Plowing the Prairie
By Pamela Haines
Leaning into the plow—
an enduring symbol of virtuous work
Pioneers breaking virgin ground,
bent on mastering the prairie
whatever the cost.
The harder the work
the more noble the cause.
And subdue the prairie they did—
along with all the beings
that called it home.
The prairie, we are learning,
was the keeper of our soil.
Washed to the gulf
we wish it back.
The dead substrate
that’s left behind
cannot nourish on its own.
We pour in more and more,
for less and less return.
If we could listen
to the natives of the prairie,
now gone like the soil,
what might we learn?
Maybe they would tell us
that some work
though it seems so masterful
is better left undone.
