The Friday Poem: ‘Holy Cow’ by Vivienne Plumb
Photo: Getty Images
A new poem from poet and playwright Vivienne Plumb.
Holy Cow
A sky the colour of ginger ale,
and the cows are standing up on their back
legs in the snow, holy, holy;
it’s a miracle, says Hone.
He hitched a ride as far as Waiouru,
on his way to the Christian camp.
Our road is a river, a river
of grey cement, the snow lies packed
on the Desert Road, someone
has built an impenetrable igloo;
we make snowballs, holy, holy,
the sheep pray with their noses stuck in
a snowdrift. Professional Farm Services
has shut up shop; it’s a big dump
says Hone, impressed, although
the snow is a little dirty
around the edges, though still thick,
and riding above us is a monster
cloud, striding across the firmament,
possessing legs and arms, a dark
nebula body with a five o’clock
shadow, holy cow, says Hone,
drive fast, before the Desert Road closes.
On the other side of the plateau
we stop so that he can purchase
a Lotto ticket, why don’t you name
your poem ‘Lotto’, he suggests, and they
might sponsor you. A total
millennial, smart phone glued
to his hand and he believes in its
virtual reality. But me,
a post-second-World-War baby,
hoarding bullets and string for what I’m
sure will be the next revolution;
the cows look like they’re waving Lotto
tickets in their cud-chewing maws.
How can they afford them, asks Hone,
when they don’t get paid? That’ll be the
beginning, I gently inform him,
the beginning of the next big change,
because cows and sheep will have to be
paid; holy, holy.
The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed.
Vivienne Plumb
Vivienne Plumb is a poet, fiction writer, playwright, and creative writing teacher and mentee. She has also worked as a judge for many poetry competitions including the Ockham New Zealand Poetry Book Award. She has been the recipient of a number of awards and residencies including the Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers Residency. Most recently, she was performing and workshopping poetry with Jordan Hamel and other poets at Wairarapa high schools, as part of Featherston Booktown.
