Dying Kansas

In Cold Blood

DYING KANSAS

Dave Leiker

“Industrial Building – Chanute”

DEAD BUILDINGS

Not just Detroit—

But Chanute Kansas too

Decaying by the tracks

Some say these old—

Buildings are just “retired”

But is that really so?

They’re more like tombs—

After the grave-robbers

Broke-in and robbed them

Decay & rot has set in—

Nothing manmade lasts

Very long around here

Dave Leiker

“Wooden Overpass – Alta Vista”

WOODEN OVERPASS

Creaky cranky old bridge—

Up over the railroad tracks

With its wooden planks

Twisted naked old—

Cottonwood trees gnarled

Alongside the dirt road

A couple of modern—

Grain silos incongruently

Protruding way out there

How many gone Chevy—

Pickups and dilapidated old

Farmers traveled this road?

Dave Leiker, “Barn Dissolving”

(Stone and Vines)

BARN DISSOLVING

Nothing lasts forever—

Not even Stonehenge or

The Easter Island statues

Not the ancient Mayan—

Ruins all twisted in vines

And jungle dissolution

The same with Kansas—

The limestone slab walls

Of what used to be a barn

The land seems to have—

A mind of its own & takes

Back what was once ours

Dave Leiker

“West Wall – Barn Dissolving”

TEMPLE WALLS

Temples built of stone—

In Greece, Rome & Egypt

India and Angkor Wat

Built by royal stonemasons—

To last forever and ever

Even past kings and queens

Temples built in Kansas—

Homes, sheds and barns

By the grim early settlers 

Now they’re all gone—

But the limestone walls

Still cling to existence

Dave Leiker

“Flint Hills Road”

FLINT HILLS ROAD

The dead Cottonwood tree—

Leans precariously over the

Flint Hills little dirt road

Twisted fingers reaching—

Upward toward the afternoon

Fading Midwestern sky

This is all we really know—

A road through the countryside

And then, well, that’s it

The reassuring golden hills—

The Cottonwood saying goodbye

Such a brief heartbreaking trip