November
2006
Bovine
Taut, shit-stained leather,
pulled over a carcass
of ill-fitting bones.
What worse design
can there be
than that of the cow?
A cow stares at me cross-eyed,
raises her tail,
and shits on the prone body
of her sister dosing in the grass,
unconcernedly chewing the cud.
Cows are childlike when
it comes to curiosity,
their frogspawn noses
shnuff at anything interesting,
just before their sandstone tongues
taste for edibility.
At the sound of next door’s dog
chasing one of our chickens
they came galloping.
Knees and feet rotating in
so many different directions,
it was a miracle they got anywhere.
When they arrived,
late as usual,
our dog had already beaten the other mutt away,
and so they stood confused,
licking up the feathers
strewn upon the ground.
Very evocative poem. You make me feel sorry for cows & yet it’s not their fault we’ve bred them like that….?