"Tomato-packers' recess / Copiah County / 1936"
Copyright © Eudora Welty, LLC; Eudora Welty Collection—Mississippi Department of Archives & History
Hiss in Mississippi
At first light, birds
broken by desire find their songs
stoppered in the close air of a Mississippi summer.
Four steps out the door and already my shirt
is see-through. Jesus,
you have to learn to live like this,
everyday a walk on the water, everyday
a slosh through the pond. At least
the insects seem happy, buzzing metallically
from God knows where-
ever they hide, watching,
waiting.
If a cold front finds us
count on rain, late afternoon,
predictable as that that falls in films
when the ingenue’s world comes undone. Or
perhaps a funnel the color of a bruise
will drop, claiming cars, cows, and the neighbor’s
wife, leave in passing
fish flopping in the yard, which
were we not without a roof, we’d regard
as a good omen. Regardless
when the sun fizzles
like a drugstore candle, and the clouds
give way to a sky of stars, we’ll still be here
beside ourselves
forgetting Hell’s heat–
the hiss in Mississippi.
Mike Harrell
mharrell2002@gmail.com
What true images — and naturally sounding but sly linebreaks.
I like this poem very much and want to share it with my friends. That’s rare.
Glad to find this oasis of Mississippi and tribute to Ms. Welty. Fine and good work, Mike.
Yes…this is true. These are things that we know and think about but seldom spoken. I enjoyed your poem and will share it with others. I think this was a very fitting tribute to Eudora Welty.
Please give us more…..
even before i hit upon “stopppered”, i knew the poem was well done and yet did not call attention to itself. like lisa, i enjoyed the linebreaks- natural and yet sly. the see-thorugh jesus, for example. nice. the tongue-in-cheek “walk on water” puts a twinkle in this reader’s eye.
a pleasure, mike.
coming back to fix my email address. so i should take the opportunity to mention i liked finding film and drug store candle in this poem as well. good mix.
wHoo-EE! mopping my brow evocative. sherry hit the nail directly with natural, and yet sly.
simply elegant, mr. harrell- thank you
“fish flopping in the yard, which
were we not with out a roof, we’d regard
as a good omen. Regardless….”
I think this poem would have put a smile on Ms. Welty’s face. I really do.
It did mine. I forgive you for the insects that are now buzzing metallically in my ear and the oppressive heat in the room.