Winds of Change, Western Plains

Changes on the Western Plains

 

Winds of Change, Western Plains

by Bill McCullough, 2011

Reins in hand, a modern son

of cowpokes long since gone

sits astride his horse, the sky coloring toward night.

He watches the march of half-mile water walkers,

which tiptoe round the edges of a long quiet farmstead,

as if reluctant to disturb the ghosts who once worked this soil.

He lives in a place where he knows

that help from friends and neighbors will always be

more plentiful and ready than the water the walkers spread.

A place where fields grow bigger,

while towns have gotten smaller, and thoughts

about the future struggle against the tide of memories.

A place where past and future

twine inextricably together

cattle and windmills against the western sky

The blades atop a homestead tower sit idle,

tail feathers locked against a mighty wind

come and gone some decades past.

It's descendants whirl in slow, stately circles

twisting wind into electron flow,

sent 'cross country toward homes still filled with voices.

Cowhide and carbon fiber, together

grazing across the High Plains

harvesting grass down low and wind on high.

How often had he heard,

on the scent of local feedlots

“That's just the smell of money!”

And now the sound of giant blades,

…..........swish...............swish..............swish,

“It's just the sound of money!”

Perhaps a tower sprouts for each oil jack gone still.

One source of economic lifeblood ceasing,

while another begins to flow, powering the nation.

Reviews

[lee von cleef]

I feel the ever blowing wind ,life ,all mixed up, to be born again, "cowhide and carbon
fiber" super line, wind on high ,good line too,give us more to read