Ozark Hills

Motorcycles zoom down pig trails and twisting roads.

Beware, wildlife will knock at the door or hide inside.

Arkansas dumb laws: don’t wake up a bear to photograph,

or an alligator in your bathtub. Diamond digging

is allowed in a mud field as is, catching fish in the rain.

Wild persimmon fruit predicts winter, seed-shaped

spoon, deep snow or a fork, mild winter. Flatlanders

and hill people eat, poke sallet, muscadine, pawpaws,

wild hog, squirrel with dumplings and drink, sweet tea.

Ghosts roam buildings while Boggy Creek Monster

wanders aimlessly. Old witches do hocus pocus,

and turkeys fly during Turkey Trot Festival.

By Mary Nida Smith

Published in the book, "the poetry of US," National Geography.