Poem by Mockingbird

My friend Mockingbird asked me to post a few of his poems.

The Zen of Cranes
by Mockingbird
 
Cranes circle over Dayton, Tennessee, turn eastward.
Said to be an ancient species with millennia of history,
they provide a tourist attraction for neighboring Meigs County.

Dayton is home to Bryan College, named for an attorney.
He prosecuted a man named Scopes for teaching
human evolution, a banned subject at the time.

Bryan won his case against the famous
Clarence Darrow after losing a presidential bid,
as dramatized in the film, Inherit the Wind.

Faculty at Bryan College sign an oath affirming
Young Earth Creationism, implying the cranes
could not have a history of more than five thousand years.

The trial is presented again and again in a festival and play.
Tourists are encouraged to join a debate in which the cranes
offer no opinion. They seem to enjoy the corn fields though.