“Speaking of Stable Geniuses” by Deborah Rasmussen

Deborah Rasmussen

SPEAKING OF STABLE GENIUSES

I’ve only known one. It was my uncle
the dairyman who taught me to dip one finger
into a pail of freshly drawn milk and offer it
to syrup-eyed calves, who sucked greedily
for small reward then followed my hand
into the pail over and over until they learned
that milk could be freely lapped!
a miracle in the eyes of us youngsters
and genius, I thought, on the part of my uncle
who called all his look-alike Holsteins by name
and taught each one which slot was her own
among identical stalls in the milking stable.
It was he who could find a calf newly dropped
in the field where its mother thought it well-hidden
and it was he who could stand outside
the barn door and call toward the outer pasture
come boss to bring the herd home safe.
All this I thought to be genius
but I never heard him say so.
He just quietly did his work.

from Poets Respond
January 14, 2018

__________

Deborah Rasmussen: “When I heard a prominent person call himself a ‘stable genius’ last week, I thought of my uncle, who was a skilled and highly respected dairy farmer. He never took credit for his accomplishments or boasted about his skills so it is a pleasure to express the wonder I felt as a child at his abilities in working with cows. A great deal of his charm was his unassuming character, a quality I still admire.”

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