Moving the Cows
or, how to dilute dreary reality
Martin Elster
It’s not just humans who can benefit from VR.
Moscow-area farmers strapped modified VR headsets
to cows to see if it improved their mood—
and, of course, their milk production. —Engadget
An Alpine pasture strapped against their eyes,
they beam with joviality, they’re merry,
less moo-dy—udderly helpful for a dairy.
They do not seem to mind the frenzied flies.
They do not seem to miss their former meadow
though grasses do not grow in this cow ghetto.
A viridescent panoramic vista
of rolling hills and rills and songbird trills,
buttercups, daisies, clovers—all this fills
their senses, minds, and hearts. Does there exist a
heaven like that? Unfasten the technology,
and you would owe those cattle an apology
since, in their crowded shed, they’d smell the silage,
ears drenched in the din of sundry milk machines.
The sight of virile bulls in pleasing scenes,
however, is enough to cause milk spillage
inside this world of make-believe normality
where bovines browse in virtual rurality.
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First published in Lighten Up Online
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Martin Elster, who never misses a beat, was for many years a percussionist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (now retired). Aside from playing and composing music, he finds contentment in long walks in the woods or the city and, most of all, writing poetry, often alluding to the creatures and plants he encounters. His career in music has influenced his fondness for writing metrical verse, which has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies in the US and abroad. His honors include Rhymezone’s poetry contest (2016) co-winner, the Thomas Gray Anniversary Poetry Competition (2014) winner, the 2022 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest winner, the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s poetry contest (2015) third place, a Best of the Net nomination, and five Pushcart nominations. His latest collection, From Pawprints to Flight Paths: Animal Lives in Verse, is out now, from Kelsay Books.
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