An Early March

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

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