along the dawn oak trail
a google-enhanced poetic road trip through the ozarks
and the driftless (ocooch mountains) of the united states
___________________________________________________
after I emerged from hospital here in scotland following cancer surgery late in 2020 I was talking with mike luster of couch missouri when he mentioned the geological geographical and cultural connections between the ozarks and the driftless region in the united states
with my itchy feet constrained by my own health/mobility issues and the onset of covid lockdown here in the uk it struck me that there was something in it worth pursuing
little did I know it was going to keep me busy for over a year
in a way it was an update on the boyle family’s 1960’s journey to the surface of the earthbut using google maps wikipedia and the internet generally to take a poetic road trip through those areas
equally it was partly inspired by every road trip book and film ever produced
somewhere along the line reading larry eigner at the time I was tempted to return to a form I used many years ago ie a scattering form that provides both phrasal breaks and visual interest
as if all this wasn’t enough a further feature was the inclusion of botanical references to plants used in herbal medicine, particularly those used by native americans
___________________________________________________
with gratitude to mike luster for putting me on this trail and keeping me heading in the right directionand to khadijah lacina for her botanical brains so often picked
__________________________________________________
i.m. harry guest (1932-2021)
__________________________________________________
I start on my journey
with empty hands
and expectant heart. (r. tagore, gitanjali)
__________________________________________________
hendrix creek preserve
35.1049138, -92.4343942 (AR 72032)
leaving from a leafy lade
a glade
laid out by design
to stem
to staunch
to stymie the flow
the flood
held back
by a subsumed nature
synthesised
protector of the advancing straggle
the spill
the spoil
of having solidity underfoot
while passing flocks
float
resting awhile
en route
heading north
while the dogwood sways
afire
and the pickerel weed sighs
its whispers to the salix above
time stands still
just an echo of it
skites its way across the lake
macedonia cemetery
35.1185989, -92.4175034 (AR 72032)
past another mere
this of days
fed
bled into by both
the haliacmon and axius
wildly displaced
with all the while
the way watched over
by a mythical picket
of high grown men
fringed by hair
to where
the dead do not die
rather
they just lie
low in the loam
waiting
each dunn and muse
each fugatt and keller
all now left to push up their clumps
of smirking comanche daisies
all forgotten
so far
from home
their homes once there
back there
beyond the skyline
now hurtling unpausingly past
beaver fork
35.1301381,-92.4004594 (AR 72032)
without stopping
the loud love of pickles gap
becomes a doppler
devoid of words or speech
instead laden with actions and truth
with tangible movement
towards reaching the crossing
a beaver tail
forked
where dreams make better happen
and business brighten
believing in ownership
of what cannot be owned
oblivious to the slapping
the warning
others have acknowledged in passing
in continuing on
respecting the signal of ancient builders
beneath poplar and aspen
willow birch and maple
these architects of diversity
older than the vanity
of the predators of profit
before all are left then
to be led on
beyond the north star
that seventies store
35.1375674,-92.4017738 (AR 72032)
hey
dylan
you still there
pushing your pipes
and bongs
and bee sage
for smudging the spirits away
up there
on tie dyed hippiehill
with the psychedelic thipis
out front
where the cedar
and sweetgrass
the chanshasha
and mullein mingle
to smell good
when the darkness turns
to the blackness
of violet light
where the gathered peace
is all the time
helped along
by the hissing shuffle
of minnesota mukluks
and the sacred winds singing
through the chimes
hanging
asking
hey
dylan
you still there
man
greenbrier
35.2102616,-92.3995684 (AR 72058)
out oak hill road
to where auto hulks
now hasteless
huddle
half hidden
in danceless powwow
the drums fallen
silent
the rust rotting
their advance halted
by hook fingered green briar
shining
strangling
both banks
of the creek
choking
the dutchman’s pipe
the green dragon
and solomon’s seal
each and others
only just surviving
the felling and flattening
the making of room
of space
for our mounting throw away sins
as if no better than the briar
hypocrites to the core
matthews park
35.2296026,-92.3863459 (AR 72058)
hypnotically concentric
a comforting eye
a circle within a circle
trail within trail
a pastiche of nature
a calm evoked
by the carpet
of poppy seed cases
discarded in the ivy
and iris and lilac
in getting there
in getting away
if only fleetingly
from the urban thorns
the angles and points
off the choked artery
of a falling
fading empire
to be amongst
angels and fish
in prairie meadow and pond
somewhere to remember piercing the valley
as if some gift from god
a loyalty of sorts
but still only
swings and roundabouts
at the end of the day
the blue moon high overhead
greenbrier quarry / defunct titan two missile silo
35.2883379, -92.3905699 (AR 72058)
scar and scrub
side by side
the scar seen the scrub
left there punctuated
on the way by concrete
on the landscape intended for cronus
and rhea
a barren from where
devastation to spawn death
a desolation gouged a desolation promised
with all the violence with all the ferocity
insatiability any dogma
can provide can defend
nothing grows and what grows
just gdp is just a rainbow
of weeds
gross undesirables
dom purple and yellow
es nutsedges
tic red sorrel
product and spotted spurge
like a hybrid and like their scents
of idiocy the taste of paranoia
and craving hangs in the air
an amalgam a memory
of lacking the madmen now
and longing would care to forget
a tartarus here on earth
damascus
35.3670689, -92.4090491 (AR 72039)
with
a change of mind
of outlook
of landscape
as though revelation
an epiphany
beyond even
our crazy friend
offering up an experience
for the soul
the road arrives
in damascus
carving a cross
across town
the old hewn
by the new
taking a right
to scratch gravel upon the rise
to be held back by gates and styles
to be blinded to the pothole
by tremuloid aspen
and bastard oak
their barks perfumed by jasmine
brought upon a star from afar
though had it been left
for saul at the junction
travelling with the excess weight
the baggage of belief
this road
too
would go nowhere
but back
clinton
35.5889338, -92.4592561 (AR 72031)
over where
another red river
coils around clinton
archey creek one way
the home of chuck at speed
