photograph, farm wife, circa 1930

by Doug Stone

She lives her life close to the earth, 

close to the certainty of the seasons, 

always afraid of distances 

beyond the edge of the fields. 

When a glance to the horizon startles her, 

she looks down to the firm comfort 

of the ground and waits to take her next step 

until the spin of the earth feels just right again.

Doug Stone lives in Western Oregon. He has written three collections of poetry, The Season of Distress and Clarity, The Moon’s Soul Shimmering on the Water, and Sitting in Powell’s Watching Burnside Dissolve in Rain.