Nebraska poem

(written as we drove on I80 from Utah home to Ilinois)

As we drive through this land of my

Ancestors at breakneck speeds in 

Our comfortable car, our only challenge

Is the Eastward rising sun blinding our

Eyes

I look at the wide expansive blue sky and feel

The footprint of them in my heart..

The Markers…

Walsteads…

Wilsons.

So many who survived the harsh landscape,

The dust storms, 

The grasshoppers

And made a life for themselves, providing

A future for the generations to come.

My grandfather John Marker died out in his 

Beloved fields where he plowed out a living for his

Wife and child and four granddaughters 

He was never to know.

How my heart fills with gratitude as I travel this land

This Nebraska

Home of my fathers

My mothers

My people.