What Will Become of the Farm?

by Matthew Nies

Obsidian night stippled white by distant

Stars—while wind rustles hidden trees

And I listen like a boy again, filling

With prairie breaths and five generations

Of dreams—obscures the rich sod into which

Delve the farm roots my German-Russian

Kin sowed one hundred thirty years

Ago. Growing up a farm boy taught

Me how to build and furrow straight, to caretake—

Witness to life and death—impressive lessons

I draw from even now in city life.

My folks continue the agrarian legacy

And talk to us about the farm’s future when

We visit.

MATTHEW NIES was raised on a farm in rural North Dakota. He currently lives in Maryland and works for Senator John Hoeven. Nies attended the University of Jamestown, and his poetry has appeared in the University of Jamestown’s literary journal Plainsong.