The Unofficial Sarah Binks Golden Jubilee Poetry Anthology 1947-1997
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Pages 22 and 23
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So when the snow melts, I welcome the season,How easy things will be, "I'm ready", I reason.Until that first call, "The tractor's lost a wheel!","We'll rent one", I cry, "Eight thousand dollars, it's a steal!".The seeder hitch and tractor aren't fitting quite right,But we'll find someone to weld us something that will work, overnight.Then we'll be ready as ever to get on the road,Except now with this new tractor, the trailer can't take the load.Don't panic, this problem can be solved like the rest, We'll get a license for the old trailer, bigger is best. I'll go to SGI and hurry the paperwork through, Then we'll dust off the old trailer; it'll be easy to do.With license in hand, I proudly return,And my heart sinks again as the latest I learn.The old trailer is fine and the tractor ready to load,But we don't have a vehicle that can pull this rig down a road.The days have warmed considerably, the grass is quite green, I've been ready for months, but these delays unforseen. A cooperator calls, he has news of our site, There's a river of water; it rained all last night.It's no problem really, I have a new plan,We'll relocate the site to a drier piece of land.We'll restake it Saturday, persuade the crew to work long hours,We'll be ready to go, unless we're slowed down by spring showers.22It rains for a week and a half, but I'm quite glad, I've found a new truck; the last three-quarter ton to be had. Our summer student sadly quit, he's sick from the rain, His enthusiasm, apparently dampened, had started to wane.The days now seem quite long, the spring well underway, I wonder idly if the experiments will be seeded one day. Our plans to seed yesterday went nearly as planned, Until we discovered, too late, the farmer pre-fertilized the land.And so it goes, year out and year in, The field season is never easy, no matter when you begin. And as if small-plots weren't enough, I lament with a wail, Now we'll be doing it all, at the landscape-scale.- Fran Walley23
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