March 2020
Dianna Henning
gammonmackinnon@diannahenning.com
Bio Note:  Recent work out 2019 in New American Writing, The Kerf. I taught through California Poets in the Schools, received several CAC grants and taught poetry workshops through the William James Association’s Prison Arts Program, including at the infamous Folsom Prison in Represa, CA. My third poetry book Cathedral of the Hand was published 2016 by Finishing Line Press. I was nominated for a Pushcart Prize December 2019 by The Kerf, College of the Redwoods. Two new works are pending in 2020: Poetry Pacific, Psychological Perspectives.

The Village Lives in the Sheep; the Sheep in the Village

Several, ancient and steadfast, lounge
on the green hills, while others, 
 
braver, escape stone walls to
wander as though touring the nearby, shags
of wool hanging off their chests, their eyes
electric with storms. Those 
 
are the ones that return 
each century, stalwart and fat—their gait
an old man’s, or the limping
gait of the man who runs
Ambleside’s butcher shop, his apron stiff with blood,
cleaver in hand. Some
villagers think sheep are apostles,
especially those that dare 
 
stray, and who, upon 
return to their flock 
 
relay what they foraged, 
a keening for their tribe.
©2020 Dianna Henning
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