{"id":988,"date":"2011-06-04T21:03:11","date_gmt":"2011-06-04T21:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=988"},"modified":"2017-07-12T01:12:58","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T01:12:58","slug":"in-ohio-by-grace-curtis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/in-ohio-by-grace-curtis\/","title":{"rendered":"In Ohio by Grace Curtis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

In Ohio<\/h2>\n

by Grace Curtis<\/p>\n

One either believes in God
\nor one probably really is
\ngoing to hell and Ohioans
\nknow the difference, because
\nlike the small seeds
\nin her brown fields,
\nyou are below the surface
\nyet visible, corn hands waving
\nas relatives stand near
\nto measure your success, to see
\nwhere you are by July. From
\none end to the next,
\ncrosswise and looping,
\nroads ribbon the ground
\nstringing together sown
\ncities and fields across
\nknolls the last
\nexhalations of the Alleghenies?
\nover land smoothed glacier-flat,
\nor through valleys ladled out
\nby God himself. Spring mornings
\nlook out into a patent sky
\nlaundered each night; the last
\ndrops of water wringing
\nonto new-mowed blades of grass,
\nsharp enough to prick
\nbare feet, the loose stuff
\nclinging. It’s here
\nanyone not doing
\nhard work God’s work?
\nis lost, a slacking tourist. It is
\nhere the Rose of Sharon
\nis intentionally grown, where
\nsweet pea seeds, marigolds,
\nand zinnias come in
\npackets from the TSC
\nor Kmart, where combines
\nand tractors are cleaned,
\nat the ready, pride-parked
\nin poled shells of corrugated
\nsheet-metal waiting like soldiers
\nat attention, soldiers in the
\nking’s army, ready to do
\nholy work. I’ve seen it
\nmy whole life: behemoth
\ndroids bred for service,
\nmutants among machines
\nin a place that bows
\nto machines as they strain
\nat the struts, pulling
\nto free themselves, to charge
\narmed, into full-bellied fields.<\/p>\n

Grace Curtis chapbook, The Surly Bonds of Earth, was selected by Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Stephen Dunn as the winner of the Lettre Sauvage 2010 Poetry Contest. She has had poetry in Scythe Literary Journal, The Chaffin Journal, Waccamaw Literary Journal, Clockwise Cat, and Dark Lady Poetry, among others. Grace received her MFA from Ashland University in 2010. She lives in Dayton , Ohio where she helps out as a volunteer at The Antioch Review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Ohio by Grace Curtis One either believes in God or one probably really is going to hell and Ohioans know the difference, because like the small seeds in her brown fields, you are below the surface yet visible, corn hands waving as relatives stand near to measure your success, to see where you are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,428],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-123","category-inspirational-poems"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t