Our Blue Earth explores the melancholy dark side as well as the natural beauties of rural life as seen through the eyes of the author as a young man growing up in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

GRANDMA RAIN
When it rains hard,
I think of the small ring
I keep in a hollow book—
 
my grandmother
and her small hands.
She touches my cheek,
 
smiles.  I tell her my name again
and for a little while sit with her,
sharing the warmth of her shawl.
 
Then as the rain slows,
I find myself alone again, and young,
and I promise to be good.

Richard Carr’s writing has appeared in Poetry East, Exquisite Corpse, New Letters, Painted Bride Quarterly and elsewhere.  His poetry collections are Grave Reading, Lucifer, Dead Wendy, Imperfect Prayers, One Sleeve, Ace, Street Portraits, Honey, and Mister Martini. A former systems analyst, web designer, and tavern manager, he grew up in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and currently teaches in Minneapolis.