mr earl

Steve Comstock

the thing they don’t explain about cows is the dust
they beat the ground like big machines
grunting like the animals they are
but their eyes are always kind

this old rancher told me he’d been to Greece
knelt among icons painted with gold
and sky blue
and the purple of a warm ranch night
we were eating fish for lunch
and his hand shook his fork
and all that was left of his voice
was a quiet whir
but his shoulders were still strong

the thought of his dusty knees
bent in that holy place
means something big
but I don’t know what.

Steve Comstock was born and raised in Baldwin County, Alabama. He served with the US Army in Afghanistan and now works as a diesel technician in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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