Cherry County, Nebraska
From Coffee and Astronomy and other Poems. Morpo Press, 2001.
Bigger than Connecticut, they say,
and a New Englander’ d rightly point out
there’s a couple less people around Cherry,
and the cows’ll even back ’em up as
they outnumber people there, but, like cows,
don’t lord it over nobody, happy enough
in their fields. Rain’s coming down
and brown calves kick and sprint now.
Yes, cows can sprint
before gravity weighs ’em.
When they stand lighter on the earth,
man can they fly.
Poem copyright Matt Mason, used here with permission.