File #2251: "Seeman_Arkansas.pdf"
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Arkansas License Plate
The flash of blue captured my glance,
driving through the Arizona red rock.
Its bird's foot violet and daisy background,
powder blue fading to a light cream.
And its curved maroon letters along the edges:
ARKANSAS. The Natural State.
Natural cotton, natural rice, natural corn-Unnatural cancer from constant crop dusting.
It plagued my small delta town. I escaped
the plague and moved to sprawling red rock.
But not before it took my grandfather,
and left his skin bloated yellow and toenails rotted.
It’ll pull you in with diamond promises,
and turn you out with blistering, sweaty palms,
and a razorback neck from picking the red rice
so tired moms won’t scream when they pour their brats
Rice Krispies. Those moms don’t care how we toil
in the rice fields and leave covered in mosquito bites.
Oh Arkansas, oh Arkansas, Arkansas U.S.A.
It’s the spirit of the tired, it’s the spirit of labor.
It’s the race to escape to the red rocks, It’s the spirit of my farmer father-who harvests rice in a faded crimson combine
with a flathead screwdriver as a key.
Bio
Baylee Seeman is from Jonesboro, Arkansas and is a senior English major with a minor in
Pre-Law. She is a member of the Mississippi State Speech and Debate Council, Pi Beta Phi
Fraternity, Demmer Scholar's Program, and Pre-Law Society. She will graduate in
December 2021 and plans to attend law school in August of 2022.
The flash of blue captured my glance,
driving through the Arizona red rock.
Its bird's foot violet and daisy background,
powder blue fading to a light cream.
And its curved maroon letters along the edges:
ARKANSAS. The Natural State.
Natural cotton, natural rice, natural corn-Unnatural cancer from constant crop dusting.
It plagued my small delta town. I escaped
the plague and moved to sprawling red rock.
But not before it took my grandfather,
and left his skin bloated yellow and toenails rotted.
It’ll pull you in with diamond promises,
and turn you out with blistering, sweaty palms,
and a razorback neck from picking the red rice
so tired moms won’t scream when they pour their brats
Rice Krispies. Those moms don’t care how we toil
in the rice fields and leave covered in mosquito bites.
Oh Arkansas, oh Arkansas, Arkansas U.S.A.
It’s the spirit of the tired, it’s the spirit of labor.
It’s the race to escape to the red rocks, It’s the spirit of my farmer father-who harvests rice in a faded crimson combine
with a flathead screwdriver as a key.
Bio
Baylee Seeman is from Jonesboro, Arkansas and is a senior English major with a minor in
Pre-Law. She is a member of the Mississippi State Speech and Debate Council, Pi Beta Phi
Fraternity, Demmer Scholar's Program, and Pre-Law Society. She will graduate in
December 2021 and plans to attend law school in August of 2022.