Poet Mary Lee Hahn offers a short poem that reflects on tourists eyeing the High Plains from I-70 and defines "a good, soaking rain".
HIGH PLAINS IN SUMMER
Yesterday it rained.
Fifty-five hundredths
over a three-hour period.
High plains equivalent
of a good, soaking rain.
Today it's clear and hot.
Winds gusting to 39 out of the south.
At least the dirt's not blowing.
Forecast's calling
for high nineties
the next three days.
Tourists driving through on I-70
see flat, boring, brown fields.
They don't realize
those are their groceries
burning up.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013
Mary Lee is the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and has poems in both the Poetry Friday Anthology and the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (Pomelo Books).
She and fellow author Franki Sibberson have published the blog A Year of Reading – Two Teachers Who Read a Lot since 2006. It’s worth a visit, especially for teachers and parents looking for good reads for children.
