Cows in the Apples

by CONNEMARA WADSWORTH

The two obedient Guernseys 
and the bull-headed Jersey
saunter back from milking, 
udders swinging empty

as they pass the meadow 
to the lower pasture
in this the time after
the fat of summer,

and they are downwind 
from the apple trees.
The Jersey breaks away, 
the rest follow,

plant themselves on 
the perfumed carpet 
of fermenting drops,
ignore angry bees 

as eager and sated 
as they. No amount
of bullying can move
the hulks trampling

willy-nilly on their feast, 
they shaking their heads,
pushing us back. They will 
have their fill

before they swagger 
down the road, happy
drunks licking bits
of sweet apple off wet lips.

From Issue 5

CONNEMARA WADSWORTH’s chapbook, The Possibility of Scorpions, about the years her family lived in Iraq in the early 50’s, won the White Eagle Coffee Store Press 2009 Chapbook Contest. Her poems are forthcoming or appeared in Prairie Schooner, Solstice, San Pedro River Review, Smoky Blue Literary & Arts Magazine, and Valparaiso. “The Women” was nominated for publication in Pushcart Prize Best of the Small Presses by Bloodroot Magazine. Connemara and her husband live in Newton, Massachusetts.