12.21.2018

winter river




MOTTLED BEND

Driving through wintry Iowa
in the rain (at the end
of autumn).  Mottled bend
of browns & grays... the tall silo

lost in a sea of plowed soil;
Theophilus, with his lonesome
boat (Grandpa’s handsome
grain elevator).  Fruits of toil –

pyramid for wheat-rain
in a grain-ear (last
trump, sounding).  Blast
of train-horn... all over again?

The hearth-stone flares like a bald eagle
lost on the road (between
La Porte City &
Davenport).  Feathered angle

set upon shoulders.  Nobody.
Just a Memphis priest,
Melchizedek... last
shall be first (least greatest, boy).

They laid the foundation stone
like Chartres rock.
Under the most black
dirt they could find (the Masons, son) –

on 15th April, 1791
(two generation
before Abe Lincoln).
Hearth-blaze in corner (soldered one).

12.20.18

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