WEBVTT

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The first line of this
poem is also the title.

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I once had a black
goat, and it was

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slaughtered and barbecued along
with my sister's white goat.

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The excuse-- well, they
were butting everybody

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when you went out the door.

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You couldn't-- bam!

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You know, you'd just
step out the door and.

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But their horns
were just beginning

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to break through the skin
and was really sweet.

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But they-- I don't
know, they start

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getting on my
grandfather's truck,

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and they get up on top of it.

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And they have these
contests, and they were

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getting in the way, I guess.

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"I have got to stop loving you,
so I've killed my black goat.

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His kidney floats in a bowl,
a beige flat fish around him,

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parasites.

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Slices of lemon break through
the surface of hot broth,

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then sink below as I bend,
face down in the steam,

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breathing in.

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I hear this will cure anything.

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When I am finished,
I walk up to him.

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He hangs from a
short wooden post,

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tongue stuck out of his mouth,
tasting the hay-flavored air.

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A bib of flies
gather at his throat

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and further down where
he is open and bare

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of all his organs.

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I put my hand in, stroke him
once, then taking it out,

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look at the sky.

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The storm clouds
there break open,

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and raindrops yellow as
black cat's eyes come down,

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each a tiny river,
hateful and alone.

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Wishing I could get out of
this alive, I hug myself.

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It is hard to remember
if he suffered much."

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