Big Blue Stem Rules
J. Quinn Brisben
Sometimes tall as a person, sometimes
Taller, forming deep and complex sod,
Good for tribal lodges and farmer homes;
Sometimes almost nothing but big blue stem
For many miles at least in the old days
But not forever, nothing is forever
In an ecology renewed by fire. Lightning
Strikes in late summer when the stems
Once green have really turned to blue
And the rabbits, voles, and prairie dogs
Scurry ahead of flame and bison thunder
Shakes the earth, leaving a char that
Soon renews, leaving room for shorter
Grasses, red clover beloved of Lindsay’s
“Flower-fed buffaloes”, hairy puccoon
For butterflies, phlox, black-eyed Susans,
Ragwort, milkweed, colic root, asters,
Coreopsis, Joe Pye weed, a bloom for
Every warm month, for spiders, bees moths,
Snakes, toads, meadow larks, quail, and
Big animals well-adapted for flight,
With big blue stem renewing from
Its earthy tangle among the worms and
Mice and crickets, always richening the
Food of our food. The once and
Future big blue stem rules.
