Stalls

Corey D. Cook

I.

The horses huddle
in the snowy,
wind-swept pasture
as I make my way
to the barn,
trot in together
when the door
squeals open,
only willing to part
for buckets of grain
and flakes of hay.

I turn off the light
and walk back
to the house,
hat pulled down,
shoulders hunched
as trees sway
and bend,
branches knocking together
as if taking part
in some drunken
and disorderly dance.

II.

My brother’s girlfriend
tells me he left the house
with a twelve pack
the night before,
went to a co-worker’s party,
drove himself home,
the car careening,
bouncing off snowbanks,
she said he staggered
to the door
and just stood there,
so she opened it,
shuffled out
in her slippers
and led him in
for the night.

Corey D. Cook’s sixth chapbook, Junk Drawer, will be published by Finishing Line Press in February of 2022. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in As It Ought To Be, Boston Literary Magazine, Freshwater Literary Journal, Muddy River Poetry Review, Naugatuck River Review, Nixes Mate Review, and South Florida Poetry Journal. He works at a hospital in New Hampshire and lives in East Thetford, Vermont.