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
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
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
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
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
In the Blue Ridge
Where I’ze raised
At Iver Johnson 20 Gauge
Four things came together:
Football practice
Squerill season
Chinquapins ripening
Chiggers Read more
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
Bluegrass and clover
Blanket steep Appalachian hills and valleys
Greening in spring
Feeding cattle and sheep
They graze gain and bear calves and lambs
On our least-sloping land we plow harrow and plant
Alfalfa for hay
Then pray for rain
Read more