Tractor Brewing

Goal: Write a poem to be featured on a limited edition canning of Tractor Brewing’s seasonal autumn release—Turkey Drool.

Tractor Brewing's head-of-marketing approached me with a question: would I write a poem to be featured on a limited edition canning of Tractor Brewing’s seasonal autumn release: Turkey Drool.

She said that the piece should represent the following product description: "A brown style ale with all kinds of interesting flavor. Majalah cherry pits provide notes of cherry and a blend of Mexican spices brings out a hint of mint and finally fresh vanilla brings it all together."

My goal was to capture the essence of a season, and to appeal to common-but-very-real-sensibilities about what emotions the fall elicits in people. Here, for instance, I was told that this upcoming brew would include hints of Mexican spice, so I enjoyed the idea of subverting the powers that be and writing inclusivity into the poem, which ends with "there are no others, here..." I like thinking of whatever this beer might come to be a part of tearing down the walls some folks seem frighteningly interested in constructing just three short hours south of the brewery I wrote these words for.

she'd rake the fallen moments
into piles of
gold and
brown and
red,
as much in love with the aesthetic
as the way that autumn's breath
snuck in through the curtains
one morning (unannounced),
and never left.
every day, i'd watch her stake her claim
before she smiled and said,
"each, small death puffs out its chest
and poses like a threat, but
their words are not final.
there are no others here,
all are welcome,
jump on in.