and cowboy dreams
the other
with dying choking
chickweed leaving
its end of season trail
to lure the present
all the way back to
bradley branch
chocks away
the races begin
the broncs fanned
living history
or
boys with toys
whichever
whatever
the show must go on
natural bridge of arkansas
35.6557057, -92.4487527 (AR 72031)
past hubcaps and plates
machine stands and frames
with a wave to the eternal summer snowman
winding a way
tortuously twisting
snaking
seemingly endlessly down
as though belle starr on the run
to find her cave
her hideout
where the water falls
amidst dogwood and ferns
azaleas and the chicken of the woods
as though riding high
on an old reliable
with its hinge dropped tongue
to make sailing across the ozark
hills and hollows
all the easier
and seeing the woodpiles
you chopped
to warm you twice
in a trice
with a platitude carved in a slice
until
at last
that sandstone slab
sought
solidly arching through time
though too weak to be walked
unsafe to be climbed
simply there to be seen
a backdrop for your digital smiles
zoo church village
35.7356488, -92.5220043 (AR 72629)
to the tune of the american folk song
the animals went in two by two
hurrah hurrah
so’s hallie’s girls’d have things aplenty
to do to do
but then the lion it roared and ran
though ate only straw with the ox and lamb
before it returned to its cage at the zoo
to get itself out of the rain now
this straw was the last for one and all
oh no oh no
but hallie had sold up and missed this grave
ado ado
new owners had only bad luck to face
closed down and surely fallen from grace
the zoo’s empty cages the rail tracks too
all left to rust in the rain now
abandoned it lay as the years rolled by
so long so long
‘til monty came past with god’s ideas
anew anew
no matter the roses climbing wild
the evening rain or daffodils done
beneath their passion he could see
that all could be good on earth now
when god had said that sluggards to ants
should look should look
he meant that men are just beasts at heart
it’s true it’s true
so rick bought the zoo to house his flock
men and women and children too
all ministered there in pastures new
with none left out in the rain now
so pastor pastor let us know
of love of love
and let us see how we can be
set free set free
and drivers if you pass one day
be sure to stop if only to pray
these animals wait to welcome each soul
and let us all in from the rain now
arkansas black apple fruit stand
35.8165736,-92.5502298 (AR 72645)
now
eat a peach
around these parts
where
when elsewhere was roaring
business was hooded
muddy booted
where the little red
is fiery crossed again
and the apples are black skinned
sweet with summer
and history hurries on
shamed
mortified
at its guilds of guilt
of golden dreams of supremacy
of squash
of crush
of putting men down
of watermelon later reclaimed
red and juicy
plucked
rattling
lugged
of okra
zucchini
berries and cucumbers
encumbered with sorrow
anything sunned in a row
whipped into line
now
eat a peach
around these parts
and taste the bloodied pain of time
savour the thought
of man’s inhumanity to man
south mountain scenic overlook
35.8948287, -92.6149978 (AR 72650)
on high
two five five six
way up
weighed up in feet
pylon pierced
where generations of hills
have cut through
the devil’s backbone
left by a forgotten sea
as layered shale and lime
a world of osage
before turmoil and drought
and cherokee reserved
floats out below
far out beyond
lie bryan and round and boat
bear and peter and buffalo
mountains and creek and point and river
all shrouded in a purgative strawberry haze
of what was once
but is
no more
kenda drive-in
35.6895854, -92.9235221 (AR 72650)
over the hedge
in the place beyond the pines
the late chrysanthemums
blossom
under the greenwood tree
soon it will be
midnight
in the garden
of good and evil
hearts of oak will howl
like
the wind in the willows
though really
it is nothing but
a pretence
a projection
names up in lights
names in the night
initiating such celluloid fantasies
as to spellbind sedan ensnared escapologists
with nowhere else to go
the poison ivy
of reels rolling
taking its blunting course
through their sedated veins
to their pacified brains
since sixty six
undoubtedly old school
yet still
living
breathing
existing
sustained by its deal with the devil
so many souls sold
for popcorn and co*ke
rosie crawford’s western grove
36.1730439, -93.0244498 (AR 72601)
miles gone by
days gone by
old engines
rusty wheels
pull up your quilt
comfort yourself
rest a while
ready yourself
for the past to come alive
in the sights
sounds
tools’n’tractors
machines
cars
crafts’n’stuff
all from once upon a time
all preserved
as though in a cathartic pokeweed aspic
a new age
now old
from the path to the west
with giser and crown
still sawing and shingling
metals
hammered and forged
rails railing
against the weight
of trains blackened by the years
recollections refusing to be forced into retirement
so
pull up your quilt
comfort yourself
rest a while
ready yourself
for the past to come alive
harrison
36.2304155, -93.1073769 (AR 72601)
if a town
is its people
then where the crooked creek
curls around
needs remind us
of the imbalanced balance
of suffragist ida
whose equality was reserved for only some
or of razorback brandon
gone died too soon
too young
with so much road still ahead
or of yodelling hugh
rattling his chained regalia
amongst loblolly and oak
with always music in store
to score for all those
country hall of famers
or of purple hearted jack
lost at iwo jima
to a sniper on the lines
blind to his mission of mercy
or of bethesda born brian
so sure
never to have been here before
before being dropped
in the middle of nowhere
somewhere near
where lyric street stood
but then
if a town
is its people
so too
must its unsung be summoned up
whether the arnolds or nolens
the bellers or crumps
the ingrams the jenkins the adairs the beenes
the byroms parkers grays and hastings
the richesins the roberts the roulstons
or the tuckers woodmores kleppers and allens
for the few and the many alike
belong by this crooked creek
curling around where each was born
heading for peel
36.2435973, -93.0982225 - 36.4133202, -92.7941981 (AR 72644)
through ebb and flow
of landed waves
undulating
snaking the serpentine seven
an aztec far from home
slighting the stub of forty three
stopped suddenly in its tracks
truncated
abbreviated by progress
and still more
crests
and caves
and creeks
buck
turkey
shanty
cook
hills and hollows of sorrel and spurge
cold shouldering lead hill
sugar loaf creek
to be east on fourteen
and cut to locust
creek
road
cemetery
church
jesus is lord
in coming and going
and on
onward
until finally
the one two five
and peeled eyes
for peel in sight
peel to come
