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What the Farm Carried

A farm and a family are one and the same, each one enduring a burden.

By Terry Huff
Jan 13, 2024

Hattie carried a shotgun to save her hens and eggs
from snakes snooping around her hen house. 

She carried the farm. The old man carried the keys
to his truck, the feed store, and backroom poker. 

Their sons carried bushels of corn from hilltop
to barn, and shotguns into woods on weekends.

The boys carried carbine rifles into combat, in wars
they never talked about, when trauma had no name,

just shell shock and shame that came with
valor in the shadow of death. At times, 

they carried pints to kill monsters and memories
of grenades and lost friends. The pastor carried a bible 

and the burden of burying the young, while nephews
carried caskets that carried a culture to the cemetery. 

Photo and caption from the poet: “On the right is Hattie, my grandmother who carried the farm. On the left, my grandfather, the old man who carried the keys. In the middle, my dad's oldest brother, who carried a weapon into combat. All three of my dad's brothers were veterans. They didn't talk about war or the trauma they carried.”
Photo and caption from the poet: “On the right is Hattie, my grandmother who carried the farm. On the left, my grandfather, the old man who carried the keys. In the middle, my dad's oldest brother, who carried a weapon into combat. All three of my dad's brothers were veterans. They didn't talk about war or the trauma they carried.”
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About the author

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Terry M. Huff, author ofLiving Well with ADHD(Specialty Press,2016), is a social worker and writer in the Nashville, Tennessee, area. He received his master's in psychology from Middle Tennessee State University, MSSW in social work from the University of Tennessee, and has completed the MTSU Write program. Huff has studied poetry with mentors Denton Loving and Sally Rosen Kindred and attended workshops with poets Jeff Hardin and Mike James.

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