Issue 3:1 | Poetry | Mark DeFoe

From The Upshur Poems: Tanka from an Appalachian County

by Mark DeFoe

 

Watercolor Day in the Woods

 

Brush of ruddy sun.

Rich ocher smudge of humus.

Cobalt wash of sky.

Cream and pale green and salmon

dapple of sycamore bark.

 

                                                                                                                        

 

Our Geese at the River

 

Wild and raucous,

they rise through river mist, necks

reaching, wings beating

out soft thunder, crescendo

on the flash of morning’s gold.

 

 

 

Maybe Gypsies, Maybe Guineas, Maybe Malungeons

 

True, some have black hair,

white, white skin. They live out on

Fike’s Run. Never told

a fortune, stole a horse or

carried a knife, I know of.

 

 

 

West Virginia Wisdom

 

Winding is the way

to reach this Almost Heaven.

It’s green as Ireland,

Mountain Mamas round each bend,

but drive one foot out the door.

 

 

Burning the Bridge to the 21st Century

 

By God, I’ll not vote

for no levy til Bibles’

back in our classrooms.

Damn teachers don’t work a lick—

spend their summers reading trash.

 

 

 

Wal-Mart Spells Progress

 

Dandelions, they

sprout happy yellow faces,

sucking up pastures

and oak groves. Windows downtown

stare blankly, covered in grit.

 

 

 

Photo: Small Girl in Sundress,

Backdrop of Lush Foliage

 

Pa Pa’s matos loomed

over me. His squash and beans

grew monstrous big.

Mi Mi said that man loved plants

more than her. I knew better.

 

 

 

Post Card: The Hatfield Clan

And Devil Anse Posed

Before the Ancestral Cabin

 

Stern women, tykes with

pistols. Anse sits, regarding

the camera, hands

gentle on his Winchester.

Beneath his black beard, a grin?

 

 

Clash of Cultures

 

Granny in bonnet

hoeing spuds. Next door, a girl

in headset, shades, pink

bikini roars past, wheeling

her big green riding mower.

 

 

 

Overheard in the Shop-a-Lot

 

The stock boy trapped while

stacking soup. Grizzled Codger

shakes his finger. Boy,

the Rapture is coming. Them

Arabs should read their scripture.