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.