Old #56

Check out my you tube channel where I read poetry from my book, Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems, available on Amazon.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnNUCBj1jPg

In one of
my many
lifetimes, when
I was a child,
my dad had a
sprawling stretch
of land in
Missouri.
He had 200
head of cattle.
We used to run
the cows we
bought at auction
through this
shoot with wooden
beams that closed
on their necks.
My stepmom took
this gun-like object
and put an orange
tag in their ear.

My brother and I used
to play with this black and
white steer.
We called him old #56
because of the number on
his tag.
We chased him, and then he
chased us.
I felt bad for
him, the tag in
his ear.
I talked to my
dad about it.
He said if the steer
ever got lost,
we could find him.
I felt good about that.
I didn't want to lose him.

One night
the following summer,
we were sitting down for
dinner.
I hadn't seen
old #56 for a while.
I asked Dad where
he was.
He didn't say anything.
We were having
t-bone steaks.

As I write this,
my black and white
kitten, Bukowski,
bites at the pen and
tries to wrestle my
wrist as it moves across
the paper.
I'm glad that he
isn't a steer.

Author's Note

Check out my you tube channel where I read poetry from my book, Seedy Town Blues Collected Poems, available on Amazon.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnNUCBj1jPg

Reviews

[Lorry]

Farm life isn't really into pets that much. Is it? I remember my sister freaking out when she heard where bacon comes from. We had to all give up bacon until the following Sunday, where we were all woken by the smell of a fry up...she ate it, but was told later where the eggs and sausages came from too! I'm amazed we weren't all charged by the Hague for war crimes! ☺

[Thomas W Case]

Lol. Thank you for reading and the comment.

[Thomas W Case]

Lol. Thanks for the read and comment.

[Dave Brown]

this touched
I saw cattle being being killed in a heartless contraption and I saw the absolute fear and panic in their eyes
Guess I'm a wus, but I only eat chicken now, which is bad enough!

[Poetic Beauty]

Oh the life of living on a cattle ranch or farm. What we think of as pets when we are children often become dinner later on down the line.

It is great news that your kitten isn’t a steer!!

[Thomas W Case]

Lol. Thanks for the read and comment.

[Poetic Beauty]

You are most welcome. I loved the morbid sense of humor in this poem

[Chris Shaw]

Oh my. I don’t think I would have enjoyed that T bone steak. Farming has no place for sentimentality. Great read Thomas.

Chris

[Thomas W Case]

No, it doesn't. Thanks for reading.

[Neville]

I imagine Bukowski had nine lives too & I aint talkin kitties .. I like mine blue and running free .. N :)

[Thomas W Case]

Lol. Thanks for stopping by brother.