Produced by Dennis Camire

This week’s poem is by Ed Reilly, who taught for over 30 years at St. Joseph’s College in Windham.

A COW’S TONGUE

By Ed Reilly

A cow’s tongue is like sandpaper on

a hand, scraping across it to draw a fist

of oats, kernels of corn, into its mouth.

Across its calf, though, the tongue cleans,

soothes, expresses what might pass

for love if we could discern cow emotion.

The long, harsh tongue slides down

the calf’s neck, across its shoulder, toward

its thin, ungainly leg, wetting, curling hair

in one assertive, reassuring thrust

of what a mother, this heavy, awkward,

black and white beast, can offer.

Dennis Camire can be reached at dcamire@cmcc.edu