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
