Goats in Missouri

We had no business in Missouri.

We simply were on a lark,

Motoring over the paved roads,

Looking.

And after miles and miles of desolate houses,

Many of which John Steinbeck had planted,

Many of them messaging mortgage, debt,

We came upon the goats.

White and tawny and black and grey,

There must have been two hundred or more

Grazing upon one large patch of rough pasture, and

Just beyond, well within eyesight,

Another flock of about another seventy-five.

I took several photographs of them

From the moving car, and

To my pleasant surprise

I now have them for keeps—

Goats in Missouri.

--October 20, 2013