Poem: Becoming a Marylander

Between the tides of the Chesapeake
And the muddy waters of the Potomac
Seedlings cast from an old world
Seeking out new fertile soil to grow

Poem: Tobacco (nicotiana alata)

Nearly every summer for a decade
I watched tobacco being grown and harvested
Cut to air dry on stalks high in the rafters
Out in the old weathered gray tobacco barn
To cure and sweeten in the humid summer heat