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Migration
| Open Poetry #35 |
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Migration |
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MorninGlory Member
since 2003-08-30
Posts 175Oklahoma |
The dry land crawls through drought and dust. Black skies rain dirt and grit. Fields cry in shame as gang plows rust, men's throats too dry to spit. Silt drifts in ripples 'cross wood floors. No broom can sweep enough. The larders bare, they've closed the stores, lean pickin's make times rough. The banks foreclose as mothers cry, can't even buy a job. The barren fields abandoned lie beneath a dust lynch mob. What once was fertile wastes away as dust storms coat men's eyes. Their dreams long lost, their tears portray hopes gone as each farm dies. The battle lost, belongings packed, though smothered still in dust. Their travel slow, roads dried and cracked, to land out west or bust. Jalopies moan and beg clean air as lines clog up with sand. The engine chokes and heaves a prayer to find the Promised Land. As muscles ache and bellies groan, the journey's end seems near, but troopers say in calloused tone, "There's nothing for you here." "I'll tell you sir, about a place where days are black as night, where kerosene won't light your face, fine dust drowns out the light." "My chickens all are dead and buried deep in dust from drought. The newborn calves my cows had carried died as milk dried out." "We bow and pray to God each night, "Don't let our babies die." Small sallow faces once shone bright, now they're too weak to cry." "We had no wheat for chicken feed. My fields lay dead, inert. We left behind a worthless deed, our farm knee-deep in dirt." The lane was cleared for us to go. The trooper said no more. The migrant camp lay down below. Our lives begin once more. |
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passing shadows Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577displaced |
an awesome piece here!!! |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
just like in the Grapes of Wrath ~sigh~ so many families hit the road, never to return to the dustbowl |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Midnitesun beat me to it. I could picture it all. Such great description here. best, martyjo |
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