I write to you from a by Rebecca Morton


 
 
faraway                                                                                             country
fair. Elephant ears                                                                         dusted
with powdered sugar are moving through
rows of resplendent livestock. Noses quietly snort             and
snuffle. Oh, chicken, with feathers fluffed about your       clucking
head. Oh, cow, judged by your udder,
a peculiar metric that generates longing,                               anxiety.
Oh, pig, who can
recognize a man by the back of his head.                               For the
fair                                                                                                     president
standards are essential, the vegetable competitions
mandate uniformity in color, for instance. My love,
I write to you from a faraway                                                     country
fair, where cull means something else,                                     means
something different. Do not google                                         cull
farm puppies
. Here, dogs do not have sweaters. They
have doghouses in which to shelter from the elements.     Dearest
I write to you from a faraway                                                  
country
fair where I am consuming
deep-fried Snickers with my new friends. Oh, exterior       brittle
crisp, flakes                                                                                       falling
all over my brightly-patterned tee.
Please, we are saying to each other as we eat and eat,           we must
stop, we must                                                                                   save ourselves.
 
 
 
Rebecca Morton received a BA in English Literature from San Francisco State University and an MFA in poetry from Eastern Washington University. Her poems have appeared in DMQ Review, Floating Bridge Review, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a collection of poems about motherhood. She lives in Seattle with her wife and children.