Heading Home from Omaha
for Uncle Dan
Take Mormon Bridge east
over Big Muddy’s flowing skirt.
Cottonwoods rustle.
Lewis and Clark Trail.
Wal-Mart. State Farm. First Co-op.
Casino. Merge right.
Two asphalt ribbons
uncurl as Iowa shimmers.
Turn on cruise, AC.
Restaurant ahead.
White paint on barn roof: EAT NOW.
Parking lot empty.
Soybeans-pond-hayfield-
cornfield-cornfield-town-cornfield:
wide blue sky unfenced.
Sun slides below grain
edging everything in gold.
Even rental car.
Turn at Sioux City.
Stars, farm lights flick on ahead.
Forty miles to go.
Blue Earth Review, Mankato State University
Between Land and Sky 