Sleek from day-long degustation
cattle jaywalk or stand and stare
as we drive by, eyes wide
but with vision thinned by southern drought
where beasts bellow round troughs
and a white wake gathers the gleanings.
Fleshed and fecund, bulls knee-deep
in emerald oats seem loath
to sniff and mount.
Heifers chew Eden’s cud
their hides gleaming
like newly opened boot polish.
We drive on, hungry for the Gorge.