Poem-A-Day

CHILDREN OF DIRT

by Rhonda Coullet

When I was little,

I sat in the back yard 

with a spoon,

and ate dirt. 

No one knew why, 

just curious, I guess,

about the other side.

Flowers ate dirt, 

defied gravity,

burst up to the sun,

and bloomed.

No need to move,

go anywhere,

just sit, 

wait for water,

and grow. 

The world was wondering,

When will you bloom?

When you’re old, 

like Mamaw,

will you feel at home,

lantern in the window,

Jesus at the door, knocking?

Step out on the porch,

let your angel emerge,

simple, elusive,

as a flower bud,

drawing water 

from the dirt.

~

An ex - “Miss Arkansas” runaway, Rhonda Coullet resigned the artificiality of the beauty queen world and took Bluegrass and Country with her to Broadway in “The Robber Bridegroom, Pump Boys and Dinettes, and Cowgirls.” When Jimmy Buffett’s version of her song, “Bigger Than The Both Of Us,” hit the Top 40 on Billboard and received a Grammy nomination, Rhonda gave up New York for Nashville, rented an old farmhouse in Franklin, TN to write “The American Secret” album. Always a rebellious maverick, she began her career on the Los Angeles stage of ‘Hair” playing Jeanie, protesting air pollution, became dance captain and restaged “Hair” all over the world protesting war. After three years she returned to the Big Apple to be immediately hired by John Belushi in National Lampoon: "Lemmings." He taught her comedy and always introduced her as "Miss Arkansas." Rhonda sang at his funeral, and Judy, his wife, produced “West Heaven” written for him, as a tribute video on Saturday Night Live and produced Coullet’s musical “Runaway Beauty Queen” at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse. Recently, Coullet has written and self-published five poetry books at her upstate New York farm: “Free Spirit,” “Family Tree,” “Winter Wall,” “Concussion,” and “Proprioception.”