Rural Skyscrapers

I am flour and spreadsheets, in a whole grain bed made with his paychecks
and fantasies of coastal living. It’s because we are never satisfied with where we are,

so we try unusual combinations for human interest stories: beekeeping in the ‘burbs
or running for school boards to stay rustic yet relevant.

Lately, I cry on the porch, because of the way the daylilies lean into me, straining
for a sunburn before the streetlights buzz us back home. Did you ever find

a decent vacation rental by the lake, white and crisp and away from this place?
Or will we paddle our pick-ups to the pasture when the kids are gone, cow-breath and

distant trains moving grain to new cities.

Kimberly Sailor, Mount Horeb, WI, is a 2019 Hal Prize finalist in poetry, with poems also appearing in Sixfold and The Bookends Review. She is the author of the novel The Clarinet Whale. Sailor is the current editor-in-chief of the Recorded A Cappella Review Board, and holds a publicly elected seat on her local Board of Education.