American Prairie Poem by David Whalen

10’ tall Big bluestem…
Once flourished there, now almost gone
Creamy yellow blossoms of Plains wild Indigo
White prairie Phlox and…
Bright yellow Prairie Ragwort
Tiny dark-blue Downy Gentian
Grasses fade from bluish purple
to copper-tan and wine-red.
Compass Plant leaves point only north and south
And it’s sap a natural chewing gum
Short grasses in the shadow…
of the Rocky Mountains
Tall wind shimmered grass
from Manitoba to Texas
Soil with the exotic name of Loess
Composed of glacial born rock dust
Leavened with wind borne debris.
Fields of ten foot tall Sun Flowers
Beauty and history… in land never tilled
Russets, …yellows… and purples
Dancing in the never-ceasing wind