Heralding the Feast

The following poem is a Dorsimbra, inspired by our recent drive from Omaha, Nebraska, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and back to Des Moines, Iowa and by Grant Wood’s famous painting, “Young Corn.” Iowa, by the way, was the 50th state my husband and I visited.

Heralding the Feast

So gently sloped, the glacial drift, now green
and yellow, charred, and plowed, awaiting spring
when hungry migratory deer are keen
to taste the offerings the farmer brings.

They follow red-winged blackbirds,
soaring high in search of borers, aphids,
rootworms, corn sap beetles—
heralding the feast.

Eternal is the battle, push-and-pull
of rocks and soil, animal and man.
Our history's but a scratch etched on the Earth;
so gently sloped, the glacial drift, now green.