the rollercoaster ride over for now
near bull shoals lake
36.4945098, -92.7802488 (AR 72668)
stripping away
at the difference
the distance between
here and there
and now and to come
peeling back
the layers of meaning
in the ferryman’s words
when he calls out that
where we are going
is where we are at
the dinner bell
36.5024104, -92.8074979 (MO 65733)
across the line
ark to mo
hopelessly hidden
boats in the bushes
artemisian scrub a dub tubs
their plugs pulled by
the diving bell
next door to
the dinner bell
where
the smells
of coffee and cinnamon
pancakes and fried pies
hang with the skilled morning skillet
heavy in the air
where
everyone passing pigs out in style
though for some
the lighter side
keeping to the conscience salve
of the salubrious pork loin and egg
maybe a leaf or two tossed here and there
where
diners know that
boat savvy danny and so sweet priscilla
are all about
keeping their customers happy
as larry and brian and bob
with their
country portions
country prices
country hospitality
the best in this townless town
the best for miles around
rueter
36.6079734, -92.8682569 (MO 65744)
empty roads
endless miles
the same old nothing
same old pasture
same old cattle
same old hills
same old trees
and even when
there’s something
there’s nothing after all
extinct in all but
a name
postmaster
gone
given
as bloodland
and jollification
red oak
and wakenda
just
another
pure white ghost town
lost in the hawthorn and big bluestem beards
lost in missouri
flaunting the faintest of glimmers
traces of time
long since passed through
the marks of moving on
of change
of heading elsewhere
through the intersection
between past and future
to kissee mills
then way off headlong into afar
hercules glades
36.6860164, -92.8812077 (MO 65614)
a single pillar
here
rather with
so much
further beyond
a crow’s nest
in an ocean of forest
red cedar and oak
smoke tree and maple
a watchful eye
high
up amongst sleeping stars
seen by ptolemy
redbud and dogwood
past their best below
with indian paintbrush
missouri primrose
all fainting in summer’s long heat
while prairie grasses
swoon
sway
seeking water
from droughty sacrosanct solitude
a black bear wilderness
clawed out
in cascading calcite scars
as wild
as to be its own salvation
as to be safe
from senseless ruin
its watchful eye
high
a single pillar of laboured steel
mcclurg
36.7844615, -92.7753031 (MO 65701)
tight right
at a t
to follow the beaver
upstream
as it bends and buckles
to brownbranch mo
then
tight right again
to head east on a w
on a whim
on the scent
of something in the air
echoes of old times
of good times
music by ear
deaf to chicken scratches
to anything too stiff
what was learnt
was learned from man to boy
but
alvie and gordon
now doomed
to travel arkansas
on that last train home
steve too
left clutching an iris
taking care to forget me not
the sound of their steps
to a once merry dance
sadly fainter
fragile
now nearly
not there
dogged by a plagued world
that gives no quarter
where there is no place for old men
where
as they say
death has all the rhythm
of a horse’s feet striking dirt
thornfield
36.7090751, -92.6602417 (MO 65762)
west and south
by brissel ridge
and krider branch
ranch after ranch
after homestead
after farm
each with built in lebensraum
the road
crossing
then following little north fork
white river
into thornfield
where
if nothing else
so many have plainly
been dying
to meet you
though so few
it seems
so willing to wait
here where
short of tumbleweed
dry eyed
purple poisoned
tangles of wolfsbane
scrabble for water
bedraggled by the wind
praying for rain
if nothing else
theodosia
36.5782028, -92.6517743 (MO 65761)
in the longrun
a long road
for a short cut
heading south
in retreat
till all of a sudden left at lutie
to the spider’s webs of des res
hugged by oaks
jazzed with poppies
this is theodosia mo
this is the lure of waterside living
waiting
watching as jarret’s bridge
dissolves
into the low hung
fogs of war
another place
another black hawk down
played out to a soundtrack
of battling banjos
you and red
way back when
way back when
way back when
sundown
36.5624557,-92.6371727 (MO 65761)
opposite shore
contagion continues
all the way
to sundown
to the golf course
vacant lots
empty promises
all roads named
real and imaginary
in hope
in anticipation
expectation
belief in what has plainly
uncharitably
failed to be
oh to be abandoned to the pain of urtica
after all the unquestionable portent
of profuse calluna
well
so far
at least
but for now
just scarring the woods
as an asphalt etching
of scything speculation
of blind avarice
no matter
that all
that was ever done
was done
safe in knowing
faith could always be found
not so very far
along the road
caulfield
(im elizabeth ann croney 1999-2007)
36.6141186, -92.1049078 (MO 65626)
at the corner in caulfield
by the three legged mule
a girl
ghostly
though not even eight
stands alone
a posy held tight
to her chest
gerbera
cornflower
lavender
cosmos
held tight
as though to hold on
to their secrets
queen anne’s lace
buttercups
even evening primrose
all held tight
as though to brace against
the pain of death
the twist of the knife
a twist of fate
tornado
taken
no warning
no more
thayer
36.5257031, -91.5355919 (MO 65791)
south again
in retreat
but only as far
as bennett’s bayou
then east again
with a rattlesnake spring
in my step
and the letter o
carved large
in a fireweed filled field
until soon the metaphysical
has taken on form
before
over the elkhorn branch
on to
thayer
with its lasso rodeo road
its two mile creek
yet
no sooner
there than
north again
and gone again
to be on the road
again
couch
36.6047094, -91.3837764 (MO 65690)
the humpy a east
peaks and troughs
crests and fallen
and
soh fah te doh
so far so good
found
clinging to the side
of the two o three
passing doors
not knowing who’s home
zapped sap’s scent in the air
greer spring mill
36.7865184, -91.3424274 (MO 65606)
with a nod
in passing
to the misspelling uncle bilbo
through alton
before off
up into an eleven point wilderness
and after not long
a cupola caught
sighted through the branches
of black willow
sourwood and slippery elm
it and its weatherboarded bulk below
a monument
to resisting the new
to upholding another way
such as it was
where a year could go by
not another soul seen
not till harvest
and the greer mill
and the wait
and the other tillers and planters
from all the other backs of beyond
for two or three days of
who’s who
who’s new
who’s gone
who’s gone and wed
who’s gone insane
who’s god
who’s president
who’s in the cookhouse
and what’s taking them so long
though no-one’s
really thinking anything
of rushing
that’s the point
no-one ever has
round spring
37.2819196, -91.4093769 (MO 65466)
not far before timbuktu
where the current
runs strong
