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Sweetwater, Oklahoma

The peacocks carried rainbows on their tails,
dulled by a blanket of red Oklahoma dust

I chased them down to a dry creek bed, and back
finding shade in a barn stuffed full of tractors

From nests above the machinery,
the birds called out for help facetiously

Uncle Earl’s large black turkey would warble and hiss
drive me off from my shelter, away from the peacocks

Mom chatting to her cousins on a hot porch,
she didn’t hear my stories or look at my collected feathers

The cousins would go in, the day becoming too hot,
into a house filled with children playing video games

I’d run past, through the kids and the cousins
to the roof porch perch to watch the fancy birds

They would notice my absence and strut, heads bobbing
from the shelter, calling out for me in the July sun

Notes

Written 25 August 1998 in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Brian Fuchs, “Sweetwater, Oklahoma” from Okie Dokie (Scissortail Press, 2019)Continue Reading

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Zinnia elegans

for Becky

I think about her when the zinnias bloom,
when the sun forces sweat down my back
and the pansies are swapped out for celosias,
which my grandpa would plant as a large drift
of brilliant red, the spiky flames at the back
and the cock’s combs at the front.
The zinnias would be planted in a circle,
a button of summer’s magic in the middle
of the lawn, halfway between the house
and the row of tomatoes
that couldn’t be given away fast enough.
We’d help with the gardening,
getting in the way and picking the best blooms.

Written 13 August 1998 in Claremore, Oklahoma & 23 February 2020 in Payne County, Oklahoma.

Brian Fuchs, “Zinnia elegans” from Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Scissortail Press, 2020)

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