go out to the world of cow
the names we’re called are knives
sing sing into night for we are eine Frau
call out for us do not betray us now
your day’s good your time finite
go out to the world of cow
the sky is wild nightbirds call winds sough
behind the moonrise shifting tides
sing sing into night for we are eine Frau
we sit together on the bough
we women who walk at night
go out to the world of cow
exiled in Moscow Kracow and Macau
we’ve paid too much now in tithes
sing sing into night for we are eine Frau
the boats are leaving she is at the prow
her gnat-maddened skin a bloom of hives
go out to the world of cow
sing sing into night for we are eine Frau
eine Frau: German: a woman or one woman.
Her gnat-maddened skin a bloom of hives: a reference to the poem ‘Monster’ by Robin Morgan which I first encountered in the pirate edition of Monster (1973) published by Melbourne Radical Feminists. The lines read: May my hives bloom bravely until my flesh is aflame / and burns through the cobwebs. / May we go mad together, my sisters.
Notes
This poem was a long time in the making as I searched for the right rhythm, the repeating phrases with its focus on cow and the German word for woman (eine Frau). Cows are frequent images that stand in for women, especially in India where I wrote my collection Cow (2011).