LANDSCAPE WITH COMBINE

My father’s fields are far from here.

I shot my share of blackbirds there.

Drove a harvester in summer.

Gathered plums.

Gathered chums.

The tractor-trailer rigs would come.

The pickers, singularly or in vans.

And in summer the canneries began.

If I was asked to ride the John Deere then.

To reap, I’d reap; to thresh, I’d thresh. Men,

I’d winnow you. I’d winnow a few.

I’d take you, dear John, or whoever is you.

Love is easier to achieve than you might think. Sooner

or later the combine gives out. & sooner.