“Unify Carmel” by Dan Grossman

When my dad bought cows to graze our seven-acre yard
Carmel was not yet unified. 
The cow died three months later and he buried her
on our property just north of 96th St.,

the dividing line between Carmel and Indy. 
When my dad rolled the cow over into the hole 
the hooves stuck up above ground so he got out
the chainsaw.  I think of that cow now

as the Unify Carmel parents scream out
during the school board meeting, shouting down 
diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.  
“Back when we were young the lines 

were so much clearer,” says the mother of the girl
who stood beside my daughter in the 2020
CHS Choir performance, whatshername.  
“What lines?” I ask, but she doesn’t hear.

She’s too busy screaming
at “the lie of Critical Race Theory.”
I recall my publisher mouthing
similar words at Pad Thai

in Carmel Downtown. I told him CRT 
was a straw man as we ate our curries;
I realized this beef could not be resolved.
I had attacked one of his sacred cows.