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 "The Exchange" by David Wolf. One of the things I first noticed in moving to Iowa from New York City so many eons ago was that people here were friendly and one way they exhibit their neighborliness was by waving a lot, even to people they did not know. Every car I pass in the country on the way to my farm I wave to. When I go back east I almost shake my hand off trying to wave to all the millions of people that I see until I realize where I am and that people do things differently there. It’s not that they’re not friendly, necessarily, its just that lives there seem more separate, more private maybe because there is so much intruding to react to. In any case, in this wonderfully serious but humorous piece David Wolf plays off that warm Midwestern tradition to find his poem.
Opening the window to test the cold
with a breath
I see a small boy across the road
who sees me and waves
I wave back
and he waves again
I wave back
he waves
I wave—
Figuring this could go on forever
I close the window
as the boy continues to wave
trying to squint past
the day’s reflection
past the severance that is
this world
"The Exchange" by David Wolf from Open Season Center Press Books of Des Moines. Originally Published in Hiram Poetry Review.
For Voices from the Prairie and Humanities Iowa, this is Michael Carey hoping you continue to hear the music blooming all around you.
Biography
Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, David has lived in New York City, Oxford,
U.K. and Ann Arbor, Michigan. His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals
and magazines, including the Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Poet &
Critic, River Styx Magazine and Stand Alone. He has taught
writing and literature at the University of Michigan, Drake University and Iowa
State University. His first book of poems Open Season was published by
Center Press Books of Des Moines.