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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “Embracing Shadows” Down in the Dirt, v146 (the June 2017 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the issue book Random Thoughts the Down in the Dirt July-Dec. 2016 collection book		get the 418 page May-August 2017 Down in the Dirt issue anthology 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

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Leaf Blower

David Sapp

When we were gassing up the tractor, greasing the bailer,
setting twine, Grandpa remarked – and my memory is vivid
as he rarely offered any sort of conversation – and how his
nostalgia was exceptionally earnest that day – an old man
peering into the past, divulging to a young man peering
too far into the future – he said simply, with no elaboration,
that he missed plowing with his team. I guessed,

without the clatter of machinery, he heard the sloughing
of earth across steel, the huffing of horses’ breath, the
slight jangle of harness, the easy slap of leather on broad
flanks – their strength gauged in the reins – a soft, rhythmic
thumping of hooves on sod, a lowing of trees in the woods
and the squirrels’ barking there – overhead, the piqued cry
of a hawk evading crows’ beaks, and if you listened acutely,
a popping of buds, the palpable clamor of the sun igniting dew.

I recall this past as the wind, up to now, has been timid
in its task. Leaves are loitering at the fence, snagged among
lilies, iris, hibiscus, an aimless carousel whirling around
the birch tree. I know, eventually, the wind will pick up
and using the rake, in the scratching, I might better admire
a singular moment – my mind might wander. However,
I am impatient. The leaf blower, a deafening bluster,
dispatches these vagrants with its artificial tempest.

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