Collecting Cowpies

By Gary Gildner

This is Michael Carey for Voices from the Prairie a weekly sampling from the rich soil of Iowa’s literary tradition. Today’s poem is "Collecting Cowpies" by Gary Gildner formerly of Des Moines and now living on a mountain in Idaho. Picking up old cow poop to be used as fertilizer may seem like a cruel joke, the most unpleasant of rural family activities. But in this poem it is a joyful chore, one that fills its this poet with gratitude for the wonderful world that has granted them him the opportunity to live and work closely and happily in nature with his loving family.

Collecting Cowpies

In sweet soggy spring
when the mountain is soft
and we file down the road
past lilac, plum
and the bowing dog-
toothed violet,
one behind the other
following our wheelbarrow,
it is to ease ourselves
into Fred’s pasture.
We go Lizzie through first,
then Margaret who grips
an old serving spoon
as I hand over
the three strands of wire,
then me with my shovel.
We have come to collect
Fred’s wonderful cowpies.
We are veterans at this
simple maneuver of
scooping up
perfect brown plops
turned crusty on top
in the feathery green,
and dropping them in
boxes stamped George
Dickel, Celestial Orange
Tea, and Western Family
Grande A Honey.
We can’t wipe off
a goofy grin, feeling lucky,
feeling connected to the genius
who or which keeps
turning everything over –
and we can think of nothing
we’d rather be doing right
now, under a pale halo
of moon floating round the valley
and giddily holding on
to our mountain,
than taking this gift,
these rich ruminations,
back up the road
one behind the other
following our wheelbarrow.

"Collecting Cowpies" by Gary Gildner from his book The Bunker in the Parsley Fields published by The University of Iowa Press, originally published in Poetry Northwest.

For Voices from the Prairie and Humanities Iowa, this is Michael Carey hoping you continue to hear the music blooming all around you.

Gary Gildner is an award winning writer who taught for many years at Drake University in Des Moines. He lives now in Idaho with his wife and daughter. His works include eight volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories, a novel and a memoir, The Warsaw Sparks (Iowa, 1990). His latest book of poems is The Bunker in the Parsley Fields published by the University of Iowa Press and winner of the 1996 Iowa Poetry Prize.