- Vol. 09
- Chapter 09
Our Future and My Past: A Double Etheree Sequence
I
grew up
running wild;
traipsing freely,
barefoot and feral,
through both field and forest;
following animal tracks
down sinkhole-strewn dusty dirt roads;
stuffing tadpoles, grasshoppers, fireflies,
worms, and June bugs into a Mason jar
with air holes punched jaggedly in the top,
only to let the creatures go free
when the evening symphony played,
featuring bullfrogs croaking,
the howl of coyotes,
and hungry hounds’ bays –
ready to hunt
the holler
on clear
nights.
Our Future and My Past: A Double Etheree Sequence
It
was all
capped off with
the beautiful
chirping of crickets –
ever so delicate.
It was a glorious land,
and I howled with such immense grief
when Mama told me we were moving –
to town, nonetheless, where shoes were required
and the frightening night sounds were man made,
where I would watch far too much TV
and take up playing Nintendo,
transforming my obsession
with the natural world
to Mario some,
but mostly to
Tetris and
reading
books.
Our Future and My Past: A Double Etheree Sequence
In
some ways,
both the town
and the country
made me who I am,
but it is the boondocks –
the winding back roads, crops, trees –
that I hold most dear in my heart.
I left my rural Kentucky home
twenty years ago in August, and I
have never returned, filled with bitterness
at all the people’s closed-mindedness.
Yet, among the bad memories
lies my great halcyon youth,
all free and a’roamin’,
that now sustains me
through the turmoil
of busy
city
life.
Our Future and My Past: A Double Etheree Sequence
I
am scared
of going
back home again,
wholly refusing
to be the prodigal.
More importantly, I fear
the transformation that occurred –
the draining of secret fishing holes,
the inevitable loss of forest
and fertile cropland to suburban sprawl,
the disappearing of the hollers,
nature’s powerful orchestra
replaced by the steady din
of incessant traffic.
I could not bear it –
the loss of both
our future
and my
past.