another dairy closes
in the Meadows, they dipped their bony heads
to the grass and pulled them by roots
into their warm pink mouths
they were black and white and they mooed
an inconsistent chorus and they spilled
from under the red eaves, lazy sun bathers
the herd in their stanchions milked
by hands that had also thrown hay
and smoothed their high splotched hides
they were black and white and they moved
like slow drunks in search of a seat
they huddled in dots along the Meadows
and they steamed in the evening chill
where they would still spot the fields
had the trucks not come to empty the farm
The Commons, February 2007
Tags: Poems, publication