Rose M. Smith's work has appeared in The Examined Life, pluck!, Naugatuck River Review, Snapdragon, Minola Review, A Narrow Fellow, Dying Dahlia Review, Mom Egg Review, Main Street Rag, The Pedestal Magazine, Pavement Saw, Boston Literary Magazineand other journals and anthologies. She is author of four chapbooks, most recently Holes in My Teeth (Kattywompus Press, 2016). Rose was a finalist for the Naugatuck River Review Narrative Poetry Prize in 2015. Rose is a Senior Editor with Pudding Magazine, facilitates Salon monthly poetry workshop in central Ohio, and serves as a contest judge and student coach for Ohio Arts Council's Poetry Out Loud program. Rose is an IT requirements analyst by day and a graduate Cave Canem fellow.
Like Cattle
he push me he pull me he press he lift he spin me he feed
me I sleep he push me he pull me he press he hold me
he spin me he spank me he feed me I sleep he push me
he pull me he press me he laugh he leash me he twist he
leash me he twist he leash me he feed me I sleep. when
I wake, there is bruise he chain me he leash me he
twist he push me he pull me he spank no he whip me he
turn me twist he slap he leash me he hold he hold he
hold he free me he feed me I sleep when I wake
there are scars he push me he press me he spin me he
lift he leash me he leash me he twist he turn
air black he feed me if I wake