Fields
by Faith Shearin
For Henry and Irene Spruill
My great grandfather had some fields in North Carolina
and he willed those fields to his sons and his sons
willed them to their sons so there is a two-hundred-year-old
farm house on that land where several generations
of my family fried chicken and laughed and hung
their laundry beneath the trees. There are things you
know when your family has lived close to the earth:
things that make magic seem likely. Dig a hole on the new
of the moon and you will have dirt to throw away
but dig one on the old of the moon and you won't have
enough to fill it back up again: I learned this trick
in the backyard of childhood with my hands. If you know
the way the moon pulls at everything then you can feel
it on the streets of a city where you cannot see the sky.
My mother says the moon is like a man: it changes
its mind every eight days and you plant nothing
until its risen full and high. If you plant corn when
the signs are in the heart you will get black spots
in your grain and if you meet a lover when the
signs are in the feet he will never take you dancing.
When the signs are in the bowels you must not plant
or your seed will rot and if you want to make a baby
you must undress under earth or water. I am the one
in the post office who buys stamps when the signs
are in the air so my mail will learn to fly. I stand in my
front yard, in the suburbs, and wish for luck and
money on the new of the moon when there
are many black nights. I may walk the streets
of this century and make my living in an office
but my blood is old farming blood and my true
self is underground like a potato. At the opera
I will think of rainfall and vines. In my dreams
all my corn may grow short but the ears will be
full. If you kiss my forehead on a dark moon
in March I may disappear—but do not be afraid—
I have taken root in my grandfather's
fields: I am hanging my laundry beneath his trees.
'Fields' by Faith Shearin, from The Owl Question. © Utah State University Press, 2002.
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Galleries: Announcing, Gardening
January 23rd, 2010 - 11:33AM
"My morality is my own business"!
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Gallery: Announcing
December 16th, 2009 - 11:05AM
Ironic Indignity
On top of recent honors came the indignity of being fingerprinted for work.
I understand the necessity of checking out potential employees, especially in the human services field where I work, but we are all having to go through this. Those of us who have been here for 6 months to those who have been here over 30 years.
And, it's not like we have not been screened. All have had background checks and many have been screened for drug use. Not too many years ago background checks were run again on all of us in conjunction with a policy requiring that we all 'self report' any arrests on our records.
Now, we are all being fingerprinted and photographed for another round of screening. I guess they assume we are likely liars who scammed our way through the previous checks. We've come a long way from providing a 'more home-like environment' to being provided this suspicious, prison-like workplace.
You may be thinking the irony in this is that it falls on the heals of several honors. True, but I was thinking about the fact that I was fingerprinted on 'Bill of Rights Day'. Of course, 'presumption of innocence' is not codified in The Bill of Rights (or The Constitution, for that matter) and is part of criminal prosecution.
'The concept of the presumption of innocence is one of the most basic in our system of justice. This basic right comes to us, like many things, from English jurisprudence, and has been a part of that system for so long, that it is considered common law'. And, so it seems ironic on a day set aside to celebrate our constitutionally protected rights, that I should be denied this most basic, common legal presumption.
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Galleries: I don't understand, Just wondering, Grumbles
December 14th, 2009 - 05:12PM
Another Honor
I was selected to be Grand Marshal of the Lufkin State Supported Living Center's (Lufkin State School) holiday (Christmas) parade. The parade theme was 'Rockin' Around the 'holiday'* Tree'. I made the distinction my own by playing my drums to the theme song as we made the parade circuit.
* The folks who put the parade together selected the theme, 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree'. Someone in a supervisory role, perhaps motivated by political correctness, insisted it be changed to Rockin' Around the 'holiday' Tree.
I think all we had to do was put quotes around it, so we would be quoting the title of a copyrighted work which could not be altered without the owner's permission.The 'anti-PC' hill is not the hill I intend to die on, however. It's only words, to me!
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Gallery: Announcing
December 14th, 2009 - 04:36PM
Leapfrogged Recognition
Several years ago I posted about being passed over for a longivity award at work.
It recently became clear that, when figuring our time for these awards, the new agency (DADS) counts our total state service while the former agency (MHMR) only counted time in that agency. I had been anticipating a 30 year award from MHMR, but DADS took over and counted my prior state employment, too. They showed me with 32 years of total state service when I'd just completed 30 years at my current job.
I was surprised at this year's ceremony to receive the award shown above. Until the moment of the award I did not understand the different ways each agency counted our service. I was very pleased to have gotten this award before I retired.
We receive a pin marking each 5 year increment of service. Because of the counting changes, I missed getting a 30 year pin. I guess I should be glad that's all I lost in the shuffle!
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Galleries: Announcing, Grumbles