Into the Land of Mother Goose by Luanne Castle

Pouring the carton of milk down the sink
I reflected how I need to change my habits
to save a cow or two from anguish and despair.
Which led me to land upon the border
between fantasy and history and the work
of my ancestors—in Goes, pronounced Hoose—
my 5th great-grandmother, Adriana Goose
the mother of 3 living children, hence,
Mother Goose, worked as a milkmaid,
the spitting image of Vermeer’s painting,
even more the crone in spectacles and cap
riding the goose as if she delivered imagination
when in reality, Adriana delivered milk and cheese
to her customers and kept the cows content.
My 3rd great-grandfather, Adriaan Zuijdweg,
was a tailor who sat on his table, hunched
over the cloth, sewing pants for the townspeople.
My 2nd great-grandfather, Pieter Mulder, learned
the shoemaking trade before he immigrated
to Grand Rapids where he learned cabinet-
making, until he was promoted to the level
just below the members of the owning family.
Gone was the need for shoemaking and for elves,
but the burgeoning middle class demanded
well-crafted bureaus and chairs and armoires.
Going was the need for tailoring except
for wedding alterations and hemming.
Gone was the need for milkmaids when
the cows went into the factories that recreated
them as objects to be sacrificed to change. 

"Into the Land of Mother Goose" was inspired by the "whispers of work" prompt and by the work my ancestors did in their country of origin, The Netherlands, as well as after immigration to the United States. I am especially intrigued by having a milkmaid ancestor named Goose.

Luanne Castle has published four award-winning poetry collections and has been awarded nominations for Pushcart and Best of the Net. It has been published in Copper Nickel, Verse Daily, Saranac Review, American Journal of Poetry, The Ekphrastic Review, Thimble, The Mackinaw, One Art, Lothlorien, and many other journals and anthologies.