comes first
a cavernous cohort
in the karst
to an oasis
of the bluest of waters
further on
one each side of the way
their wooden armies
standing guard
over them
one
barracks to a reserve sentinel
sleeping
so long so still
now petrified
as stalagmites and stalactites
somehow so starkly elaborate
weeping
the other
a mirror on time
on the passage
of peoples
since the earliest
all drawing
life from its tears
on the same life shared by
goosefoot sumpweed and maygrass
coyote yellowthroat and mooneye
all of them and more
from just this one of these two
one each side of the way
a middle way perhaps
between extremes
before to face a reality
ineffably sublime
shannondale
37.3895045, -91.4370433 (MO 65560)
as in a psalm
I lift up my eyes to this hill
and at its summit
momentarily
come across a clearing
fringed by lilac
an inspiration
a rebirth
the point of it all
signs of the word as truth
but not as letter
by letter
yet
for all the craft and commitment
for all the good it does
it’s no sooner seen
than gone again
as an ephemeral answer
to a rhetorical question
never even asked
still
the road snakes on
deaf to everything
it hears
salem
37.6459842, -91.5308442 (MO 65560)
after the dillards
breaking into the open
after so much wood
unseen for the trees
with one final curve
then straight as a die
into salem
witchless
but worshipping the evil of the devil dollar
into this salem
remembering to close the door
lightly
behind
so nobody knows
it’s about time
to clear the roots and branches and
even if only in tribute
to the american duck
to then let it fly
and equally so nobody knows
what’s been before
but for the selective
rose tinted trinkets and artifacts
of an american myth
presented as truth
and even more so nobody knows
the sheep’s bit lined streets of the grid
are actually the bars
of their ambiguous prison
central to the grand scheme of things
yet
even though the door may have been closed
lightly
behind
so very much can still
be seen
from above
just wave to the sky
you’ll see
quarry
37.8507574, -91.7009267 (MO 65401)
come old and young
there’s fun for all the family
but do please listen out
for those three shrill blasts
and run like hell for cover
beneath the biggest burdocks
‘cause the weather’s closing in
and don’t be one of those ten a day
every day
in the usa
who slip away without a sound or struggle
nor be like the others
the jumpers and sliders
taking their chances
in their dances with death
and
in their concussions
their broken bones
abrasions
and bruises
their swellings and pain
to name but a few
come
have fun
oh
but don’t drink the water
don’t even go near it
if you have a gash
are immunodeficient
or are simply allergic to the stuff
and are likely to rash or retch
yes
old and young
one and all
roll up roll up
all the fun of an adrenalin rush
a brush with death
but don’t say
we didn’t warn you
and yes
we’re quite happy with cash or card sir
nancy lane
37.9396115,-91.7501534 (MO 65401)
tamed by
the miles of wilderness
the timely smell of
civilisation surfaces
the sacred seed
of black medicine
roasts on the
rim of rolla
where they know nobody
can be told
each is unique
in reckoning what’s good
whatever the continent
however the ritual
that wherever our temple
we are one
stonehenge
37.956342,-91.7766224 (MO 65409)
no rock so hard but that a little wave
may beat admission in a thousand years.
(alfred lord tennyson – the princess)
to catch the sun and moon
water jets
melted this granite
into wax
to be half sized
in devotion to the echoes
from far away
long ago
as if answering
a primal urge
to seize the firmament
and control all it does
if only to keep track
another year gone closer to death
but
for now
they’re all shiny and polished
even though every sarsen face still has
the marmite smell
of division
on its cold breath
for now
it’s a landmark
maybe
yet it’s also the dream
of a man on a mission
fulfilled
for now
it’s a shyly awkward tryst
between
the future and the past
between
nature and us all
between
honeysuckle and modernity
and put simply
that’s just the way it is
for now
vichy army airfield (1942)
38.1319835, -91.7715623 (MO 65580)
over the crest
downhill into vichy
sans les eaux
one mule town
fire station on the rise
travelling on
beneath cumulus streets
the air now scented
by roadside thistle
then ninety degrees
perpendicular
not too fast
fifty five
don’t blink
or you’ll miss it
so far from town
vichy army airfield
masquerading
as rolla national
proudly
at eleven forty eight elevation
as though to give
the vigilant grasshopper
a head start in the clouds
to give it
the slip on nature
the sidestep on science
defying all the odds
and flying
owensville
38.3477097, -91.5007373 (MO65066)
belle to bland
and on through canaan
arriving
at
art works on main
its bricks and mortar
solidly
securely
feeding passions
whether within
hung for all to see
with a respect
for space to breathe
to whisper
I LOVE ART
or taken
to the streets
to paint a car
with blue vervain
entangled through
the words
I LOVE ART
in all events
at all costs
to be in pursuit of
seeing the sharing
of a confidence
in being one people
one town
at one with itself
in knowing
everything begins with a vision
frene valley roadside park
38.6797019, -91.4369334 (MO 65041)
old dutch mill
drake and swiss
nineteen north
roadside park
just laying by
before hermann
to catch a breath
to catch the scent of milkweed
to take in the view
frene valley obscured
but then again some tree hugger would complain probably
were it to be remedied
chainsaw style
according to aaaa pppp
that is
however you want to pronounce this dumbass nom de plume
that is
however
and again
time to be moving on
a whiff of the great missouri has blown in on the wind
hermann
38.7069172, -91.4377245 (MO 65041)
vines on the rhine
were it elsewhere
but here
by the big muddy
weingüter nonetheless
recovering still
from prohibition
from having saved
so little but something
in the sacramental
from loopholes
in the eighteenth
and a town
recovering still
from the jibes
from when what was left
from gasconade
rolled into the station
a haunting for hart benton
der cherusker
turning in his grave
honeck
seeking payback from his
in a town
of wurst and wein
of lebensraum
new florence rsa
38.8996897, -91.4564671 (MO 63363)
north
alongside
the loutre
then a new florence
a magnet drawing us in
an eloquence
in the vernacular
of sorts
an architecture
fit for danté
fit for hell
with no heavenly rose
no beatrice
to offer salvation
just the many lorenzos
champing at the bit
for champs chicken
for fast food
and dirt track racing
for bars bigmacs and fuel
for convenience
for a two star bed
for the knight
for the pauper
for the trucker
a greasy spoon
big as a barn
instead
before
off on the road once more
leaving behind
