L’Hameau de la Reine

^{these are but the trappings / and the suits of cow}

In a dream I saw the baby
Calves saw the constant stream
Of water on them hosed off
Scrubbed down saw the water
Turned on by the attendants
All in bright silk milk-maid
Dresses cleaning them keeping
Them constantly clean as
Their hides were stripped
Away as they were flayed
Alive and cut and they
Spoke only between cries
Of pain of their brand
How to use their youth and
Beauty to sell their books
Where they were cut into
Pieces as they spoke of boob
Jobs and Botox and hair-dye
Spray tans and waxing while
The blood was washed
Down the drains by those
Who waited on them who
May not have understood
What was said interrupted
As it was by screams and
Moaning nose jobs they
Said and what the perfect
Labia should look like
Under the sound of water
Hitting flesh and water
Splashing on concrete and
Water caught amid shreds
Of meat gurgling out at
The drain they insisted
They spoke of beauty
We are talking about
The good and the beautiful
They said above the sound
Of the hoses their own
Screams as we said then “so
‘Tragic’” “uh ‘heart-rending’”