distance vast inland ocean endless blue sky forever out of reach airport exit then more prairie cedar rapids skyline in

miles away from anywhere acres of rolling landscape thick rich everywhere big old farm house with grand old porch lush prairie space sky small secret pond with creek woodlot blackberries raccoon quail tall ancient spruce oak windbreak light years of corn soybeans pigs

greenhouse effect always getting warmer utopia end of cold war end of century coming down streets world wide armies of global networks electronic brains information culture gone amuck

After violent thunderstorms,

angels would dance

in the sparkle quartz

of ancient basaltic crags,

and leprechauns would

play in the shadows of gnarled

hemlock groves.

I would always go there

to look for cows who were

about to calve and had not

come home with the herd.

One day after a vicious violent

thunderstorm that cracked the hills

and knocked out power for an hour,

my father sent me out

to look for number 32, the best