My parents urged me to become
A productive citizen. Like a foal
Dropped to grow into a thoroughbred,
I seemed born to race up some corporate
Ladder, but something in my brain
Or heart rebelled against a goal
Of raising the line graph of company
Sales of soap, soda, or sedans.
Now I laze about in the pasture
And drop nothing more significant
Than a poem, an artifact
From an old culture gone in the head
That few, if any, folks will see
Or read or know exists, while
Union Rags runs from the Belmont
Stakes to stand at stud for life.
A seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee, George Held publishes widely both online and in print. His forthcoming books, both 2013, are NEIGHBORS TOO, a sequel to his illustrated children’s book, and CULLING: NEW & SELECTED NATURE POEMS.