I remember my grandfather
and father too
heading out, purposeful in the truck
to see the fields
This was not a drive with a destination
no task at the end
This was a drive to see clear
like taking off glasses
and rubbing them perfectly
transparent
A drive that took the smudge off
"Gonna take a drive
to check the fields"
Look over the crops, early
and small
Taller and crinkly
taller yet and waving
Full and yellow, drying
yielding, bountiful
Or maybe even wrecked,
drowned, disappointing
--
Some impulse pulled my Honda
out on one of these drives
today between preschool and church
Every turn was a back-road turn
The miles driven in order to see clear
see mud, see melt, see less and less
snow on Koshkonong Road
If I were my grandfather, father
I would imagine crops going in
Seeds and preparations
I would have been in the barn
to prep machines
But I am not, and so the drive
was symbolic, aesthetic
Or maybe I am my father's son
"Gonna take a drive
to check the fields"
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