Dormant ancestral roots.
Family scrapbook on canvas.
Ma's apron hung up by the wood stove.
Bless her heart.
Catfish, corn bread, collard greens and Kool-Aid.
The neighbors seed bull loose again down by the creek.
Gopher snake disappears under a pile of shingles.
Wearing a flannel shirt top-buttoned at the neck, Pa says grace.
Frogs, tadpoles and minnows in the irrigation ditch.
Possum in the rabbit hutch. Damn nuisance.
Sears Roebuck catalogue and the Bible under a kerosene lamp.
Soy beans, cotton, yellow corn as high as you can reach.
Snapping turtle in a burlap sack.
Wash tub on the porch.
Canned peaches.
One room school house at the top of the hill.
Preacher man ask too damn many questions.
Homesteaders. 8 acres. Each corner marked with a pile of stones.
This is our land now.
Barefoot. Sunburn neck. Cane pole down by the swimming' hole.
Mind your manners.
Scratch a liar, find a thief. Yep, Grandpa always told us that.
Blue mule spotted with intention.
Sunday go to meeting, gray mule reminding us.
Black mule's dusty harness.
Keep coming back. Day after day.
It works if you work it.
Simple drudgery without complaint.
No need to explain.
Pray on it.
Preach sister, preach.
- Gary McMillan