blue skies poetry

In winter
you did donuts on the frozen pond with the skidoo
hear that you said
waiting for the ice to crack
before revving up the hill

then in summer
on your mini-scooter in the wheat fields
grasshoppers leaped at my legs
left red marks like chickenpox

I had asked to see the boys at the next farm
It was worth it

In your green army jeep
we rose and fell
on the scorching metal seats
at each crest of the dirt road
dust harvested a storm wherever we went

we picked rocks
made our own Stonehenge and later
consumed crab-apples until our stomachs ached

you showed me your prize kill
hides hung in the shed by the barn
sold for cash
you should buy a cow you said

I’m a kid from the city
this holy farm life
an unfamiliar sacrament

~ Merrill Edlund

Merrill Edlund was a high school teacher in Calgary for thirteen years before moving back home to the prairies. She now lives and teaches in Saskatoon. These poems are from her first manuscript titled “a dissimilar memory”.

Filed under: Merrill Edlund by akublik Date 17 February, 2011