Large crowds gather in late industrial style:
Austin, MN; Peoria, IL; Flint, MI.
Quantrill’s corporate raiders and John Brown’s ghost.
DNA marketplace and love for sale, love on the rocks.
Starting a new life on her father’s South Dakota farm.
Sallow August afternoons, while ADM undercuts
small-scale production.
Diesel trucks idle outside a Flying J travel plaza.
A cardboard sign held out back reads in large black marker
“Trying to get home to see my sweetheart.”
A baby on the way and two already sleeping
in the parents’ small room. Generations
of atmospheric pressure, of violence,
spoken in sharp words.
Hunting frogs at night with a lantern and stick.
Illusory nomad ego raids on the culture.
Critique. The non-metaphysical: a rescued poverty.
The danger of replacing ethics with aesthetics.
You make me tense. What a life a mess can be.
History from below and a barter economy
like trading braiding for baby-sitting.
A documentary urge and language to chew.