Rentiesville

Being poor in Oklahoma meant being completely poor. The downtrodden were the stepping stones of those who had gone on with life, but some folk were not the ones who were walked upon, some, who had time, heart, gatherence, family, and self worth and time available to them, managed to see the horizon, much, much clearer.

Brown beans, on the stove. Fire brought in and built on little sticks, and flat topped burners, with tins of coffee, and no two mugs alike. Cornbread baked morning and night, butter from the cow, rolled and made,

Eggs from the chickens that walked the yard, scratch corn, for meals tossed at their backs. Johnson's two cows, tied at the halter, waiting to be milked. Eggs for breakfast, beans for lunch and dinner.

The houses never painted, the chairs, tossed and some with screws and clamps, some with cushions, the majority not, stood around the porch, or carried in for supper.

The lamp light would go down, to almost off. Burning tobacco on the porch, would light the frame of those who stayed their, counting their blessings, no money to be counted, as their workday would linger, then fade, to a nights sleep.

Ralph Peck

Photography by Ralph Peck

Rentiesville, Oklahoma