Susan L. Lemon
Iowa Senior Poet Laureate

Susan L. Lemon, 58, of Dubuque, who is making her debut in the Senior Poets Laureate circle of winners, is marketing manager of the Sunset Park Place Retiremement Community. A former radio talk show hostess, she says her heart belongs to her beloved Midwestern homeland. She has three sons, one daughteer, one foreign-exchange daughter from South Korea, and three grandpuppies. The friend in her picture is her dog Liberty. Susan is a Leo.

BORN IN A BARN

Huddled against the hillside,
she has birthed
the shackles of time.

Swallow-sworn and blessed
with nest of dove,
her rafters bore thir young.

Now, her russet hue bleeds
fast into the fertile
earth around: holy ground.

Once a storehouse
for daily bread,
now she bows her head.

Hear her groan
in the evening breeeze . . .
gently falling to her knees.