"Poem For the Trundling Buffalo of Maryland" (thnx 2 32 Poems)

Much thanks to Deborah Ager at

32 Poems

for this diversion from the morn of harsh reality; you gotta see the

picture

of the one jumping over the net before you read this poem. Peace to all buffalo, living and dead.

Lorna Dee Cervantes said...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FOR THE TRUNDLING BUFFALO OF MARYLAND



You're bound for burger, yet,
you with the dreadlocks dangling
from your chin, you of the back
hump, bad hair day everyday
you will not be shorn, "I Tread
On You," a distant memory
of the ice bit plains, a plain
song of discovery and regret,
railroads and a child's yellow
wallow—a Walmart Godlike token
spent on a tennis court reservation—
it's love and match and set.

My stack of meat lies, twinkling
dew, defrosted. Would that be you?
Tomorrow at the barren landscapes
of the King, organic and prion free,
who would capture you or deface
your rare and toasted memory?
Some smoke stack signals guide
you home, the smell of range, decay,
the stench of your breed stunning
in the slaughterhouses of America,
Land of the Free, and meat, its greatest
living symbol: I'll fry this line-caught fish

for me.



c Lorna Dee Cervantes
4/28/05
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.S. Think of Vachel Lindsay's "Trundling Buffalo" while you read the article. Good poem, that, from an early hippie. Although this one will do:

"The Fower-Fed Buffaloes"

9:16 AM
~~~~~~~
P.P.S. Think of

Dougie Maclean's

song:

"Buffalo jump/ feel the thunder..."

from his cd "Singing Land" - bohdrans, digeridoos & bagpipes on a poet, doesn't get any better than that.