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The Iowan Speaks of Lakes
I’ve known water:
the color of mud, the texture of jello
cow baths
duck mucks
pig puddles
shallow creeks meandering
mulishly toward a home in the farmland.
On hot, muggy days, soybean fields shimmered
like boxed oceans under the sun.
On windy days, the cornstalks did a grandstand wave
like the tide was pulling them in.
On stormy days, rain settled in the lowlands for a rest.
I learned that immensity and breadth
are for the sky
not for the water
at my feet.
…..
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This poem is from the book Beyond Cornfields (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/beyond-cornfields-by-elaine-m-seaman/
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Traveling Beyond Cornfields is the heart of this collection of poems by Elaine M. Seaman. Starting from her miniature town in Iowa to various states, especially Colorado and Michigan, and countries, especially Mexico and New Zealand, she notices intricacies in landscape, flora, fauna, and humanity. She recognizes life lived and life lost. But she always remembers that “Home is just ahead. Warm rooms in our clover meadow, oaks and pine. Home. Ahead.”
Elaine M. (Koren) Seaman grew up near the cornfields of Iowa but has lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for over forty years. Her sons draw her to Colorado and New Zealand each year and wanderlust takes her to other parts of the planet. Finishing Line Press published her first book of poetry, Rocks in the Wheatfield, in 2004. Her self-published book (2019), My Mother Sewed Dresses for Five, contains quilts she made and poems she wrote that share titles. The American Quilter’s Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, has one of her quilts in their collection, as do many private collectors.
Elaine M. Seaman
The Paddock Review 