so today we took an afternoon drive to an orchard
bought two jars of dark honey, an acorn squash,
three cucumbers, six ears of corn, a gigantic muskmelon,
a sack of hot peppers for seventy-five cents, a half dozen tomatoes,
a small basket each of Jonathans, McJonathans
and Akanes,
talked all the way there
through the corn green countryside,
drove around
through small towns clustered
north of Omaha
like beautiful mushroom rings around an old stump

looked at houses and businesses,
talked about the living it takes,
the living that goes on inside of them,
talked until
we remembered who we are,
why we were talking,
'til the years fell down like rain,

drove our red car
through the green hills back to Omaha
where our children
nestled at home,

brought back our box
filled with fresh fruits and vegetables,
brought back
ourselves,
filled with our lives.