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.