Letter to the Con Who Shot a Cow
by Ace Boggess
because you didn’t think a .22 would kill
because you were drunk staggering home to Jesus through a muddy field
because your eyes swore I hated that fucking cow
even as they dazzled your ember-cheeks with tears
because there’s nothing left I could say that would make this
less a comedy where Falstaff waits in shadow just off-stage
because animal cruelty carries less time
than most of the battles we wage from behind our broken lines
I wanted to tell you all of us lose perspective in the moonlight
we opposites of Meursault waving his silly pistol on a sun-blind beach
I wanted to give you the silence of a priest’s laughter at confession
but my heart filled up suddenly with noise
because I envisioned the heifer’s outline chalked on grass
because you felt remorse for only this
Gyroscope Review 18
!