Dianne Nelson Oberhansly

Making My Peace with Kansas

Oh mean muddy breadbasket, dead end
of the Chisolm Trail, homeland of troglodytes
and old sunburned farmers—I can’t/won’t
forgive you for making a barrens of this
teenaged girl, for leveling her with your
rumors and plough winds, but finally
after what feels like a thousand years, I can
loosen my grip, feel my fingers once more.

I fold you up like a dead man’s clothes, then
lift you near one last time to smell
corn stalk, Flint Hills after rain, pond
rot, grandma’s gooseberry jam. Not
mad (now), not sad, I let you go because
this handful of words I’ve rubbed together
finally weighs more than all your sunflowers
and silos and wind-ghosted plains.

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Dianne Nelson Oberhansly‘s work has won the Flannery O’Connor Award and a Utah Book of the Year Award. She has published fiction and poetry widely in journals. A recent transplant to Southern Oregon, she is an avid walker, slow food enthusiast, and Arts educator/supporter.