The Farmer's Dirt

mai, France 1994
for dad

        At the gite
            in memory
                 of the kiss,
            we scratch at the earth
        in some farmer's field.
        Squatting, two women
        with stones,
        digging, scratching
        at the crust-
        gratter, scraping
        soil
piling
            it into a baggie
        to carry home
        to anoint the farmer's grave
with what remembers
        best.

Rhea Côté Robbins
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