The porcelain insulators are ripe for the picking
(If I only had a ladder and a little more time)
Perched like parakeets along the crossbars
An hour out of Concordia
Westbound on 36
Higley’s Home on the Range somewhere off to the right.
But the rusty boxcars are easier to count
As I ponder the question
William Allen White
Sage of Emporia
Put to his readers in an essay
In the August 16, 1896 issue of The Gazette:
“What’s the Matter with Kansas?”
Politics aside … 14, 15, 16, 17
Not a whole lot in my estimation
If I might be allowed to render an opinion
… 18, 19, 20
And at any rate, in Oberlin
I expect to find some answers
… 21, 22, 23
Either at the newspaper office
Home of The Herald
Or huddled around the Great Western
Basking in the warmth of the eight o’clock fire
At my cousin’s unpretentious place.
I didn’t.
Only the affirmation of answers supplied earlier
In the kind eyes of the Jack-of-all-trades
Who flags me down with a friendly wave
After hearing my right front tire go whap-whap-whap
Over the brick-paved street, then offers to help.
In the sunny smile of the high school girl next door
Who also hears my tire’s whap-whap-whap
And springs from the front porch
To join the Jack-of-all-trades,
Then wants to know if I’d like to borrow her cell phone.
In the steady hands of the high school boy (often next door)
Who follows Skinny Jeans to the scene
And is there to pull me up when I trip at the curb
Trying to beat them all to the tire.
Welcome to Oberlin
Red Devils country
Site of the state’s last Indian raid.
But today I meet no devils, only angels,
And it’s experiences like this –
Just right for packing
That belong in my bag of memories
As I count my blessings
An hour out of Concordia
Next stop Emporia.
— Rick Nichols
Rick Nichols penned 51 Burma Shave-like rhymes and a poem, “The Messengers,” for his book 50 Sermons, 50 States: Presentations from the Pulpit for the People of America. Residing in an old river house with a good view of Missouri at Leavenworth, he has dubbed himself the “Border Bard.”
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 