
Since the camas are gone
Interminable wheat field
A pile of picked rocks
Where the ring fort should be
Abandoned combines, derelict transformers
Brady Bunch park of historical significance
The old cans piled in the coulee
Pass for heritage and memory here
Fallen is the schoolhouse in Govan
Covered in graffiti
Almira’s famous hotel sits empty
Home of hantavirus mice and unfriendly
Spirits.
New sidewalks for Wilbur, they say
Will charm the burden of this
Dying town away
Or change the name to Wild Goose
With its touristic jingle and eerie
Undertone of futility
You’ve loaded all the detritus, lost dreams
Of the vanished years into the old church
Ancient uniforms, broken tools,
Fading photographs fill the holy place,
Block up the well, and it’s no wonder
The kids have troubles, leave for Spokane
Or Tacoma, or stay forever eating the
Rancid fried junk food
Try to catch the retired hatchery trout
They stock in the dead creek for the murderous
Maniac’s honorary day, a festival occasion
Here in Bottom Dollar.
Sun breaking the dish of the world
Burning orb of copper fire
Quail calling for the dawn
Blackbird fancy dancing on a wire
Trees suddenly in full leaf
Lilacs ready for bloom
In the cool beauty of this morning
My mind wanders over
To the garden untended
Overrun with grasses of neglect
Onions of unknown provenance
Glorious tulips violas unbidden
Fill the eye, but my mind
Is filled with leaving.
Author: Duncan MacNae
Exiled Gael, scion of the Dust Bowl, dweller within Divine Grace, admirer of mountains, I have made my peace with trout and the starlings. Looking for a river and healing trees.
duncanmacduncan5@gmail.com
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