Hardcore Pastorals: Poems by Rebecca Hawkes

By | 31 October 2021

VI.
you like to say you are driven by love
that love takes you everywhere you need to go
because you never got your drivers’ licence
and your reliance on others makes you
somehow powerful
your girlfriend navigates the lanes
you gaze into the lustrous farms
naming the cows by their colours
angus hereford jersey belted galloway
friesian friesian friesian friesian
assembled by colour like assorted sweets
caramel peppermint aniseed liquorice
your mouth is watering
as you mentally concoct savoury rubs
for the beef medallions in the backseat
you are stuck behind a cattle truck
the ammonia stench of bobby calf panic
radiating from the slatted trailer so potent
your girlfriend punches the aircon to ‘recirculate’
unwilling to even breathe the evidence

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