I once wrote a blog post called “The Midwest: 5 reasons it sucks.” A tongue-in-cheek piece about the horrors of living in this wasteland of a region. Incidentally, this post got probably the most traffic of anything I ever wrote on that blog. If my Midwest intuition tells me anything, it tells me this is because many people love to hate the Midwest.
Detractors, beware! This here is an homage. I got love for this middle-of-the-map. What’s so great about this region? If you want to know the truth, the midwest does thunderstorms like no one else knows how. The beauty of those skies being torn open… gets me every time. Let’s go eat a tornado, boys.
John Mark Eberhardt works for the Kansas City Star and has a book of poetry out called Night Watch.
Farmers
Out here in the fields,
the distances can
defeat you. In our
pickup trucks, we
raise the dust on
gravel roads, looking
for signs of trouble–
corn smut, busted fences,
a daughter in the hay.
Now and then you see us, you
city folks in your rental cars,
when you take a wrong turn
off the interstate and onto
one of our country roads
that have no names or
numbers, just letters–
G or B or double A. The
roads are like us; they
don’t have much to say.
When we see you out here,
lost, your lips moving, your
eyes wide, looking for clues,
we’ll wave to you, or at least
lift two fingers off the wheel.
If you stop and roll down your
window, we’ll even give you
directions. We won’t ask
why you’re so quick to get
away; after all, you can’t
imagine why we stay.
Mental Graffiti, a slam team from Chicago performs a group piece: We’re from the Midwest. (The team’s 2008 incarnation was peopled by Dan Sully, Tristan Silverman, Alvin Lau, Billy Tuggle, K.Krown).
If what you seek a bit more self-derision from midwestern poetry, please see Kevin Young’s Ode to the Midwest.
For more Midwestern poetry read anything by B.H. Fairchild or the arm of the Cottonwood as it spits its dry storm clouds over a quiet town in spring.
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Tags: b.h. fairchild, john mark eberhardt, kansas city, kevin young, mental graffiti, midwest, poetry
vary nice poetry here. enjoyed my visit.