this inferno where
salt lick forty
meets northerly nineteen
and finding
the world’s an oyster again
montgomery city
38.976864, -91.504502(MO63361)
i.m. ray moore
long drag
through town
a grid of grids
grids of oaks
guardians
of the eastern dark
grids of grass
neat little boxes
white little boxes
barren of flowers
not even a cone
a bought sense
of oneness with nature
manicured
manufactured
a fantasy world
of walking ghosts
phantoms of
the man who cannot die
a mythical land
to a boyhood mind
hungry for a reality
so different from this
to middletown
39.1267456, -91.4149599 (MO 63359)
little wolf one way
two mile the other
moving on
one six one
crops to the horizon
yellow foxtail following
and in turn
wildflower and willow
a meadowlark sings
an elkhorn passes
for a golden rod
for an opossum branch
a crooked creek
smokin j’s
where
according to jellybean
you can play
a round of pool
while you eat
finesse dripping
from the corner of your mouth
an animal at heart
bowling green
39.3445426, -91.1954075 (MO 63334)
just names
new hartford ashley
st clement
zebulon country
looking for sweet betsy
the pike county rose country
looking for the smell of that last
slice
of bacon to be fried country
but finding
rather tribute
via dark and bloody ground
and down where the south begins
george on his side
smelted
for big apple bullets
clues in the name
confederate country
so one six one
south court
north court
a plague of locusts
end of the road
end of the street
caught up
in a book of leaves of grass
causing a pause
in a library
one of the any
the unforgivable carnegie called
a never-failing spring in the desert
the dunes
being levelled off and lowered still
as we speak
ranacker conservation area
39.4697716, -91.290849 (MO 63441)
river hills
breaking away from
prairie
off the sixty one
over a ford
through the peno
onto a field road
all is still
to the eye
the reality closer
to an invisible frenzy
killing and being killed
growing to be closest
to the sun in the sky
bladdernut musclewood black oak
shading and eating and poisoning
nature
somewhere where
competition means something
a simple matter of life and death
orbweaver
yearling turkey
bobcat
coyote
hunters and prey
a chain of many chains
drawing wonder
at what our whinging
must sound like
the petty problems
of toothless men
perhaps
choctaw trail intersection
39.6138572, -91.4083121 (MO 63459)
over the ohaha
another london
and on
over the ohaha
again
as it wanders
some sawtooth
sunflowers
on the roadside
look on wide eyed
in practiced surprise
at the world passing
and on fireworks ahead
huckleberry park
39.6937323, -91.3900326 (MO 63401)
huckleberry tamed
like the sprawling pristine lawns
the grassy knolls
the planned peppering
of ward’s willow
sugar maple
sassafras and others
the sivilized structures
all the sportfulness
anybody could stomach
all he’d hate
rather to light out
for the territory
ahead of the rest
to go west
one man’s freedom
so little in relation to
the chains of the many
those bloodied shackles of steel
still held up as just
the shooting of hands
as just as one as the other
a strange philanthropy
of swings and roundabouts
snakes and ladders
conformity and rejection
us and them
hannibal (st petersburg)
39.7130276, -91.358161 (MO 63401)
in trying
to ignore
the obvious
as if to die
if only temporarily
as if to find
anything of that
profound silence
so deep each breath
of the breathing
is conspicuous
in the hush
but no
rather the hum and chatter
of wandering pilgrims
hauled in
to be milked
to become part
of a hollow world
gratifying all the vicious
vanity in them
a world where
fiction speaks louder
than reality
where a dead cat
lies amongst the bugleweeds
to be believed
a cure for warts
mark twain memorial bridge
39.7203377, -91.3581771 (MO 63401)
crossing
amidst steel
taking stock
aux arcs
well behind
as too are
the land of opportunity
and the show me state
here
midway over
the misi-ziibi
in an ojibwe mind
in heading west to
where food grows on water
manoomin
here
on this white man’s highway
continuing east
into the prairie state
north onto driftless
the ocooch mountains ahead
speckhart shrimp
39.8378274, -91.3029602 (IL 62360)
out on the prairie
past austin creek
maize to infinity
then shrimps
pacific shrimps
whitelegs
so far from home
nowhere to go
just round and round and round
quincy
39.9349304, -91.3251775 (IL 62305)
gem city hinterland
near hickory grove
where the one zero four
intersects
where you can knit
your dreams
from wilted daisy chains
and buy goods
for your sporting dick
where further up the road
you can have god
on the radio
twenty four seven
as though
he didn’t have
other things to do
other places to be
other and better
or is that just me
popcorn farm
40.0237445, -91.3371947 (IL 62305)
windy hills
nonpareil
the crunch
of blue catahoula
hangs
as a sacred lake
high in the chotaw air
the ghost of a dog barks
echoes
faraway
a yellow butterfly
lands and flits
lands and flits
from buttonwood
to flowering spurge
while elsewhere
mushroom flakes lie in wait
whispering oaks campgrounds
40.068214,-91.2556932 (IL 62351)
listen
can you hear it
oaks
whispering
sheltering
an albino fawn
and a stray
poisonous beauty
senna
didy
mobo
trya
the toxicity of tranquillity
a femme fatale of sorts
or the nectar of gods
in another world
but admit it
you can hear nothing
over the clamour
urbanites packed together outdoors
rvs the size of houses
loaded up with
every imaginable home comfort
right down to
the electric indoor turkey fryer
even broadband to be able
to ask google
frankly
why bother
why go
mendon
40.0914189, -91.2836625 (IL 62351)
a thousand cars
or more
a thousand lives
at least
seeing their
days out
far side
of mendon
in a triangle
of tangle
and rust
unmistakable
in the landscape
growing organically
weblike
in the corner
of a field
and another nearby
yet it seems somehow
yes it’s a carbuncle
a prickly pear
amongst a colony
of hoary puckoon
but while we forever hunger
for the next new thing
needlessly
flockishly
they have to go somewhere
our choice
nostra culpa
carthage
40.4129801, -91.1355757 (IL 62321)
where
through fields
of soybean blossom
a different dido
must have walked
a different town
another town
home to rip
and alice
and the mob
that murdered joe
like salt in the wound
of furrows ploughed
to erase
the memory
of the children sacrificed
to efram fraim
them to him
him to them
same town
different times
macomb
40.4768829, -90.6714003 (IL 61455)
off the one ten
north east
up through tennessee
split through the middle
by railroad tracks
both iron and asphalt
mutely thundering past
grandma lula’s door
nothing to stop for
colchester waiting
with peggy
and her scrapbook nook
in columbine pink
before then
to take the turn north
macomb
where
the roadpainter’s art
