What sound does a cow make

led again through a mother’s nightmare, another calf

hungry for the milk it will taste only once or twice

that we will price & pasteurise to taste a thousand times.

What sound does a cow make

buckling beneath the weight of a reality

we very smartly, painstakingly

force upon it for as long as it will take

to fit our sharp, misshapen interests into all

of nature’s circles. What sound does it make?

Push the button, teach children the lies that sell.

What sound does it make? It’s probably like

the time you saw the eyes of your last child and

again were driven headlong by instinct into love;

then the thing you tell yourself only happens

to others, happens, and all but kills you silently.

It’s probably all these things combined.

But what difference does it make

what sound a cow makes when

we’re not even listening.