PLOWING AT SUNRISE

Something in morning air carries it
this rich acrid odor of decay:
compost and manure from fallow months
turned over onto themselves
and into furrows as day begins
moist still from 
the last remembrance of night
and pale before the moon
fully concedes its place

Every year I return to this plot
denser soil muddies these boots
and each year tills
the leaves and squander of days
turns them over onto themselves
into a rich acrid field of now
moist with remembrance
pale and blind to color
until the sun rises red over the mountain

A native of Baton Rouge, Michael Blanchard now lives in the Cadron Valley of Central Arkansas, where he is an adjunct professor of literature at the University of Central Arkansas and editor of SLANT, UCA’s international journal of contemporary poetry. Recent publications include four books of poetry, the most recent of which is The Pearl Diver’s Daughter & Other Poems (2023). His poems can also be found in the Alabama Literary Review, Quarry, Voyeur, Cave Region Review, Bayou Magazine, and Broad River Review, among others. In addition, he is a frequent contributor to Southern Literary Review.