Friday, October 15, 2010

Airplane Window View







Underneath wing shadows
were paisley fields
with river tails, trailing
like curling thread.
It pieced and stitched
together
odd shapes of all sizes into
a crazy quilt.

History says paisley
was once a design
woven for mourning.
Easy to believe
as paisley 
and tear drops
lay the same 
lament upon the land.




No till is the accepted way of planting now. It was disturbing to see such progress up close as we visited family in North Dakota. The fields were being harvested. Sixty bushels an acre instead of the meager eighteen of thirty years ago. Afterwards, they spray to kill weeds. With poison. Round-up ready or poison coated seeds are then drilled into the clean, weed free fields. More toxins are sprayed on throughout the growing season. It is dead dirt, not to be mistaken for loamy soil, alive with living things.

I felt sad for the young farmers trying to survive and feed their families. They sit high and removed on the ways of monoculture's big tractors, insulated from the dying moans of the soil.

I feel sad for us, that we eat bread, made with dead wheat, poisoned from the beginning and several times after. It is altered, bleached and separated from its center of life.

We willingly eat bread made from poisoned wheat without a kernel!

When our bodies react as if violated, we are told we're intolerant of gluten and believe it.

9 comments:

Maureen said...

What a lovely poem you've written, Kathleen.

Anonymous said...

i have only been to south dakota...the black hills. saw the black hills gold rings and things.

we are getting into the crush season now, it is quite late this year.

S. Etole said...

wow, Kathleen ... just, wow ...

Laura said...

I love the way the land looks from above. Yes! crazy quilt. That's the perfect description. Thinking of you and all your crazy love today.

A Simple Country Girl said...

Looks somewhat like land around here. Tell me miss, is the farm land in the Dakotas as steep at it is here?

Hey, we are getting a hand-crank flour mill and buy organic and support our local sustainable farmers. Come over for some dense bread. And tea. Or coffee. Or wine. Cause we live in the land of wine. And onions. I put onions in the bread. Okay, just come back for a visit.

Blessings.

Anonymous said...

simple c girl is right about
those onions... they are the best!

Janet O said...

I will never eat bread the same again, if I eat it again:(

Kathleen Overby said...

I learned that the Round Up Ready wheat seed is being developed. It won't be used for a while yet.

Jeri Bidinger said...

Powerful commentary! And so very sad.