Face

by Matthew Murrey / November 15th, 2020

Out the window
through falling snow
we saw the long face of a cow.

We were in our car
beside the slatted metal
of a livestock truck.

One animal face
with black, plum-sized eyes
was taking its last looks:

red and white lights
of evening traffic,
the snow-dimmed glimmer

of the city’s tall buildings,
and tiny-eyed faces like ours
going by in cars—

all our human world
going about its business.

Matthew Murrey is the author of Bulletproof, (Jacar Press, 2019) and the forthcoming collection, Little Joy (Cornerstone Press, 2026). He has recently had poems in One, Anthropocene, Whale Road Review, and elsewhere. He was a public school librarian for 21 years, and lives in Urbana, IL with his partner. He can be found on Instagram and Bluesky under the handle @mytwords. Read other articles by Matthew, or visit Matthew's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2020 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.