Aridity makes
the various Wests one: no
rain follows the plow.
***
I don’t usually like to explain my poetry (I hope it speaks for itself, but nobody got the agile joke, so maybe not!). In this case I think I have to make an exception.
When I read the prompt “rain,” my mind immediately went to Wallace Stegner’s book The American West as Living Space. In it Stegner describes several US western regions, but ties them together as one “American West” with his statements “The West is defined…by inadequate rainfall” and “Aridity, and aridity alone, makes the various Wests one.” (Incidentally, if you haven’t read Stegner, check out his novels Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose. Not always easy reads, but well worth the effort.)
The last line is a reference to 19th-century Cyrus Thomas‘ debunked theory that if you plow the fields, the rain will increase (Field of Dreams, anyone?).
So, the words are not my own, just the concatenation.
***
Haiku Heights is hosting The September Heights, a haiku-a-day challenge with a daily word prompt to be used as a theme and/or in the haiku. Today’s prompt is “rain.” Click through to check out more haiku or to add your own.
Karin S. Wiberg 
Nice, Aridity is a good word
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Kind of fun to say, isn’t it?
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It is , it is 🙂
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We usually write about rain, there’s something romantic about it, but writing about ‘no rain’ is so unusual. Glad you highlighted aridity …
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The dry West has a different, rougher, romanticism perhaps… Thanks for the comment!
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Ah.. weather (or lack of that particular one) uniting the regions.. Intriguing.
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I thought so, too. Stuck with me for 20+ years!
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I absolutely love this haiku.
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Thanks, Kathy!
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I always thought the plow bit was a superstitious belief. Thanks for the research. They work for me.
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It was a good refresher for me to pull out the book and google a few things!
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