Transplanted by Sarah Herrington
Seeing the John Deere trucker-cap
on the Upper-East-Side hipster’s head
brought it all back—
the yellow-rimmed tractor wheels that were taller than me,
the smell of hay and grass,
the farm.
What did these people know of the land,
of tilling, planting, and tending,
of how that Atkins-friendly meal reached their plate?
And the girls with their long hair,
a symbol of fertility,
grown here in the sterile bubble of a city so far removed
from nature’s bounty,
sold away for a few dollars by Native Americans
trying to follow the white man’s rules.
And the white man’s rules continue to green the pockets of all of us,
sitting here,
on the Upper-East-Side.
In a city where women parade fur coats
like its the day after a hunt,
where fake breasts and tightened jaws
are traits endorsed by dead presidents,
Grants and Benjamins,
rolling in their graves.
Where I came from
freedom meant open skies and fields to run in,
a place to laugh/scream/cry with no one to hear you
but the one who made All of That.
Here freedom seemed something bought and sold,
something soaked up with bread held between pudgy fingers,
the last drops on an American plate.
I wonder if its possible to unlearn what one’s seen
to remember what one knows,
that John Deere caps were made to shield farmer’s eyes
while moving a green tractor over brown land?
Sarah Herrington is an accomplished poet and fiction writer. Her poetry appears in the anthology Bowery Women alongside writers such as Sapphire and Anne Waldman, and her fiction in the upcoming book Just Like A Girl. She has published work in dozens of print and online journals including SmallSpiralNotebook, Poetry Motel, and Altar Magazine. Sarah has worked in the editorial departments of Scholastic, Inc, Viking Children’s Books, and for New York City’s largest Creative Writing school, Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Sarah currently works with Girls Write Now, teaching and mentoring teenage girl writers. She is a regular reader at the Bowery Poetry Club, Cornelia Street Café, Halcyon, St Marks Poetry Project, and other venues. Her poem-videos have appeared on YouTube, and she has been featured in Venus Zine. She received her degree in English and Creative Writing from New York University. Sarah lives in New York City and online at www.sarahherrington.com.
