Snow geese migrate in thousands,<\/p>\n
their white-breasted bodies rest<\/p>\n
in the rice paddies around us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
They are headed to Vermillion Parish,<\/p>\n
or Monclova, Mexico or maybe the Gulf,<\/p>\n
where they will swim in the exotic scraps<\/p>\n
and the rich fatty trash of Coca-Cola, King Cake,<\/p>\n
of candies and mole, tossed aside Powerball tickets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But here, in Trumann, Arkansas<\/p>\n
everything is littered<\/p>\n
with the beautiful,\u00a0filthy\u00a0cotton<\/p>\n
fields, the gins clicking<\/p>\n
like metronomes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the Pacific, two thousand<\/p>\n
of these birds dropped dead<\/p>\n
out of the sky from Cholera.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The only sincere double-billboard<\/p>\n
on the highway passes, Rick<\/em>\u2019s Sweetheart<\/em><\/p>\n Special: Two sirloin steaks, $19.99<\/em><\/p>\n and the other sign underneath<\/p>\n We too are about to meet God.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And then, today, thirty miles west,<\/p>\n In Jonesboro, the other light show\u2014<\/p>\n a Gadsen Flag wrapped around a 12-gauge throat,<\/p>\n demanding we hear his voice<\/p>\n over the dipping sun that turns<\/p>\n the white of the paddy geese gold.<\/p>\n Snow geese migrate in thousands, their white-breasted bodies rest in the rice paddies around us. They are headed to Vermillion Parish, or Monclova, Mexico or maybe the Gulf, where they will swim in the exotic scraps and the rich fatty trash of Coca-Cola, King Cake, of candies and mole, tossed aside Powerball tickets. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1,54],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-3Eq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14038"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14138,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14038\/revisions\/14138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ZACH HESTER<\/a><\/h6>\n
<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"