The Music of the Prairie by Glenn Fell

I walk step by step
And big blue stem
Rises tall and thick, turkey foot
Swaying in the Kansas wind
Bowing, then golden rod and Indian grass, anthers yellow,
Mix into the prairie meadow dance
And I stop and breathe it in
And we’re joined by little blue, switchgrass and blue sage,
Sideoats grama appears and the sound of
Crickets and cicadas vibrate the air,
And I am undone,
My spirit floats amidst the life around me,
Breathing, feeding, from dark soil,
Warm sun, rain water,
I step on to limestone
And see a blazing star
Bush clover and rose verbena
And wild blue indigo, rigid goldenrod,
Boneset,
It’s a prairie symphony
And my prairie friends and I hear the music all around us,
It’s oh so clear,
Swirled by the wind
And a slab of limestone
With perfect pocket prairies
Dotting its surface
Is in the audience
With tufts of tallgrasses standing straight
Against a background of purple prairie clover
And pale purple coneflower
Long gone to seed and they all
Applaud with flair and color.



This poem and others can be found in the Grassland Heritage Foundation newsletters archived at www.grasslandheritage.org