Scarecrow

Fall and Thanksgiving times,

and we see scarecrows of all sorts:

wearing jeans, burlap, straw hats,

made of all other materials,

of various sizes and versions.

I come from rural India.

There were crop fields,

rice, wheat, mustard, peas,

there were bird pests,

and the farmers were poor.

Consumption was minimal,

and sustainability was the way of life.

They put tree branches as stakes,

in the middle of the crop fields.

A cracked clay pot,

that was not good for cooking anymore,

was put on the stake.

A tattered shirt was draped,

Maybe a face was drawn,

on the pot, with chalk and coal.

The scarecrow was ready,

minimalistic, frugal,

but did its job,

and it's my painting tribute.