The Prairie Poet Laureate Advises
by Margit Berman
Write poems
like grain elevators:
rhythmic but unrhymed,
clean, straight lines,
each linked to the next,
all the same length.
Tall bare columns
marching heavenwards,
utilitarian, unaffected
unmoved in high winds.
Fill them with your words
milled into white dust,
nourishing even as they hang
buoyant in empty rooms,
catching in the sun
sparking explosions.
by Margit Berman
Write poems
like grain elevators:
rhythmic but unrhymed,
clean, straight lines,
each linked to the next,
all the same length.
Tall bare columns
marching heavenwards,
utilitarian, unaffected
unmoved in high winds.
Fill them with your words
milled into white dust,
nourishing even as they hang
buoyant in empty rooms,
catching in the sun
sparking explosions.
Farmers Co-op Elevator, September 7, 2009 photo: Paul Bernhardt
Margit's poem and my photograph were exhibited together in the show Poetic Art, October 21-November 20, 2009 at Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, Virginia.
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