Tired and Rusty
by Susan T. Moss

Abandoned old pickup trucks
languish in country fields more
than you might think.

I have often stopped along
two-lane roads bordered
by distant mountains,

rolling land, thistle or daisies
then envisioned a farmer
with cows and produce,

a few squawking chickens
and wondered how many
hay bales fit in the truck bed

and what number of acres
it might have driven with corn
to the silo for winter feed.

Now deserted, these totems
pay homage to a time
when hands-on lifting,

stacking and motoring to market
with a dog as sentry in the rear
was a way of life before

agribusiness with air-conditioned
giant tractors and thrashers,
GMOs and subsidies.

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