Don Thompson
Paper Bag
A brown paper bag like a lost dog,
desperate to get home
to a pulpwood farm in Oregon,
has to hold onto scrub brush
and wait for the wind to turn
whenever it blows the wrong way.
Impossible. But it could
come at last to an aspen tree,
weather beaten and torn to shreds,
curl up around the trunk
and hear once more the half-forgotten
chatter of the leaves.
Don Thompson was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, and has lived in the southern San Joaquin Valley for most of his life. He has been publishing poetry since the early sixties, including a dozen books and chapbooks. For more information and links to his publications, visit his website San Joaquin Ink (don-e-thompson.com).
Paper Bag
A brown paper bag like a lost dog,
desperate to get home
to a pulpwood farm in Oregon,
has to hold onto scrub brush
and wait for the wind to turn
whenever it blows the wrong way.
Impossible. But it could
come at last to an aspen tree,
weather beaten and torn to shreds,
curl up around the trunk
and hear once more the half-forgotten
chatter of the leaves.
Don Thompson was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, and has lived in the southern San Joaquin Valley for most of his life. He has been publishing poetry since the early sixties, including a dozen books and chapbooks. For more information and links to his publications, visit his website San Joaquin Ink (don-e-thompson.com).