Dairy Rhythms 2, the Milkhouse
The milkhouses tunes play all of sudden,
Weaving out and in: machine time
fast, fast, fast sorta-fast, sorta-fast
and slo–o–o–o–owly. The andante
paddles of a pasteurizing vat
Travels to the ceiling and ripples
poco-a-poco down the ramp of cooling
coils cantabile into the bottling tank
the bottles rise, fill, decrease in a stately minuet
till they meet the capper and click-up
stamp down-spi-i-n, whirling allegro
Large cans swung from the wash vat reverberate
and ring with cymbal clanging. The bottles
their circumstances shiver and chatter as they’re
slung from returning vans. The behemoth
can washer provides them a lento journey by
a caustic scald. In its roiling abdomen; the
cooler rinses in its growling intestine; the motion
on both finish is presto. The maw’s concave
enamel snatch soiled bottles, gulps them up in
as extra enamel seize, whereas on the different finish
gleaming bottles disgorge row by row onto
a shifting belt that takes them to a bottler
fugue-fast. The innards on the homogenizer
pound a rhythmic fortissimo, the butter
churn rambles forte, the cream Separator
centrifugal races, hums piano.
2024 Jacqueline Jackson
