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The Winnowing 2003
THE WINNOWING - JAMES MICHAEL TAYLOR 1.
SUMMERTIME SUMMERTIME * All songs by James Michael Taylor except SUMMERTIME SUMMERTIME...(Jamison/Feller/jmt) I twist a head of wheat off the stalk and rub it between my palms. Then I blow over my open hand. Chaff is gone. I pop the hard wheat berries into my mouth. Mmmmm. Five minutes later I have wheat gum, dough. But I'm not into gum so I spit it out. It's the sweet taste of grain as the dough separates from whatever else makes the wheat that makes for the chew... Summer time. The pollywogs in the creek. The smell of chlorine and moldy towels. Sweet anise and monarch caterpillers. Irrigating lilacs and sunburned shoulders. Sweet alfalfa and clanging balers. Summer at the prison farm. A thousand
skinny white hens. A thousand eggs a day. Candle and sort, candle and
sort. Blood spots and cracked shells splash against the wall and slide
into the cat's pail. Happy cat with shiny coat. Little cat door. She
comes and goes. Message from Castle. "Report immediately."
"Sentence remitted in excess of time served." Go home! jmt
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