First thing the farmer did
on his new property
was trap the game.
I helped my cousins
carry his cache
down to the house.
The thick-furred beaver
was heavy in a bag
to me at six years old.
I lugged it
on my shoulder—
the beast’s flat tail,
the four dead muskrats,
the iris-blue
of Indiana winter sky.
David
W. Landrum teaches Liteature at Grand Valley State University, in Allendale,
Michigan His poetry has appeared in
numerous journals, including Measure,
Evansville Review, The Dark Horse, Hanging Moss Journal, and Tipton
Poetry Journal (Fall Issue, 2007).
David edits the on-line poetry journal, Lucid Rhythms, www.lucidrhythms.com. Originally from Kokomo, Indiana, David went
to college in Warsaw and at Purdue in West Lafayette.