National Poetry Month, Day 19 | Mats Strandberg & Erika Burkhalter
April 19, 2021
Photo by Mats Strandberg
The Rider Mower
by Erika Burkhalter
It happened in slow motion.
The tumble down the hill.
The rider-mower—with my grandpa astride.
All the grandkids were watching.
It was Allis Chalmers, of course.
Because that’s what he sold, my grandpa,
whose family hailed from Norway,
and farmed in Minnesota.
It rolled and rolled.
And I was sure that my grandpa would die.
But in the end, all that was injured
was his pride.