Things I Love About Where I Am
Township of Kickapoo, WI
on the Kickapoo River
in the Ocooch Mountains
in the county formerly known as Bad Axe
The goat at the bottom of the hill.
The ruined farmhouse with
a mini-Stonehenge in front
and solar panels in back.
The sudden willow
at the T-intersection,
manifesting voluminous
and perfect as on
a Chinese porcelain, but
yellow, yellow…
The fake deer on the bluff
who changes clothes for each holiday.
The town I live in, population 395.
Its library, corner Wisconsin & Railroad,
with its 83-year-old librarian, who
not only shushes no one, but talks
herself, constantly and
at the top of her voice.
The post office, corner of 4th & Elmo,
open Saturdays 8:45 to 9:30,
where the mailman posts his photos,
8 x 10 glossies of the town white squirrel,
close-ups of the tree-nursery eagles
feeding their young,
details of the holiday-clad fake deer.
The real deer path across
the corner of my yard,
four kinds of woodpeckers
gobbling suet,
wild turkeys in the snow.
All the long-haired men.
—Kathe Davis, Readstown
