When bars
outnumber churches
and the grocery store
is closed for good
small town America
watches
the last plowshares
turn to rust
as the wind lifts
drought dry topsoil
to seed clouds.
Unlike Steinbeck’s thirties
California is aflame
and the only
available work
is stomping out
the inferno.
copyright © 2021 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 