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Poetry, Right Here, In The Chute
- TCU Press
- Chapter
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Poetry, Right Here, In The Chute It’s my father standing there with the big two-handed clippers, and the other men pulling the chute together, trapping the steer in place. It’s all the straight boards, and all the boards notched or nailed. It’s all the steps, the ramps, and all the leaning posts. It’s all the scuffed boots and overalls, the cheap, straw hats, the lingering smell of old coffee, and the tested gloves. And it’s the sudden thick snip as the horns are trimmed, and the ears are notched, and the blood starts spraying out when the head tosses, and the tongue goes thick and braying, and the hooves stamp prints in the planks, and the nose lunges in fear, and it’s a rite and a releasing, and it’s a slap and a yee-haw, and it’s a threshold, and it’s a never-ending christening. -11- ...