st. paul : Prairie Home Contaminated

(written for — but not submitted to — the 2008 St. Paul Almanac)

1

observers of a cool autumn were just about as lucky as me.
the gilt along Snelling, trails up to where you sat on a tractor
at the Fair, or ate sweet corn we got from corner vendors.

the place you told me about, the place is in my hands from this height.
and outside every window at home is a view out to Highland Parkway.
the river and trees were turning yellow-gold like corn in your mouth.

the sky was flecked with clouds after a daydream. looking up
at the water tower, at the highest point, I thought this was the place
last October, and that it had turned out exactly right, for walking.

2

it takes time, it is incredible: four seasons
shrunk on your back porch, with Northern Lights skating around the block.

we haven’t seen tornados for a witch’s age, haven’t taken down
the banners and flags from the Fourth, when

all of us were celebrating the river and what it brought this place,
looking sort of surprised because it’s been around here the longest.

well that’s what holidays are. so long as the air’s dry
and hot and we have bugs swarming lightposts, and it’s sky like that

one shivers only when you’re looking up. from Lock & Dam #1,
or from the Ford Plant, from the open space of future,

from the low friendly cliffs and the push of water over the rise.


1/13/07