Some Day Soon

Telephone poles are holy--
Look
how they form a line
of Latin crosses

all the way from Tipton
to Pixley
the smell of dairy growing stronger
by the mile

How devout Portuguese milkers
really are:
They cross themselves
dozens of times each day
and never even know it
as they pass beneath the poles

Their indulgences are piling up
and some day
will reach to Heaven--
a special corner
smelling of Grade A milk

Notes

McDaniel, Wilma. (2001) Borrowed Coats. Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, New York.
Courtesy University of California, Merced Library. Copyright owned by the Regents of the University of California.