Just So They Couldn't See the Flowers

said my father in one of his rages that came

so often then as he watched with something

like horror the suburbs creep closer and closer to the edge of his fields close enough he could watch the suburban life as if on a giant

panoramic movie screen and it was a movie

he came to detest.  Watching a woman pick the tops off dandelions in her yard was an act

of stupidity that made his rage almost

eloquent.  Just so they couldn't see the flowers,

said my father.