Men in Early Modern England understood that their masculinity
was not only determined by their relationship to women, but also
by their reputation among other men.
∼Karin Amundsen
he cheated his neighbors shamelessly
at night strange lights flashed in his meadow
a cat as big as a horse stood by his sycamore
bread didn’t rise and the beer was foul
he didn’t grieve enough for his dead child
then someone’s trowel went missing and
a cow’s milk changed color and spoiled
six people testified to the magical pudding on his table
he never finished the work that he started
and every one of the piglets he touched
died the next day he beat his wife and called down hail
on the crops grieving for his dead child