The Post

Potatoes for meat,
barley for sundries,
eggs toward an unpaid balance.

Fresh tomatoes for a steel tub,
two small nuggets for a horse,
the change for a trailing mule.

Squash for penny candy,
a wagon load of wheat for
Sunday prayer clothes.

This to order
from the Sears catalog,
that for a trinket off the shelf.

Scales with a heavy thumb
measuring the
art of the steal.

They wander in from the
untamed world,
wander out with a bit of civilization,

farmers, trappers, miners, rustlers
bringing their sweat and labors,
leaving with less than hoped for and

a little trader’s remorse.