New from Old

Organizing is not
a poetic word,
yet it describes
the sorting
of old,
reset of parts
to become new.
Hoeing weeds
makes room
for roses,
crossing calm water
in a canoe
provides a fresh view,
rearranging poems
into sections
gets a manuscript,
ready to submit,
standing still
in the woods
brings peace of mind.

Lin Marshall Brummels was raised near the Nebraska Sandhills and honors those country roots boarding horses. She earned degrees from the University of Nebraska and Syracuse University. Her poems were selected as Honorable Mention poems in the 2021 and 2024 Nebraska Poetry Society’s poetry contests. Brummels has published poems in Poet Lore, San Pedro River Review, Concho River Review, Oakwood, Plainsong, Nebraska Life, and others. Her chapbooks published by Finishing Line Press are “Cottonwood Strong” and “Hard Times,” a 2016 Nebraska Book Award winner. Latest book, A Quilted Landscape, Scurfpea Publishing. Forthcoming, The Last Yellow Rose, from Sandhills Press.