holds the courthouse
hostage
macomb
where
its women
honour their sisters
facing the storm
macomb
its vibrant uni
its enriching parks
so soon
gone
far behind
this road
refusing to
rest
rock island
41.5121241, -90.5800542 (IL 61201)
along
unswervingly
unswervingly along
as if roman
north from macomb
over past honeycomb hill
abuzz with bees
each heavy
with sweet treasures
drawn from the purple lavender
of the prairie
on through good hope
where
ecstatic with rhubarb
its good folks
run in the garden
catching rushing strawberries
too soon gone
the road
all the while immersed
in a flatly ironed landscape
of field upon field
that only earns it the cliché
of for as far as the eye can see
then skirting roseville
and monmouth
to take the kink at alexis
right and left to vy-ola
passing
its coffee bean field
and bone collector
before out to skunk creek
and the donohue run
edwards river
and boden
with preemption like an oasis
a green island
in a desert of ploughed dirt
that only begins to peter out
in approaching rock river
and the sprawl of rock island
‘til face to face once more
with the mississippi
to be crossed again
davenport
41.5188356, -90.5798107 (IA 52801)
blue to be back
home for a spell
written melodies
strung together
to be hung together
in the iowa air
as an iowa air
of beiderbecke’s making
whether heard in sunshine
or in a cache of cavorting mist
ghosts of riverboats
shuffling past the front porch
upon the father of waters
the body of a nation
old man river
riving the land
where once sauk
meskwaki and ho-chunk
were finagled
paleface
carving it up more
slicing it into tranches
as if rohwedder’s bread
marked out
signed off in translation
where
on the very spot
a house was built
by the obliging métis
the first of the many
now lauded for livability
notwithstanding the floods
and the duckweed washed away
as if accepting
the sense in letting
mother nature take her course
so as for all to be better off
but wet
davenport to dubuque
42.0970507, -90.6826546 (IA 52060)
out through jungle
on the way
on wisconsin way
crow creek flowing
between banks
dense with lady’s thumb
while alloy birds
fly off to
the sun
the hills
the lakes
the city windy
and back on the plains
past the burbs beyond the burbs
like islands of des res bliss
long grove
home to raymond
the local missionary clown
park view
where they drown their sorrows
still mourning lady di
and then
just for a moment trees
floodplain of the wapsipinicon
the moment gone
the fields return
sprawling
engulfing everything but the sky
the air
left lightly scented by grapes
north of dewitt
to wit tycoga
before the chicane at maquoketa
and its silenced kilns
straight ahead dubuque
nestled in a now changing landscape
fresh but familiar
tomorrow
another day
fenelon place dubuque
42.4963566,-90.6694233 (IA 52001)
it’s all a matter of balance
and counterbalance
where three states meet
below the bluffs
where once
germanics and gaels
came together as one
in harmony
lands and peoples
kornblume and seamróg
it’s there you know too
there’s something
about going up in the world
of knowing you’re on the right track
sharp and steep
if only for old man graves
to get home from his bank
counterbalancing
the ups and downs
as too
do the people
of this driftless fringe
all well aware
you can’t have your meadow
without the weeds
it’s all a matter of balance
and counterbalance
sandy hook
42.5411091, -90.6115281 (WI 53811)
hello wisconsin
hello banjo lane
hello sandy hook
still going
with a whizz
and a fizz
and a crash
or two
to portside
purveyors of
peony
and chrysanthemum
primed and ready
to blossom in the night sky
to oohs and aahs
primitive souls
starboard
the menomonee
keeps a watching brief
prepared
to dampen any party
gone too far out of hand
primitive waters
with histories
of their own
to be told
maybe another time
kieler
42.5803593, -90.6018587 (WI 53812)
you exist
but
unlike the holy ghost
you don’t
both as one of none
an immaculate conception
if ever there was
born of census
and convenience
an image of the moment
etched on the mind
as would
an ocean of irises be
to be seen for the first time
bearded
and prussian
and proud
rooted in this land
where you do exist
if only for them
to come tax
your mule
dickeyville grotto
42.6273784,-90.5950282 (WI 53808)
caught between
a rock
and a hard place
a trial of allegiance
made tangible
a multitude’s fingers
happy to apply
their
shells
stones
tiles
wood
glass
gems and geodes
happy to comply
with a need
to be seen to be true
red
white
and blue
bondone’s
city of echoes
of illusions
of yearning
a very long way off
but
all the same
here in spirit
in lilies
just consider
how they grow
they toil not
they spin not
and yet
easter’s long gone
a miracle
in a vase
platteville
42.7327631, -90.4731761 (WI 53818)
alongside
little platte river
as it rolls
to the contours
meandering
as where the road
is segments
of straight
laid flat
through the swelling landscape
before veering off
for platteville
in its hollow
with an m
on a mound
m for mining
galena
then spherelite
and knowing how to do it
and law too
and then to teach others
so a university from an acorn
its boughs of learning
its bole the community
gown and town
not so long since
field and fur
but now
all grown-up
it’s said
there’s barely a straight street
in town
as if forever avoiding the pits
of other men’s buried dreams
rockville
42.7274501, -90.6820713 (WI 53820)
imagine yourself
as a bird above
a cut and paste
of patterns
chevrons
zigzags
twists and curls
a collage
of ploughing and reaping
to shadow
the heave and roll
of the land
and now
imagine yourself
as a bristly sarsaparilla
casting your seeds
all the way on the wind
to rockville
and beyond
ever north
your job
as a bristly sarsaparilla
complete
now
imagine that both
are similarly
creating to survive
the farmer
to create art of the land to feed
the bristly sarsaparilla
to create immortality for its type
so just imagine
turns out
everything’s one and the same
in its own different way
lancaster
42.8479114, -90.7089916 (WI 53813)
disciple of strongman sandow
doc schade
came this way
way back when
only for the weekend
you understand
but stayed forty years
in love
with lancaster
becoming its enemy of pain
and wizard of steam
superheated
no less
now
no more
than a mention
along maple street
heritage trail
superseded
as he has been
by marketing monkeys
dressed up
in the upliftingly humorous clothing of goats
and this is progress
fennimore
42.9791624, -90.6595122 (WI 53809)
how many squares can you see
with every lot a lot of lotness
neatness
orderliness
every square
a square of squareness
breadheadedness
how many can you see
squares within squares
though
noticeably
the quilt peddler
is keeping herself
well out of it
sent to coventry
along with the college
