Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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91 Spilt Milk
1
I wretched when I first tasted it.
With white froth on my chin,
Spilling onto the table,
And the bowl my cereal was in.
2
I was eight years old,
Visiting my grandparent’s farm.
The milk for my cereal was from the cows
They milked at their dairy barn.
3
But this wasn’t like the California milk
Mom got at the store.
You even had shake it up,
Or it would separate as you poured.
4
Neither homogenized nor pasteurized.
Call it either slimy or smooth as silk
Just hours before it had been a bale of hay,
Now it was raw whole milk.
5
Grandma Chase showed me how it would separate,
Into the cream and butter layers.
They sold their milk to the cheese factory,
A monthly “Milk Check” for their labors.
6
Then she let me shake the big jar she had,
It was the butter making procedure.
And then I took a sip of butter milk,
But I didn’t like it either.
7
I had to face reality that summer,
Like where do we get chicken and bacon.
And milk doesn’t come from glass bottles,
Call it an essential education.