AUGUST 2019 - GAZING INTO THE VAST BEYOND

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfupamr/17092099335   Simon Fraser University

GAZING INTO THE VAST BEYOND

Bright Jupiter pierces the darkening sky

Followed by the Summer Triangle

Saturn is sighted, Arcturus acquired

At last the North Star emerges

The meadow fills with motor hums

 And the murmur of manual tweakings

The clank of ladders and viewing chairs

The rustle of star charts

Soft whispers carry in the stillness

Anticipation in every word

Movement appears in silhouettes

Often tethered by red light 

A motley crew by the light of day

Transforms under clear, dark skies

All pilgrims with one goal in mind

Gazing into the vast beyond

JULY 2019 -- HARVEST GIANT

This poem is dedicated to all my farm-raised friends who will recognize where my thoughts have gone as summer deepens and the hills of Eastern Oregon and Washington turn golden.

 HARVEST GIANT

A rumbling giant roams golden hills 

Devouring harvest treasure

Its headers gather in the stalks

Churning reel moves them onward

To a cutter bar of mowing fingers

Sharp and swift—the stalks come free

Then augers spin and conveyors carry

Stalks and heads to the thresher drum

Straw walkers carry the chaff away

To be blown out by the spreader

But the loosened grain falls through sieves

Down into the collection hopper

An endless cycle as this giant rumbles

Roaming ‘til its belly’s full

Then it pauses, signaling for

A tractor to pull alongside

So grain can flow through the unloader

Into a waiting transport trailer

Then on it moves, this hungry giant

Across vast fields of wheat

Day and night it’s on the job

Devouring harvest treasure