Carnations by Carelli Anthony

Author:Carelli, Anthony
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2011-09-09T16:00:00+00:00

THE SHEPHERD

It’s instinct. Days when the mercury dropped

precipitously before a summer thunderstorm

the entire herd of Holstein cows, thirty or so,

lay down, huddling in the fenced field corner

nearest the highway. There’s an oak tree there,

a big old brawling lifelong farmer of a tree,

that offered the creatures some certainty

whenever the storms would harass them.

On such days, when Dick Balfanz and I

came driving toward this common cattle spot,

he’d straighten in his seat, awaiting his moment.

We’d have a stack of panels headed for some

fast-food joint, a real shit gig, and no reason

to hurry on. And so it was that he and I,

in preparation for this rainy day ritual,

would come to rest at the southwest bend.

Then he’d crank down his window, so that rain

drops might jewel his wrist, a tiny moonlit field,

beyond which, now curious, I saw the cattle shift

slightly in their tight plot. And finally, those days,

Dick, looking for humor, leaned through the window

with one shoulder bared, soaked, so that his head

might fit the opening, so that he might holler out

into the storm, “Get a job, you lazy bastards.”

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