by Mireya Perez Bustillo
To see what she could see
To know her name beyond the number
xxxxxdangling from her ears
Rumors she’d heard of cows resting in Swiss pastures
xxxxxand others nearer feasting in grassy fields
xxxxxwith mountain views at “The Farm of Happy Cows”
There was talk of Tartine, a brown and white Holstein
xxxxxwho relished in her daily head rubs
xxxxxand her sister heifers mooing at massages
xxxxxfrom large round hanging brushes
xxxxxwhile they marveled at their clean hooves,
xxxxxthe fresh straw, the milking twice a day
Some say she was moved by a yearning for a cowbell
xxxxxor that she longed for Govinda, the divine cowherd
Others heard her wish for the eternal return
xxxxxto her original Maasi herd
xxxxxor maybe it was the stench of the chopping block
We only know that on Wednesday
xxxxxshe hoofed it out of the Musa Halal Slaughterhouse
xxxxxhooves darting down 109th Avenue
xxxxxdodging cars, cops, butchers
xxxxxcutting through the Drake’s driveway
xxxxxbusting the Farley’s fence
xxxxxcornered, lassoed, tranquilized
xxxxxshe learned the rumors were true
xxxxxNow she eats, sleeps, ruminates all day
xxxxxat ease from horns to tail
xxxxxdeep in the countryside
xxxxxfull in her cowness
xxxxxshe moos at the whiff of lilacs
Mireya Perez-Bustillo writes poetry and fiction in Spanish and English. Her poetry appears in MOM’s EGG; Caribbean Review; Americas Review; Dinner with the Muse, IRP Voices, among others. Her novel, Back to El Dorado (Floricanto Press, 2020), a Latina coming-of-age story, is available on Barnes and Noble and Amazon sites.