Farm Life

Mary Christine Delea

 

Last week,

someone woke up the animals at midnight,

made them howl.

The sound woke me,

and I woke you,

and we went to the barn

to find all the kids and goats dead, bloodless.

Yesterday evening,

our neighbors murdered

their visiting relatives,

and the people in the trailer park

in town hanged themselves

from the Main Street lamp posts.

Our cats and horses

ran away early this morning,

leaving the dogs and sheep and llamas

to fend for themselves.

 

Just remember,

moving to the country

was your idea.

        

    

Mary Christine Delea’s first book is The Skeleton Holding Up the Sky (Main Street Rag Press, 2006). She has two chapbooks, and her poems have appeared in A Gathering of the Tribes, Coal City Review, Freshwater, and Plum Biscuit.  She lives in a Portland, Oregon suburb with her husband and six cats and has held various positions, including university professor, social worker and retail manager.  She is currently an at-home writer, quilter and quilt designer.

 

   

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