Daily Poem Entries

Cotton

Cotton

I’ve seen cotton
in the parched fields of the Oklahoma panhandle,
straggling, skeletal bushes
against the red earth,
and the soft white bolls
scattered by a careless harvest,
the remnants blown by the wind
to line the road,
like plastic bags abandoned
in a New York garbage strike.

An odd similarity,
but the same chaotic lassitude
in the dry heat of the plains
and the bustling detritus of the city,
our discards an offence
against perception.


Line count: 16
Free verse
For The Daily Poem, 02.05.26
Prompt: Cotton, use the word “soft” in your poem.