heifer

i'm not your covenantal cow—
i was a young girl never put to plow
before you cut me down

strung my guts between earth and sky
and passed right by on your way to meet God
you passed right through me

in place of your crippled thigh you offered mine
offered my stretched red hide to live inside
offered me, a hyssop child

plucked from the ground
before crowned
the Queen of Hell—

—and now you're dragged before me bound
strung up by your pride
so taut i can pluck you

i'll raise up all your dead girls to eat you
my covenant with God
on your meat

and you will pass
right
through me

for Virginia