Cattle Song with Violin
Second Place
We came over the hill
following the sound
There was a man there
in the sound
And we knew he was calling to us
And the sound drew us forth
Away from our cud and chew
The sound recognized
Something in our souls
That we had Souls
That we are Sentient
Not just chuck or shoulder
Branded flesh and beef
But cow whole and beautiful
We knew music
When we heard it
Turned our identical
Heartbeats to it.
Linda McCauley Freeman is the author of the full-length poetry collection The Family Plot (Backroom Window Press, 2022) and has been widely published in international journals, including in a Chinese translation. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize 2022. Recently she appeared in Delta Poetry Review, Poet Magazine, Amsterdam Quarterly, and won Grand Prize in StoriArts’Maya Angelou poetry contest. She received a grant from Arts MidHudson and was selected for Poets Respond to Art 2020, 2021 and 2022 shows. She was a three-time winner in the Talespinners Short Story contest judged by Michael Korda. She has an MFA from Bennington College and is the former poet-in-residence of the Putnam Arts Council. She lives in the Hudson Valley, NY. Follow her at www.Facebook.com/LindaMcCauleyFreeman
The Field Guide Poetry Magazine 