farmers still

at the kitchen table
we cup our hands around coffee mugs
to fight off the chill of fall rains
we talk about late harvest and sprouting swaths
and the whims of marketing boards  money-lenders
and mother nature
we remember past years with bumper crops
and how the north-east quarter always produces
but this year the swaths are under water
and tough as things seem it’s not so bad as Harrisons
after their auction last year they moved to the city
they say they used to lie awake wondering if the old boss cow
made it through the winter   if the brockle-faced heifer
calved on her own
they drive out to check other people’s crops
on land their grandfather homsteaded
stop in at coffee row   talk about the weather
like they were still here
From Maverick Western Verse 1994  Gibbs Smith Publisher