Blue smoke settles along the hillsides Like last year's leaves. Floyd County Is clearing Beaver Creek to make way For the spring rains. The workers In brown coveralls have their orders: Clear everything from saplings to beaver dams To bias-ply tires. Everything must be cut down Or burned or hauled off to control the flash floods. So farewell to the abandoned cabin with its tin roof Rusty and defiant that kept dry calico grannies And their butter churns. Good riddance To the rebel flag that marks the spot with an X Beneath the cliff where the saw and the bulldozer And the fire proclaim the cleanup has begun. Copyright © 2001 by Tim Skeen Reprinted with permission from Milkwood Rvw, #2, December 2001

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