Poems - Creative Writing - Verse
Contributed Poetry - Short Stories
Vermont Living Magazine presents Poems, Poetry and Verse. Selected poems and creative written material. The written word and spoken verse can evoke a multitude of thought and emotion. If you have written some verse, word, poem, or creative short story you would like to share, please send it to us. Vermont Living prefers material that evoke pleasurable thoughts and emotions. Help spread the love. Submit stories, or poems, submit photos, or relax and read some interesting original poetry, short story, or verse below. Thank you for visiting.
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Poems - Short Stories - Poetry
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The Identity of Flying Flags
Special Thanks to Jim Vires 2011
I bought a flag for the State of Vermont
But that sounds so pedestrian and plain --
I went on a mission to find that flag,
Several sorties over a period of time.
It was not an obsession --
Not quite.
It was a journey
Where I met the out-of-the-way
Removed from the beaten track
Proprietors of ramshackle gift stands,
Stands with all your maple syrup needs.
In all those stands
On a stool out of the way
These Vermonters sat.
Proprietors native and owners of the land
With dirt crusted fingernails from Vermont soil,
Soil unyielding when giving up the hardscrabble vegetables
Grown in gardens to supplement the limited tourist trade,
Those proprietors who smiled a generic smile of sorrow,
Who shook their heads and said no flags here,
Giving advice about buying a flag on the Internet,
Not understanding --
Or maybe they did --
Anonymous could not satisfy my need
To identify with these people, this land.
Still I could not slack in my quest --
Weekends found me casting out yet again,
Seeking the shops hidden by hairpin turns
Where, hopeful, I would ask yet again
After threading through tourists.
This time the owner looked first at my hands,
She saw the embedded dirt of digging a grave.
Looking to my eyes, she rose up from her stool,
Slowly bent to a drawer stubborn to open from neglect.
Standing and turning she held out a flag.
Passing Vermont to me, she looked 'round her stand
At the tourists determining the merit of a tee shirt or hat,
Then she looked to me and smiled.
© Jim Vires 2011
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