Poems from Dry Creek: New and Selected Work by John Dofflemyer

Miss Bingo, 1992, acrylic on masonite, 12 x11 inches. Photo by S. Chopper Martinez

~ Io ~

On the horns of an infant moon,

the creek shrinks and pools
between sycamores and live oaks

as babies come to first-time mothers
bringing the bear tracks downcanyon
on the scent of spent placentas.

Black progeny of the river nymph –
White heifer driven madly by Hera’s
Gadfly Oestrus to cross continents

And populate Asia – find maternity
perplexing at first. Yet, lick and nuzzle
the stumbling wet struggle to stand,

suckle and rest that enflames instinct
in all flesh. Worthy timeless worship,
no better mother ever than a cow.

~John Dofflemyer, Poems from Deer Creek , 2008.

Fifty-four new and selected poems are published by Starhaven in London.

The note at the start of the book says this:

"John Dofflemyer is a cattle-rancher and poet. His work has been widely published in journals and chapbooks. He lives at the edge of the Sierra Nevadas on a piece of land his family has worked since shortly after the California goldrush.

The cover of this book incorprates a drawing by Cloyd J. Sweigert, an early settler of the Santa Clara Valley who took an agricultural degree at the University of California at Berkeley before going on to become a cartoonist for The San Francisco Chronicle. "

I met John and his wife Robin at another ranch in the Sierras several years ago. John could as easily be writing from or about any country. He recently gave a reading of his poems in West Los Angeles.

Reading "Io" I saw my own 'Miss Bingo' standing in 'worthy timeless worship' on her platform in the hills. She was inspired by a cow bingo game at a street fair in Lindsay, California, 15 or so years ago and looks a little old to be a heifer, but her bovinity is clear.