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A Virtual Grouse Hunt

October 23, 2026 | Poetry | Comments
I’ll be hunting grouse tomorrow In the mountains of West Virginia Behind setters as always Same as I have sixty years But I’ll be there virtually Represented by my get Son Scott and Grandson Thomas “T” for short Read more

A Farm, A Horse, A Boy

October 20, 2026 | Poetry | Comments
When I was twelve My father gave me a horse A Walker gelding named Tanbark  Gentle and smooth in a walk or foxtrot How I loved to ride him Over our little farm One hundred thirty acres  Of steep blue grass and alfalfa Read more

Opening Cast Off

September 29, 2026 | Poetry | Comments
Two black scouts on foot Lead up two pointers Their handlers, mounted, Follow Two mounted judges Watch the scene “Ready, boys?” Handlers nod, scouts let ‘em go Read more

Maud and Bird

September 21, 2026 | Farming, Poetry | Comments
They were my father’s last draft team Mares black and bay Grade Belgians 15.5 hands Maud Lead Bird Off I remember sitting on his lap As he sat on the steel bucket seat Of the mowing machine Their lines in my small hands Read more

Wendell Berry

September 12, 2026 | Poetry, Wendell Berry | Comments
The death of Wendell Berry Is the end of a long life-he was 92 Well lived more so than most any Brings sadness but joy too For he suffered no decline or disability Died in his sleep in his home With family surrounding Read more

Unknown Hole

August 28, 2026 | Booty Blevins, Poetry | Comments
Bob Cain and Booty Blevins Was up in North Dakota Their twentieth summer Working bird dogs They’d come up from South Georgia Where they was based at Where they lived in a single wide When not on the circuit or training on prairie  Bob was the handler Booty the scout But in truth they was both Bird dog Gypsies  Read more

A Boy and a Derby

August 19, 2026 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Ben Reach had a place reserved for the lad in his heart. He had promised the father to look out for the boy. The father was Wally Steel, an all-age field trial trainer-handler based in Lee County who had died in his prime from lung cancer, cursed by his cigarette-smoking habit. At that time the boy, Sammy Steel, had been eighteen and apprenticing under his father, following the trial circuit fall to spring, training in North Dakota July to mid-September. After Wally’s death Sammy had been trying to carry on with his string. Wally’s owners liked Sammy but were unsure he had what it took to make it. The four owners would give him a chance for a season with the dogs they had with Wally at his death, but placed no new prospects with him. Sammy had partnered up to travel in one rig with a contemporary of his father, Dan Eanes, also based in Lee County. Read more