Exiled In The Midwest

http://www.photoblog.com/kimauman/2008/04/08/north-americas-heartland-a-trip-to-independence-wisconsin.html

Nov 25, 2007
You received my letter today
and I wondered if you opened it
with your opposable thumb
or with a letter knife,
in a civilized manner.

Today, I turned
my palms up for rain,
to quench the thirst in life lines,
ease the drought.
Upon the ceaseless horizon,
the sun flicks lit matches
from east to west,
arsons the stripped fields
with its petty wants.

There are no valleys to trample,
nor Appalachians to curse.
Magic is useless here.
Even the foul breath of doggerels
pumping from the mill stack
dissipates into
this pure air of heaven.