The Field Speaks
- The Field Speaks
The tale in which he stakes an acreof field and fights off wolves with shotgunsis long to tell so I'll just tell the shorter one:Parable of the Harvester who raked mydirt so deep he mountained me. Tattooed andthin, tinny-voiced, he harvested a bitbut left me absent. Couldn't handle it,the crops stripped to stubble, field to bluestem.
So if you plan to settle this meadow,be kind. Even if you stumble on the drapedgrave I made for him, tomb the priest gaveblessing to before he stole our clothes.
For you, I'll be above the body. I'll liftan arc of whisper fern, for you, forget. [End Page 67]
Casey Thayer received an MFA from Northern Michigan University and has poetry published or forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Devil's Lake, Quarterly West, and elsewhere. Currently, he is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County.
