Harvest

The sky is gray with rain clouds, the moisture welcome after the heat of August. Corn still waits in its greenish robes for someone to pull them back to see the tender young kernels, that dry out while on the stalk. In the summer, trucks arrived with teens who pulled tassels from every other row. The fine powder of the pollen sprinkled lightly on their heads while the fall combine readied itself to mow them down and grind them into silage for the winter. The fields will soon stand empty but for bumps of broken stalks waiting to be turned under for next year’s crop. The pickers walk up and down the rows waiting for school to begin and footballs to rain down on them instead of powdery grains of golden harvest. They dream of victories on the field, of touchdowns carrying the ball and dating the girls while the yellow sweat creases across their muscles.