The Grass Eater

                chewing what she pulled from 

the lawn      insects shickandshickandshick, pause 
in the sticky weeds     she licked the end of her braid      

the milking shed made her faint    smelling bleach and  
cheese and vomit from the wet concrete     the suck 

suck suck of the machines     metal, rubber fingers 
on the cows’ tits    don’t worry, they can’t feel it     

heavy breath, grunt of the animals     her older cousins 
pinched her neck     she cried stop and rubbed the bruise    

drifted through the fallow field to the faucets at the 
screened-in porch, knelt and put her mouth 

on the iron bitter spigot with its hot water      

welts rose on her calves, thighs 
from some tiny thing, biting and persistent