out of town
both too busy to care
anyway
both too busy to notice
that the couch grass is greener
right where they are
anyway
out by the nature ghetto
parked beyond
a sort of second nature
a nature planned
within nature raw
contained
squared and squeezed
into being just another footprint
left stamped on these hills
boscobel
43.1360174, -90.7064915 (WI 53805)
encircled
by driftless bluffs
and swollen
by what
the railways brought
so many lifetimes since
this beautiful wood
stands proud
of its position
as crossing place
on the meskousing
gateway to beyond
and welcome to here
where two men
once had an idea
that would fell forests
and fill lonesome hearts
ad infinitum
a place where
a rose is a rose
by any other name
and is still as sweet
as its english roots
a city underpinned
by flint as deep as
its artesian dream
that went no further
now turned to park
this beautiful wood
this bosco bel
lost so well
somewhere
between yesterday
and tomorrow
a gateway between
behind and beyond
spread below
those majestic bluffs
this beautiful wood
this bosco bel
stockyard road end
43.1777921, -90.8572955 (WI 54657)
over the wisconsin
a thousand isles
easter rock
left
onto the sixty
the river
for company
past forested pyramids
then
in sight of the kickapoo
going west goes north
one three one
through hills
badly camouflaged
beneath birch
spruce
and blushberried elder
only to be hit
by the question
there
just outside steuben
is it
roads go the way
things need them to go
or
things are
where they are
because
that’s the way
the road went
not that it really matters
but all the same
mother earth green center
43.1818866, -90.8285563 (WI 54657)
while chicago falls
to the great allium wrecking balls
mother earth gains
what’s reclaimed
from the yarrow scented rubble
and rebuilds it
by a kickapoo vein
a space
for ideas
a space
for sustainability
a space
for living
for breathing
for being
for growing
as though a gift
from not so cranky
cranks
ahead of us
in the game
in knowing
where we’re all going
where we’re headed
before we’re done
and dusted
gone
hogback prairie
43.2137336, -90.8709745 (WI 54631)
don’t stand still
or the chiggers’ll getcha
don’t stand still
don’t roll on the ground
keep moving
no matter
what you see
of a mattress
of mountain mint
or a bed
of prairie clover
don’t be tempted
don’t lie in either
keep moving
up
or
down
or
along
this calcite capped ridge
surrounded
left right and ahead
by the magic valley
of a once upon a time
fairy tale lake
all so very scenic
sure
but don’t be distracted
don’t stand still
keep moving
best
to the south
to the rear
to the oak and savannah
and some welcome salvation
from these chiggers’
spitting bites
kickapoo bottoms
43.3081512, -90.8521497 (WI 54631)
peppered
oxbow
upon oxbow
huge smiles
in the landscape
pock marked
scarred
flatlands
floodplain
sedge meadow
sloughs and ponds
part of an assemblage
of sorts
of all sorts
once mentioned
like the spice of life
like the bee balm
bur sedge
wool grass
even the snowy campion
and more
more variety
more diversity
more balance
more tomorrows to wake to
kickapoo exchange natural food co-op
43.3307132, -90.8378386 (WI 54631)
with its back turned
stubbornly
to the mainstream
of the one three one
it’s more
than just a store
planted in the outskirts
north of gays mills
it’s somewhere
to come to
to be
to find friendship
and cookies
on fridays
and just simple friendship
the rest of the week
or even to be swept along
in an impromptu outburst of music
at any moment
out beneath
the arcade
as though nothing matters
and another day
will always follow this
and
of course
there’s the food
from californian carrots with leaves
to local yellow and blue potatoes with dirt
from peruvian ginger to mexican cucumber
then from groceries to stuff for the house
stuff for the body
stuff for the soul
and everything in between and beyond
everything else
anyone with scruples could want
after all
the clues
are in the name
soldiers grove
43.3947457, -90.7743655 (WI 54655)
from out of a sawmill
from pine to soldiers
a commemoration
of troops encamped
nearby
back then
black hawk
returning fire with fire
only to face
the ignominy of surrender
yet
still
on the move
escaping the floods
half building the defences
cheaper to move
remove
from out of a sawmill shadow
running out
on brightman’s ghost
driftless books and music
43.5583319, -90.8832991 (WI 54665)
keeping company
with reads creek
past where
it’s second nature
for the dove to be lonesome
up on hickory hill
going all the way to viroqua
and eddy’s dream come to life
an always imagined
here in perfect replica
a bookshop to die for
without limits
speaking volumes
in print and song
and in celebration
of being with each other
all who have traced the walnuts
left laid in the street
to lead to its tobacco leaf doors
everyone who can hear
the word barter and not wince
in misguided fear
of it being the start
of the slippery slope to anarchy
each pilgrim
of the road
and of the ether
bringing their riches
in exchange for riches and absolution
every saint and sinner
has headed this way
some way or another
some say
westby
43.6551666, -90.8560404 (WI 54667)
convergence
north main
black river
bekkedal
bad axe
headwaters
finding norsem*n
obviously
intrinsically
cooperative
all beneath an onion
sprawling out
over a prairie
once called coon
come again
they shout as you arrive
with
many thanks my friend
have a pleasant journey*
ringing long after
in the air
* mange takk min ven ha en behagelig reise
coon valley
43.7010063, -91.0146278 (WI 54623)
skirting the wilderness
above
all around
heading west
out through
prairie patterns
stubbled
in the landscape
again
like messages
left in the night
as if the truth
really could be out there
and on
to helgedalen
where ringtails
were ten a penny
they say
and heathers
brought from home
grow now
outside
every clapboard
so far
from the fjords
so far
still to go
la crosse
43.8028482, -91.2534799 (WI 54601)
just before mormon creek
snakes inexplicably across the road
then
round the corner
slithering up the valley
sidling through la crosse
yet again
to rub shoulders
with the mighty mississippi
a scar on the continent’s skin
and not far off
corrugated badgers
and the world’s largest six-pack
the air scented
with hops and brewing
gambrinus
raising a goblet
to heileman resurrected
and to the others on this rive droite
each an alchemist
fermenting and distilling
god’s great river into gold
but so soon
the air and heads clear
the road unrepentantly reclaims
its travellers ready
to leave la crosse behind
onwards north on the fifty three
new amsterdam
43.9902757, -91.2947996 (WI 54636)
the realm of good king bluff
takes in lands of many kinds
with
floodplain forest
floodplain savannah
sand prairie
and grasslands
spread
banquet-like
