Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” from The Country of Marriage

All Text: Excerpted from “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” by Wendell Berry

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

Pop Art Shopping Carts © 2011 Bo Mackison

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.

Farm Garden, Old World Wisconsin © 2012 Bo Mackison

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Redwood Abstract © 2013 Bo Mackison

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

In this Pond © 2012 Bo Mackison

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

West Bluff © 2014 Bo Mackison

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Coneflower Joy © 2013 Bo Mackison

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.

Lavender Fields and Bee Boxes © 2013 Bo Mackison

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

The Path Beyond © 2011 Bo Mackison

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.

Kure Beach Sunrise © 2013 Bo Mackison

Practice resurrection.