Ebony Earth, Ribbons and Bows
the prairie speaks to us
sacrificed plants over thousands of years
turn the soil to ebony black
Gentle rains make it shine
glistening in the morning Son
Father creating mother, it seems
Breaking winter’s hardness
the earth tilts to give us warmth
farmers do their things
scratching, massaging mother earth
laying down rows of seeds
Corn, in particular
has a hardened point
sharp as a pencil it pushes up
from ebony earth comes ribbons green
so now we see
ebony earth, adorned with ribbons
come plants of promise
life spans of a hundred days
where one seed becomes 600
and the ribbons have become bows
Picture a newborn baby
fuzzy hair there
with a tiny ribbon somehow tied
then a young girl, smiling, laughing
running and jumping and squealing with joy
and then a beautiful mother
(aren’t they all?)
hair coifed just so
and a bow…
Ah, beautiful mother, earth
is adorned with a bow
seen from far above
It’s for us!
You! Me!
Ebony earth, ribbons and bows!
Spring 2015, a happy farmer, Lin, corn planted
Fog and Fertilizer
a galleon floating back and forth
sprinkling plant food along its pathways
Satellite driven
much straighter than an arrow
it glides my field…in through the early morning fog
Corn seeds wait
nestled in my shed
waiting for the perfect day
they’ll be poured into my planter
and tendered into the soil
just so, 2 inches deep, firmed
long lines of ribbons placed
rows thirty inches wide
a kernel every six inches
a few days of warmth and moisture and
LIFE!
Springing forth
bursting the seed coat
a root emerges, pushing down
and a shoot pushes up
the root diving for food
the shoot driving for sunshine
zipped back and forth
technicians stopping, pulling soil samples
Maps created of nutrition
the galleon is varying the rates
more here, less there
based upon the need
Research, education, skills,
capitalism, desire
coming together in America
The farmer and technology
Always figuring it out
How to do it better!
Sail on, ghostly galleon
your lights flashing through the fog
the field will soon be done!
Lin April 2015, working in the fog
Switch!
a switch is thrown: “ON!”
and things begin to happen…
Robins are back
buds are swelling
and the grass begins to grow
faster, and faster, and faster!
Winter’s brown is pushed aside
and green grows the earth
the carpet is alive!
the grass drinks in the sun
and suckles on the soil
lush is the operative word
Lovely!
Easter fits so well!
happens
a switch it thrown
for all mankind
things begin to happen
The whole earth is singing!
Around the globe songs rise up
Hearts swell
souls begin to grow
hope springs and grows
faster
and faster
and faster!
The people drink in remembrance
drawing on creation
“Alive!” is the operative Word…
Triumphant!
Selah, Easter 2015, Lin
Frosting on the Cake
winter holding on
squeezing us tightly, nightly
sunup showing a light white blanket
glistening with sparkles in the morning sun
frosted, our cake
Scarce known
our cake is what we walk on
blindly calling it ‘dirt’
but what a glorious cake it is!
Teaming with life
unseen to the naked eye
a billion microbes per teaspoonfull
are living under our feet!
Magic and mystery live there
hidden from the millenia
just now being discovered
revealed
microbes in our inner selves
enable us to live
in balance, we do well
unbalanced, we hurt
digestion depends on them
How often what we see
is but the frosting on the cake!
Awaiting our discovery
they’re there all the time
Created, stretching our minds
at the complexity of it all
yet knowing, our all
is often so limited, so small
Frost
Soil
Open Creations doors and windows
Breathe in the smell of spring awakening
Listen to and savor the robin’s commentary
Reflect
on the wonder of it all!
Lin, Springtime 2015
“Then sings my soul’!
Retired, Re-tiring
Champaign County Farm Bureau
but, really, getting ‘a new set of tires’!
Still doing, still involved, still thinking!
Retired from Parkland
no longer a board member
no longer chairman
but, here, a different automobile
still self propelled, still moving
still doing, still thinking
Poking, here and there, with ideas
Retired from state college business
Illinois Community College Trustees Association
No longer on committees
No longer on the board
No longer an officer
Secretary, vice president, President
retired, not tired, but
still doing, still thinking, still poking
So I’ve been retiring for fifteen years already!
How’s that working for me?
Different tires, different ‘modes of transportation’
and not enough time!
More books to read, more magazines and newsletters,
more issues, more policies to think about
create amend or delete
Plenty to do, to think about, to poke around in and with and…
Fascinating, the ride!
All along life’s highway we go
sometimes flying (Japan to Turkey, Antarctic to Arctic)
sometimes driving (Maine to Florida, Canada to Mexico, Seattle to L.A.)
sometimes thinking… all over the planet!
Sometimes in history, sometimes now, sometimes future!
No ‘whoa’ to me yet!
I’m getting new tires!
I’m getting a ‘new ride’!
What is it?
I don’t know yet! Never did!
Just keep ‘knocking on doors’
that just keep opening!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Lin, Almost Spring 2015
Honestly Abe
we need you back!
If your are indeed
walking out there at midnight*
just for a bit we’d like you back
God grace flowed through you
your words, your choices
and a lot of fine things have happened
The Land Grant Colleges you birthed
have sown abundance on Illinois
World leaders are planted here
with food and machines so grand
imagination gets stretched and stretched again
Bunge, Archer Daniels Midland, Kraft
process and enrich far beyond our borders
Caterpillar and John Deere shine world wide
multiplying man’s abilities
to farm and construct
creating mountains of food
moving mountains, building buildings
barging grain to a hungry world
now seven billion mouths strong
Yes, what a marvel, your Illinois
We’ve sunk into a cloud
a fiscal nightmare of our making
a culture of pandering** pushing, leading
so strong we lost our honesty, Abe…
We don’t even know where we are
our debts are banging on our doors
and we’re afraid to answer
Honestly, Abe, we need you back!
Just for a few years, to help us firm
Where we are
Where we want to go
and how we might get there…***
Selah, Lin, March 2015
*Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight, Vachel Lindsey
**Our Culture of Pandering, Senator Paul Simon
***”House Divided Speech, Old State Capitol Springfield, 1858, A. Lincoln