The Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin
The Two-Headed Calf
Laura GilpinTomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass. And
as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.
MARGINALIA
1.
It’s a particular ache to carry: feeling unwanted from whence you came. What is insanity, I ask myself sometimes. Because how can I yearn and reach for the same place where I am unloved?
2.
I want to stop hurting because of who I am, and who I am not. But I suppose there’s time again to try tomorrow. Tonight I can just sit here with the wind in my hair, reading a poem.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe by Laura Gilpin, published by Double Day, 1976. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT LAURA GILPIN
Born in Wisconsin in 1950 and raised in Indiana, Laura Gilpin graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, then received an MFA in poetry from Columbia University. Her first collection, The Hocus Pocus of the Universe (1977), won the 1976 Walt Whitman Award. Gilpin also received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Weight of a Soul, Gilpin’s second—and final—collection, was published in 2008. She died of glioblastoma in 2007. (Source)
Read more poems by Laura Gilpin • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
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