“what my home used to be”

Inspired by Norman Rockwell's "The County Agricultural Agent (1947-48)"

By Tillie Stanton

What was Norman doing here?

He didn’t belong in a museum.

He belonged in my kitchen

on the calendar,

the calendar Mom got every year.

Museums were for pretentious city folk,

not for us, the country bumpkins.

That red barn should be next to a cornfield.

Why is it surrounded by obscure abstracts

that look more like blobs than emotion?

Those old-timers were supposed to be

killing time at the old gas station.

Instead, they’re here, out of place:

the chickens and children are cooped up

in an enforced, stuffy, never-ending silence;

The calf doesn’t have enough space

to grow and show at the state fair!

How are the cats going to warm themselves?

They can’t find a spot on the floor

for windows are forbidden in this museum.

Something about slowing down time,

Wanting to make the characters

last longer.

At my home, these characters used to be real.

They didn’t just live in Mom’s calendar.

But no one can slow down time.

The calf did grow up and he won the state fair

but now he’s in our bellies, near the chickens.

The old-timers had to move on from the corner

Because they’re in the old-folks home killing time—

Time stole from the red barn; it’s a grey shack.

The children...well, I’m one of them;

I grew up, flew the coop, found myself

Staring at what my home used to be.

Tillie Stanton is a junior English major at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. They are from Skidmore, Missouri but have fallen in love with Lincoln, Nebraska (despite all the pesky one way streets downtown). This is their first publication and they are ecstatic! When not in class or at work, Tillie can be found spending time with their friends, reading, and/or listening to Taylor Swift’s entire discography.

Find them here: Instagram @tillielynn16