Millet and Bone
chaffing millet from bone
gutters with ox mallets and pike
separating skull from hank
the talisman, they say
of an early March slaughter
bridles of hair sheared white
dunning axe and razor cut
scalloped raw as chaff
fratricide culls the bone
from chaff and marrow
life takes root in mud
not wine or dry biscuits
millet and bone separated
from host and shoulder
the Talisman of a rising
or an early spring slaughter
