From the Railing of a Country Bridge

[Todd]

Hi Teagan,

Nice to be reading you again. Here are some comments for your consideration. I tend to overdo with the amount of words, but I'm going for clarity so I still will try to keep this mild in tone if not in quantity.

Here are my overall thoughts before I give line comments. This has a James Wright sort of feel to me in its observations of nature, and while there are parts that I may stylistically take issue with, their mostly personal choices. I think the main challenge you have with this one is taking something that is pretty good and giving it the emotional punch it needs to elevate it to something much better.

 From the Railing of a Country Bridge--The title does a good job establishing the setting.

Mist fills the air above Rabbit River.--First lines are important. For me this is about a 6 as far as first lines go. I like the straight forward observation of it and the specific detail of the Rabbit River. I'm not sure it sets up your close well enough so you may want to give that some thought. More on that a bit later.
The fields are plowed, seed ready, opening--I like seed ready and the break on opening.
themselves to the arms of thickening clouds.--The personification and the sense of embrace leading to life is very nice. So from this, I may think that the speaker sees the promise of something new, some new course or path and is reflecting that through their observation.

Before this land was tended, prairie grasses--Before this is a real key to understanding. We're getting a contrast between tended and natural. The conflict when something is tamed. What is gained? What is lost? 
shimmied in the heat of endless summer,--nice image with motion endless summer is a bit cliche. Possibly forever summer or giving the sense of stretching days somehow.
bowed to buffalo who ventured this far.--Also a lovely image, and a sense of geographic placement.

Back then life fed on sunlight - on the chirps--Back then another looking back key which implies that the speaker is also looking back. I like the first phrase here and the introduction of these sounds. On a broader note the pleasure of this poem is mostly found in the sonic devices you employ.
and low whistles of the night, on the grunts
of meadow beasts and the breathless expanse
that the heart of  winter makes of all of this.--Extra space before winter (minor typo). Heart of winter is also possibly a bit cliche--not as much as endless summer above but something to think about.

My car windows start to fog. Truck tracks --The car windows fogging make it seem like a type of crying. Also, maybe a blurring of the past and a snapping back to reality. You also get that sense from the truck tracks.
in the sopped field roads fill with despair.--love the sopped field roads but not the fill with despair. It feels tacked on and not earned. I think this fill with despair idea is what you need to draw out and go deeper with.   
I see in the distance a grain truck making
its way up the wet pavement toward market.--The grain truck gives a slight closure as it is the promise of the S1 field, but it isn't quite delivering the payoff for me.

This is atmospheric and lovely. I just want it to push me more emotionally near the end. I like that it is subtle and restrained so I'm not calling for over the top just a bit of a nudge.

I hope some of that makes sense and helps.

Best,

Todd