Caroline Giles Banks
American Gothic 2025
After early morning milking and mucking, she refills mugs of high-octane coffee for stern-faced farmers idled in the local cafe. Heads bowed, they whisper about low crop yields, hollow promises of help from the Farm Bureau. Fears of losing the family farm are held chest-close under bib overalls.
Wiping tabletops, she texts her husband about leftovers for the kids’ supper, then heads out for her shift as hospice aide.
rhinestone rings
on her fingers
catch the sun
knuckle duster
of perseverance
About the Author
Caroline Giles Banks, born in Boston, Massachusetts, is a cultural anthropologist whose poetry is often informed by her anthropological training and research. She is the author of six poetry books, including The Clay Jar: Haiku, Senryu and Haibun Poems, The Weight of Whiteness: A Memoir in Poetry, and Picture a Poem: Ekphrastic and Other Poems. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.