Pastorale

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Hot lacquered chinaberry tree in silhouette

Like India ink snaking across the empty gray sky

No sun

No Moon

Nothing but dusk and dust

And swollen blue ticks cracked like eggs on the cement porch step

Cows lowing in the field

Bony and unmilked

Ankle deep in muck and bovine sorrow

Listening to the wailing in the house

Like it’s music

Keeping time

Almost dancing