{"id":1991,"date":"2026-05-07T11:15:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2026-05-07T12:36:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:36:50","slug":"prairie-psalm-with-train-in-the-distance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/2026\/05\/prairie-psalm-with-train-in-the-distance\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie Psalm with Train in the Distance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prairie Psalm with Train in the Distance<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dusk lowers its copper basin<\/span>
\n<\/span>over the blackland fields.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Mesquite breath rises: green, resinous;<\/span>
\n<\/span>and somewhere rain is thinking about falling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heat loosens its grip by degrees.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Fence wire ticks as it cools.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Crickets begin their metallic stitching<\/span>
\n<\/span>in the seams of grass.<\/span><\/p>\n

Far off, a train unspools its lonesome ribbon:<\/span>
\n<\/span>iron singing to iron –<\/span>
\n<\/span>a note that holds<\/span>
\n<\/span>longer than the light.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember storms that split the sky open,<\/span>
\n<\/span>thunder striking flint from cloud,<\/span>
\n<\/span>the first drop darkening dust<\/span>
\n<\/span>into the smell of birth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now stars prick through the vast hide of night,<\/span>
\n<\/span>each one a nerve laid bare.<\/span>
\n<\/span>The moon, pared thin as a blade,<\/span>
\n<\/span>slips between slow-moving clouds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nothing here is empty.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Silence hums like a fence alive with current,<\/span>
\n<\/span>like wings testing their weight against air.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even the shadows breathe:<\/span>
\n<\/span>gathering at the feet of posts,<\/span>
\n<\/span>leaning into the earth\u2019s warm flank.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under this sky, the body learns<\/span>
\n<\/span>how small it is,<\/span>
\n<\/span>and how wide.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prairie Psalm with Train in the Distance Dusk lowers its copper basin over the blackland fields. Mesquite breath rises: green, resinous; and somewhere rain is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1993,"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions\/1993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sagebrushreview.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}