TURN TURN TURN

It’s rained like I can’t remember

and the Llano Estacado is green

in a million hues. Even the steep

walls of every ravine cascade in new

growth where some off-kilter seeds

have lain in wait for what must be

decades.

My eyes puzzle out these

unfamiliar pixels, and are confused

because all the browns and ambers

have dissolved into a verdant joy.

My nose runs and my

clothes drip saline in this

thick humidity.

But look at my garden,

lush with peas and beans

conquering the fence

More squash than we’ll eat

in a year; huge, yellow crooknecks

and giant zucchinis where there were

none just last night.

The ranchers with their whole

sections reach for the sky

with soy, cotton and corn they

don’t have to irrigate in mile wide

circles. And the cattle graze

everywhere you look across pastures

too arid any other year.

Oldtimers can’t remember when

it was ever like this, and shake

their heads when I ask.

Twenty years ago the drought was

twenty years old, so I’ve never seen

the reservoirs so full, or water in the

Salt Fork of the Red River,

but there it is and those cows dip their

udders in deep, blue ponds

I never knew were there.

Yesterday, my neighbor, Starla,

gave us some cucumbers from her

over abundance, because I forgot

to plant my own, and we talked over

the fence. She’d been a ranch cook

for years across from T. Boone Pickens’

place, and she knows a thing or two.

The sky was cloudy and there was thunder

in the distance with dark rain fifteen miles

to the north. She shook her head,

said, “With all this tall grass and weeds,

when the rain is over, the fires

will be terrible.

Reviews

[Lorry]

I reckon this is the second time today I've said "it never rains but it pours" to you and what a great example of that. Reaping the bounty today while hoping there isn't any payback as the months get warmer and old Ma nature could bring an entirely different surprise along the way a bit.
Nature does have a way of taking our breath away and even confounds the old timers with the shock of it all, but at least for now you can bask in her glorious technicolour and enjoy her show, then worry about later, later.

[Vol]

Last year we had fires that burned a million acres. Ranchers lost everything, 17,000 cattle, tractors and combines and mile upon mile of fencing...
Vol

[Lorry]

Funkin' he'll man! I bet you couldn't breathe in for wondering why you fancied a barbecue!

[Vol]

It was crazy, 70 mile per hour wind west to east, so strong the fire was unable to turn south toward me, just pure luck

[Lorry]

Or old ma nature said "na, leave his weed alone!"
😃

[K. Louis]

The imagery in this poem is great! I love the descriptions of the Llano Estacado and the garden overflowing with life. Well done.

[emmajoygreen]

You world visual as visual can be.. rain welcome for now, the green and veggies and table laden, shared and more, so finely set for this reader, Vol. But, what are ' yellow crooknecks' Seems with everything growing cos of the rain, the soil you have is a giver, owns some needed ingredients to provide what's needed for such a harvest. Has it been tested, the soil, as to its content via a core sample? Would so like to know. Will harvests be sorted for freezers too, using what can be used in the not too distant future. Your words hav near enough made my mouth water.. so luv veggies. Have to also say that the poem itself is fantastic poetry, gently said but full of colour and shape suggested/offered. Re-read, wondering if too much rain, will that lead to problems (am on Helplined, hence delay , so sorry

[Vol]

EmmaJoy,
It is very strange to go out into the brown world that is the normal state of things with patches of green here and there, but instead green EVERYWHERE... unfortunately, Starla was right and that fall the fires came and we had to evacuate, the last time it happened over a million acres burned last year.
It is a strange kind of wilderness here... stark in its beauty...
Vol