HIGH PLAINS IN SUMMER
Yesterday it rained.
Fifty-five hundredths
over a three-hour period.
High plains equivalent
of a good, soaking rain.
Today it's clear and hot.
Winds gusting to 39 out of the south.
At least the dirt's not blowing.
Forecast's calling
for high nineties
the next three days.
Tourists driving through on I-70
see flat, boring, brown fields.
They don't realize
those are their groceries
burning up.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013
Carol has the Poetry Friday roundup at Carol's Corner. Tomorrow, she and I will link arms and wander through the Denver Botanical Gardens.
Just a few more slots left in the July-December Poetry Friday roundup schedule. If you haven't claimed one, go get one now!
Powerful ending, Mary Lee!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Mary Lee! Love the twang I hear (not an accent but an attitude) in this poem, and your reminder that someone has to grown the groceries. Thanks for organizing the round-ups, and have a great time in Denver with Carol!
ReplyDeleteHi, Mary Lee. Wow -- those last two lines. I like how the poem opens with weather details and moves into the larger impact of those details. Interesting note for you: I live close to the place where Route 70 begins!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun connection!
DeleteDefinitely Colorado! So, so, so dry the last couple of summers. Longing for a good soaking rain!
ReplyDeleteLike that surprise ending and how the poem gradually builds towards it. Have fun in Denver!
ReplyDeleteAnd we so badly need the rain! Thanks for you words.
ReplyDeleteThe sky is hazy today, all the way out here. Smoke from the fires. Grim.
DeleteReminds me of a thing I wrote a long, long time ago (and long gone, too) based around standard TV weatherman phrases. However, I'm quite sure I didn't nail the ending like you just did.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I type a comment on this site, and it asks me to "prove I am not a robot," I kind of worry a little bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat if I can't?
What if I am?
It feels like the start of new book in my SCARY TALES Series.
It's only the site that doesn't know you're real. I've met you. You're as real as they come, JP!
DeleteWhoa, a kicker at the end! Do you get the Poets and Writers weekly writing prompts, The Time is Now? http://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises
ReplyDeleteThis week's poetry prompt was to write about the weather.
Hi Mary Lee, your poem resonated with me a great deal as Singapore is currently suffering from haze (due to entire forests being burned in Sumatra) - we are praying for rain to wash everything away - but it's been unbearably dry and literally cloudless skies. Situation has gone from bad to worse with PSI levels (Pollutants Standards Index) going as high as 400 which is perceived to be at a very dangerous level. :( Everyone's wearing masks when outdoors.
ReplyDeleteI love the ending Mary Lee ~ totally unexpected. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, yes. Scary.
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem, Mary Lee. Powerful last two lines, but I also love the matter-of-fact tone of the first stanza.
ReplyDeleteThis morning in NE IA we had 2 inches in 1/2 an hour. Farmers haven't been able to plant and first hay was just harvested. So different, yet equally extreme, climate change weather. Have fun at the Botanical Gardens.
Nice pic, too. Was that yours?
Yes, that's mine photo! Thanks for the compliment!!
DeleteI thought it might be yours! I love the narrow strip of earth with sky, sky, clear blue sky piled on top! :)
DeleteScary stuff. Super ending, Mary Lee it really has bite.
ReplyDeleteLove the zinger at the end that snaps you upright and makes you think.
ReplyDeleteIt's something I always wonder as I zip through towns on the interstate. What are the stories here? What is right in front of me, yet I don't see it?
ReplyDeleteCathy
Oh, you got me with those whiplash last 2 lines.
ReplyDeleteI think Calgary, Alberta would welcome some of your dry heat right about now. Weather is always so much more than just an inconvenience.
Violet N.
Have made that trek so often across to Missouri, Mary Lee, and hoped the fields once more would get their "fifty-five hundredths'. You showed the way it is beautifully. I always wonder how the farmers manage the constant worry of 'what if'?
ReplyDeleteYou remind me of the awesomeness of Mother Nature, from the beauty to the dearth and back. We have had our share, hopefully it will swing round that way eventually and until then, prayers for all especially the firefighters.....
ReplyDeleteJanet F.
Sky! Love the pic and especially love the surprise in the last lines of your poem. I totally need to write a humidity poem... soaking round these parts!
ReplyDelete