Hooves were forbidden, but she fed us

 

stringy liver, thick tongue, gray kishkes

 

crammed with something soft. She had a bulb

 

of garlic, a handful of salt, some wretched carrots.

 

Drew out blood with salt, clamped her grinder

 

and fed chunks into it and forced them down.

 

She let me turn the crank, and red worms

 

fell to the bowl. I ate according to the Law

 

and the cow's flesh became my flesh.

 

Now I lower my head to eat, moan when I wake

 

from the fear dream, the one where we shove

 

one another down the ramp toward the violent

 

stench and the boy's knife. He lifts his arm

 

in a rhythm I've always known.