I spend my days at the farmhouse.
Always the sound of cows;
at night, the dreams of cows.
Their paths through the grass,
the way they watch
when we walk in the yard.
The blue wildflowers break
underfoot; a first frost, winter’s ritual.
At church the other women
say I should know, by now,
my baby’s differing cries.
That I should be well-versed
in the language of need.
Among the cows, a line of geese
moves through the blank repetition
of pasture. Modest as nuns.
Finally, one rises to flare its wings.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 15, Issue 4.
Renee Emerson earned her MFA in poetry from Boston University. Her first book of poetry, Keeping Me Still ( Winter Goose Publishing, 2014) is forthcoming, and her poetry has been published in 32 Poems, Christianity and Literature, Indiana Review, and elsewhere. Renee teaches at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia.
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