Earmarking

As children we watched Them

do some work on cattle, cutting out earmarks

hitting the cows with the irons

spitting red sparks

and they screamed

and they screamed

their eyes rolled back and forth

tongues pink with

their pain

and they screamed

and they screamed

orgasms of agony

and we watched them bleed,

eating ice cream

a line of silent scouts

sitting atop a split rail fence

in our brown shirts,

our blue neckties, our hats

not realizing it wasn’t only cattle

who They would f**k like that.