A Catful of Buttermilk

Gotlieb, Phyllis (1926 - 2009)

Original Text

Phyllis Gotlieb, The Works: Collected Poems (Toronto: Calliope Press, 1978): 73-74.

it 's a bird, it 's a plane, it 's a

pain in the neck, it 's a thorn

in the flesh, it 's

A CATFUL OF BUTTERMILK

1nothing, a family saying, like for

2enough is enough, enough already! yoysher!

3a bellyful, something turning queasy, storm

4brewing, gorge rising, that 's when

5you say enough is a

6catful of buttermilk

7when you 've got a spirit

8ache like an ague

9of the bones, when the sky

10pushes down like the

11lid of a garbage-can and all

12words ring down a fall of

13lead nickels, the old

14gnaw their gums and blink and the

15wind is a wolves' bite in the thigh

16the hue and cry out at the graves

17of the unnumbered

18dead riding in their careers

19in turn howling a hollow

20tolling from hell

21 can we

22crawl down to the cat from here

23and the buttermilk?

24Prince, President, Prime

25minister, Premier, Potentate,

26Pontifex, Pasha, Panjandrum & Pooh-bah, ah

27the hell with it, it 's a

28catful of buttermilk

Publication Start Year

1969

Publication Notes

Ordinary, Moving (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1969).

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2002

Rhyme