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farmerpoem #3
(this is from a 1956 letter from my retired U of Michigan writing professor and small farm owner, who taught me so much of what I know about writing and living)
I shall never go through another
lambing season without living
on
the place I drove back and forth
twice a day this year and lost several lambs while away lambs start coming first of march I am going to be there I want to have one spring at least
when I can get
up in the morning and watch winter go and spring come in
© Jacqueline Jackson 2008
Thirty, 40 years ago, there were lots of hitchhikers,
college students, bent old men and old women, and none of them seemed
fearful of being out there on the highways at the mercy of strangers. All
that’s changed, and nobody wants to get in a car with a stranger.
Here Steven Huff of New York tells us about a memorable ride.
Safe
You used to be able to flag a ride in this country. Impossible now — everyone is afraid of strangers. Well, there was fear then too, and it was mutual: drivers versus hitchhikers. And we rode without seat belts, insurance or beliefs. People would see me far ahead on a hill like a seedling, watch me grow in the windshield and not know they were going to stop until they got right up to me. Maybe they wanted company or thought I’d give them some excitement. It was the age of impulse, of lonesome knee jerks. An old woman stopped, blew smoke in my face and after I was already in her car she asked me if I wanted a ride. I’m telling you. Late one night a construction boss pulled over. One of his crew had been hit by the mob, he said as he drove, distraught and needing to talk to someone. We rode around for a long time. He said, I never wore a gun to a funeral before, but they’ve gotta be after me too. Then he looked at me and patted the bulge in his coat. Don’t worry, he said, you’re
safe.
Poem copyright © 2007 by Steven Huff, whose
latest book of poetry is More Daring Escapes (Red Hen Press, 2007). Reprinted from the Chatauqua Literary Journal (Issue 4, 2007). American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of
English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Ted Kooser served as the U.S. poet laureate
2004-2006. For more information, go to www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.
This article appears in Feb 21-27, 2008.
