Seems everyone has decided to party early this month. This week has been the Heritage Writer's Guild's party as well as the Utah Poetry Society-Dixie Chapter (above) enjoying some poetry readings plus my church's women's group Relief Society open house. I'm not complaining just enjoying. Here's two new poems written while preparing a special Dixie Salad for the poetry party.
DIXIE SALAD
Mix pomegranates, chopped apples, shelled pecans,
add whipped cream, stir for a delicious salad recipe
honoring our Dixie pioneers called to the Cotton Mission
filled with heart and hardiness who came here in 1861
to dry barren St. George in the wild Virgin River valley.
Their stamina and courage was tested, fighting floods,
digging mile after mile of irrigation canals only to be
washed away, planting and replanting crops:
cane, cotton and sorghum, corn, peach and pecan trees
reaping small harvests, but enduring not giving in.
Building a beautiful Tabernacle and majestic Temple.
Their hands carrying lava rock and making adobe bricks.
Timber primitively hauled great distances to build supports.
Unstoppable they were under Brigham Young’s direction.
Their unshaken faith sustained them through many trials.
Now we reap the reward of their unswerving labors,
living in a bustling city filled with industrious people
still working, planting and growing families, retiring here.
Making a new life, enjoying the fruit of their labors.
St. George, your pioneer legacy survives and thrives.
