The Old Ways
So many atmospheres
to perceive
when it gets quiet!
Sometimes on 17th Street
I hear a train.
Though active lines
aren’t really near
I know. Then, the feel
of a dusty depot –
late-August-in-April.
I lose myself in golden
wheat fields
gracing the box
of Triscuits on
the counter.
Color lithography
has not entirely
lost its power.
Leaving the wheat field
where Triscuits are born
I lose myself again,
in a halftone
of mud-colored raisins
on another box.
A picture on the outside
showing what’s inside –
fifteen sticky ounces
of raisins. “Lion”
brand. Lion Raisins?
That’s funny.
But don’t laugh
at the lion in the logo.
He’s in profile –
the flow of his mane
modeled with simple
strokes. Just line art.
Just line art, it’s enough.
To show lion is stable
and strong. Run out of raisins?
It cannot happen.
About the Author: Sue Blaustein is the author of “In the Field, Autobiography of an Inspector”. Her publication credits and bio can be found at www.sueblaustein.com. Sue retired from the Milwaukee Health Department in 2016, and is an active volunteer. She blogs for ExFabula (“Connecting Milwaukee Through Real Stories”), serves as an interviewer/writer for the “My Life My Story” program at the Zablocki VA Medical Center, and chases insects at the Milwaukee Urban Ecology Center.
More by Sue Blaustein:
Image Credit: Patricia M. Highsmith “Wheat field near Candor, New York ” (2018) The Library of Congress
As It Ought To Be 