before him
to the west
close enough to see
singular details in their offerings
of white wild and creamy indigos
of pirate perch
and pugnose minnows
of skeeters thick as thieves
on mcgilvray’s seven bridges road
even of henslow's sparrows and bell's vireos
and not to forget
of oaks and salix alba
an eden brim-full with being
and amongst it all
scared to be seen
as a stain on this spice of life
the fifty three sneaks sneakily
to the north
head hung in shame
right beneath
the loftily oblivious regal neb
galesville
44.0806303,- 91.3486752 (WI 54616)
swing bridge
swung away
storm in a memorable seventeen
but jake’s not moving
not while there remains
an authentic solution
for men and women to respect
not while the intuitive six
of marinuk
continues with the indefinite
the mere thought of water
of a winnebago woman
nice
though unreal
in her kiss
of the puckering curly leaf pondweed
of the panfish and walleye
her lips
the lips
that tell of war
of disease
of twenty five thousand strong
reduced to little more than a hundred
then shunted
here
there
wherever
until only her name now marks out history
a link to the past
to long before jake put down his roots
long before there even were
solutions for women and men
to be decked out in
a link to a past that rightly refuses to die
blair city
44.2971263, -91.2263472 (WI 54616)
up by lake henry
by the silos in blair
park your homes
park your bones
there’s space for everyone
dead or alive
with room for expansion
bounded only by roads
beyond north park
park your deer
startled
disenfranchised
denied the right
to live out their days
in the vast expanse
of mother nature
but cool
all the same
as cool as
black eyed susan
after the snakes
have each had
their bite
and the worms
have each had
their fill
up by lake henry
park your mind
take a break
make hay
while the sun shines
park all
your worries
elsewhere
but not here
up by lake henry
not here
whitehall
44.3680884, -91.3175778 (WI 54773)
you wouldn’t know
it was there
tagging along
beside the fifty three
trempealeau
a river scribbled
over a baize
of bogs and alder thickets
of woody shrubs
and flowers
too many to list
of bog birch
willow and dogwood
of grasses and reeds
then rolling
through whitehall
long since
once on
the green bay line
once a swelling
in the wheat fields
living on a benjamin wing
and a knudtson prayer
then on again
towards independence
still
the trempealeau
following along
eleva pond
44.5775435, -91.4680771 (WI 54738)
sharp north
by bugle lake
on the osseo road
across prairie
past valleys
roskos
isteness
olson
hawkinson
and chimney rock creek
where the forests
once again
begin to win the day
but never quite
all this before
eleva pond
with its anglers’ dreams
of bass and trout
and its own
of spatterdock
and bladderwort
reflected
the sun
in our eyes
day nearly done
now’s the time
for dreaming to begin
blueberry ridge orchard
44.6173726, -91.4642507 (WI 54738)
just off a kink
a sweeping realignment
through the hills
down hageness road
an orchard
of blueberries
suns itself
on the ridge
patriot
northland
blueray
toro
bluecrop
nelson
names for
imperceptible differences
meant to mystify the many
names with
histories and meanings
attachments
connections
as long ago
as not even
the least fraction
of the time
these hills and buffs
have stood their ground
an insignificance
in the reach of forever been
and forever yet to come
the moment
a kink in the road
between behind and ahead
acres for joy
44.6857371, -91.4558426 (WI 54738)
sorrow and grief
cannot have the last word
but hope and joy must have their say
though at times
there are no words
the story simply too sad
as with abby
an ephemeral
an hepatica blossom
gone now
the chippewa valley
all the poorer
her sudden leaving
soundtracked
by a nearby choir
and bob’s barking dogs
in stereo
the home herd silent in solemnity
that was
at least
until the children came
in their hordes
to connect
hearts brimming
with joy enough to make
these acres grow in hope
joy enough
to bring abby’s memorial to life
eau claire
44.8099619, -91.4973802 (WI 54703)
met by chaos
in north to west
to cross the chippewa
sidestepping eu claire
with its tamed wildernesses
toying with posing as parks
missing out on
its vast dells pond
its florentina
its confluence
of mud and clarity
its time capsules
its seat of learning
of logging
of living
and
all the while
the dead centre of town
overlooks a lake
as though it mattered
elk mound castle
44.8788668, -91.6872814 (WI 54739)
beyond
the forever undulations
the karst
and coulee
and bluff
away from
these thundering
caravans of commerce
there where the holly
passes beneath
high at 1220 feet
on elk mound
a castle
fake from ‘37
stones from downsville
a folly of sorts
but for
observation
picnics
memorial
in not even
a century gone
not so very long
since legend has hunters
on the mound
tracking buffalo
and the roaming elk
not so very long
since our clearances
our famines
became your oppressors
not so very long
since life itself was cheap
red cedar wildfowl production area
44.9006061,-91.8022508 (WI 54751)
floodplain
grasslands
prairie again
where the north
has come to meet us
in monkshood
scowling
and red cedars offer cover
to cackling geese
trumpeting swans
bufflehead
scaup and smew
now
that the mountains
have run themselves dry
and
the swell of the land
is surely done
now
that it’s easier going
for horse and buggy
easier going
on old men’s knees
now
back to where
the ice so often dined on rock
back when
back then
the legendary levelling out
the wearing away
into a bland land
of two dimensions
the future postponed
for now
exit 45
44.9075452, -91.8541857 (WI 54751)
six ‘til nine
morning to night
they let the badger drive
and them just a greasy spoon
a truck stop on an exit
off the main drag
everything from scratch
standard american fare
plated up in a humble diner
nothing fancy
unfussy
chow to fill
long distance holes
chance to chat
with faces in the flesh
before heading off again
like tumbleweed in the wind
back to the drift
so nearly there
champney park
44.9846492, -91.8266093 (WI 54730)
after the b
becomes
a bb
then that
sinking feeling rises
creeking with age
into a silted delta
feeding tainter
feeling fainter
in the light here
at champney
its shag pile algae
the last defence
against the coming army
of boaters with motors
intent on
sad*stically
stealing the peace
at our journey’s end
but failing
peace instead
to ponder the miles
and wonder again
at the sights
sounds
smells
the travelling through
two ranges
through five states
the highs and lows
the people
and their places
the many ways of life
but above all
the surviving
with what we are given
by the when and where we are
___________________________________________________
© john mingay 2021
℗facqueuesol 2024
