The final Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club blog: “Kitchen Carnival Cow Band”

This will be the final Together! 2012 Pop-Up Poetry Club Disability Arts Online blog. Sadly, the Together! 2012 Clubs programme has now closed as we were unable to renew or replace our Lottery funding.

The Together! 2012 year-round Events programme will be continuing. Please see here for further details. This includes the Together! 2026 Disability Film Festival.

The poems below were written for our final Kitchen Carnival. The theme this year was “Cow Band”. You will be able to watch our Kitchen Carnival film from later on in September on our website. The performances from previous years are already available to view there.

We would like to thank international Carnival artist Clary Salandy for her expertise in leading the Kitchen Carnival project over the years, and all our Clubs participants and team.

Dwain Bryan: Kitchen Carnival

All the suits are made and they’re ready for the road
Everyone is confident and bold
And I think it’s going to be a spectacular day
And everyone is ready to go on their way
Follow the leader, leader, leader
Follow the leader
Drums are drumming and the horns are blowing
And people are shaking their bum bums
You can’t stop the energy on this one
You can feel the vibration on the ground
And the music playing a wonderful sound
The road maybe a long one
But I just don’t care
The passion and the music is in the air.

Eve Smith: Kitchen Carnival 2026

There are so many fancy and different costumes
And lots of fancy hats
I can’t decide which one is my favourite, there are so many to choose from
We are doing the Kitchen Carnival too
And I am so excited to use my imagination and creativity
I wonder what I will create
Hopefully something interesting and fun
I also wonder what materials I will use
I’m sure I will find something
I wonder what part of the costume I will start with, maybe the cow’s head
As it might be hopefully easier to create.
I will also have to think of movement and make it big like a carnival should be
I’m sure I will think of something.

Glory Sengo: Cow Band

Cow band is you greet to cows
In a Cow Band festival, Carnival
Outside in Newham in Wythe Road
Walking down the street dancing,
Dancing with the cow band
Down Wythe Road past Drew Primary School
Past the Tate Project
And the sun was playing outside
Of the nursery rhymes
While I was dancing with the Cow Band.

This is not the Endo: Daisy won’t do it

Daisy and the herd are munching away
When the farmer announces, “I have something to say.”
Next to him is a man in a corporate suit
With a clip board, and those fancy welly boots

“This man here would like to ask for a volunteer,
you know the drill girls, it is that time of year”
The man spoke, “We need someone to jump over the moon
to come in just before the dish and the spoon”
Daisy sidled up to the man and asked,

“Why do you make us do this every year?
The reason for doing so has never been quite clear”
The man looked down his nose at her with suspicion
“Well, because at this point it’s tradition!”

Daisy scoffed, “Tradition be damned, I’m not jumping over the moon,
not for anyone, especially not some corporate goon”
As one the herd turned and started to move away
And Daisy announced, “There will be no moon jumping, not today”

Robert Punton: Happy Cow 2

The cow stands in the field, their field, mooing at the moon
He wonders why she is so happy, she just knows that she is
Strolling around the field enjoying her day, the only time she is bothered
When the farmer takes her in to be milked, even that is a relief
It is no fun having your udders under pressure full of milk
That is the only time she must move at human speed,
Human time is so hectic, how do humans manage,
why are they always in such a rush,
She prefers cow’s pace, life should not be a race
Take your time, eat the grass smell the flowers, be at one with nature
You are part of nature, nature is part of you, that is the natural way
She has in the past heard her herd referred to as mad cows,
Well, if this is madness then bring it on
She is also a happy cow because she is a dairy cow not a cattle cow
Thank the Gods.

Dawn Barber: Cows in the kitchen

The cows in the kitchen go moo
But they won’t be doing any cleaning for you
They are running out of space
Touching each other in the face
The are not worried about time
Even if the clock makes a chime
These cows are getting ready for
Carnival time each year
They know it’s coming
But these cows
won’t be doing any drumming
Just a moooo.

Pippa Marshall: Kitchen Cows

The cows come clattering in,
certain of shelter. There are
no farms here anymore,
so I don’t know where
they have walked from,
or if this is the last stop.
They freeze for a moment
in front of the fridge,
blinking limpid eyes
fringed with perfect lashes.
One turns and sees herself
reflected in the glass of the oven door.
‘Don’t worry,’
I say, unsure
if I’m trying to reassure her
or myself. After an awkward
pause, they go to play
in the garden, where there is space
to chase around the trees.

Julie Newman: The Cow’s Happy Place

The cow woke up.
The birds were singing
their cheerful welcomes to the day.

She looked around.
The sun was just beginning
to show over the mountains.

The fields were no longer dark,
and dew caught the early light
on grass and hedges.

Then she noticed
something had happened overnight.

There was a smell
she didn’t recognise.

The cow stood quietly
and took a long sniff.

The smell caught her nose
and made it twitch.

As she wondered
where it had come from,
she noticed clouds
sitting on top of the hills.

Not like the clouds
that usually brought her rain.

These were heavy.
Dark.

The other cows began
to move towards each other,
restless in this strange new world.

The farmer paused
as she dropped fresh hay
at the side of the field.

The trough was filled
with fresh water.

Then, turning to the cows,
she said,

“Don’t be frightened.

The smell is smoke
blowing over us from miles away.

We are safe.

But we need to share our fields
with the rabbits and birds
who might need somewhere safe to be.”

As the day progressed,
the cows found their own patches of grass
and settled for the day.

A flock of seagulls
was joined by curlews.

They pottered happily around,
enjoying the pickings in the field.

Some rabbits poked their heads
out from the hedges,
paused,
then quietly sat down
to eat their fill of grass.

The cow stood
and looked around.

The birds were safe.
The rabbits were safe.
The cows were safe.

She took another long breath.

This is my happy place,
she thought.

Zillah Bosworth Coleman: Cow in the kitchen

1 a.m.
No sign of the cow.

1:30 a.m.
Still waiting, went to sleep.

Around 3:30,
woke up.

Around 4:30 a.m.
went into the kitchen.

There it was,
a cow in the kitchen.

Cautiously,
I opened the door.

It was smiling.

Au naturel,
behaving as if the kitchen was a field.

My brown wood-effect lino,
which has lasted 12 years with extra care,
blurred into a green field.

The table itself now a large stone,
that this athletic cow could sit as cows do,
legs tucked under,
head perfectly poised chewing,
ears alert,
large brown eyes fixed on the door,
just looking.

Okay, there’s a cow in the kitchen.

It’s Carnival,
summer 2026.

Expect the unexpected.

So what did I do?

Well, I just sat down with it,
enjoyed the moment,
asked a few questions.

“Are you waiting for the sunrise?”

“Yes.”

The cow just carried on looking.

Correction

The cow just carried on doing what cows do.

No big conversation.

Then it moved.

When the herd moves, it moves.

Who said that?

The cow turned over.

No, that’s right.

It sprawled out,
almost human,
lying on its belly,
cow legs sticking out
to block the pathway to the bathroom,
front legs pushed forward,
laughing.

Cow was happy,
could not be disturbed by pests or such like,
suspended in the kitchen air,
laughing and joking to cow friends.

Oh my God,
the cow had a phone.

It had borrowed my charger.

So what did I do?

I just sat and watched
and enjoyed the moment.

“It’s dawn,” I said.

The cow paused and said,
“I know.”

That was it.

Carried on muttering
and making mooing words
and mooing grunts
that had a distinct vocabulary.

So what did I do?

Dawn had broken,
sunrise would be soon.

However, tired,
I went back to bed.

Good night, cow.