City's Orientation
It's four o' clock,
we scramble to the mud room.
Carhartt coveralls, stocking caps,
and Tingley over-boots.
Winter's first snow blankets
northeast Nebraska.
The Gator carves powder to dairy barn.
Work begins.
A new-born bucket-calf learns to drink-
tuber extending mouth to stomach.
His legs too limp to stand-
cleanings hang from mother's backside.
Everything's a process here.
You can tell her age by the size of her udder.
My girlfriend says pointing to "Grandma,"
the oldest Holstein.
We move month-old calves
from huts to the corral.
They go in stomping hooves in protest.
Show'em whose boss.
Grab'em by the tail and pull!
Ten-year-old Maria explains.
I am out of place, I'm sure of it.
But I'll stick around-
learn a thing or two.
(Paddlefish)
