When Cows Lie Down
Christine Andersen
The Holsteins were in repose
across the green pasture,
their gentle, brown eyes deep in meditation,
black and white patterns pooled like light and shadow.
It is widely believed that rain
is in the forecast when cows lie down,
but the sun was high in the sky.
I like to think they lie down in wonder
at the blue expanse above,
the rolling hills and magnificent oaks
with their broad umbrellas of shade.
I had a basset hound who would loll
in the grass on summer nights,
lift his head to the breeze,
look up at the stars.
It seemed a form of worship.
A way of living in the moment.
He was always reluctant to come in when I called.
One of my favorite memories of my mother—
we stretched out on the grass in our cotton nightgowns
to watch the moon and constellations arc
over the house.
A formal woman,
it was not her nature to stretch out on the lawn.
We gazed for an hour,
the summer night pungent with wild roses
and something we couldn’t name.
Author's Bio
Christine Andersen is a retired dyslexia specialist. She won the 2025 Jonathan Holden Chapbook Contest forTo Maggie Wherever You've Gone,a Distinguished Favorite for the NYC Big Book Award. Her first full-length collection,The Same Moon,is coming from Kelsay Books in the fall of 2026. She lives on a Connecticut farm with two bassets and three beagles.
