Exeter, California mural painted by Morgan McCall and Mitchell-Veyna in 1996
He ain't got no loan
Cant grow no corn
He ain't got no loan
- Levon Helm (“Poor Old Dirt Farmer”)
A cattlemen’s get-together,
a fund-raising dinner—awards
and not-so-silent auctions
at the end of summer
before the calves come,
to rub shoulders with the neighbors
who’ve gotten older
or by surprise disappeared
altogether
like the uneven ground shrinking
for grazing cattle
and our flat ground sinking
with too much pumping
on the same old cow.
The banks are nervous
with farm ground worth
half of what it was
without water
to plant and raise a crop
to feed us
and pay the growing costs
(plus taxes and interest)
and threaten to foreclose
on homesteads with row crops
or orchards in piles
that have become bare ground
to develop, for speculators
to make small fortunes
for corporate investors.
Mom and Pop
have moved to town,
following the kids
the land couldn’t support—
but it’ll be so much easier
for everyone to shop
for third world groceries
at the Wall Street outlets.
drycrikjournal 