Harvest Tales - Mitchell County 06
Harvest stories submitted by Kansans for the online exhibit, Wheat People.
Submit your own at kshs.kansasmuseum@ks.gov.
Greg German
Lunch Time
Greg German submitted a sequence of ten harvest poems, three of which are included on these pages. The poems follow a young boy, his father, and grandfather through their own personal harvests. Currently a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, German wrote about his experiences on the family farm near Glen Elder.
Lunch Time
Harvest, 6:25 p.m.
Quart jars of ice tea
sweat with cool.
Dirty faces and tired
hands ask for more.
Harvest surrounds us.
Backs lean against
the truck--a wind
break, a puddle
of shade. Hats
hang on knees.
Lemonade shivers
in glasses. Dad
tallies dead flies.
Each one dazed
with a slap. "Roast
beef or ham salad
sandwiches?" "Pass
the fried chicken."
" Some salt, please."
" Potato salad?"
" Thanks, Mom." Bits
of tomorrow's
plans shuttle
between bites.
Banana peels flop
into wheat stubble
like carp. Chocolate
chips in cookies melt.
" Take another." Hot
wind crowds between
us. "Strawberry
Jell-O? It's almost
gone. Potato chips?"
Grandpa belches
fulfillment. Dirt blows
onto the brownies.
A lump of muscles,
my brother stretches
sleep across a blanket.
Combines idle behind
us, tethered dinosaurs
hungry for the next round.
Greg German also submitted the poems The 1st Day of Harvest and The Last Day of Harvest.
