The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Mörling, Malena. “Standing on the Earth Among the Cows.” (Ploughshares Winter Issue #59, 1992-93).

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

Malena Mörling has shared in interviews about her love for nature, her desire to be rooted in the world, and her overall optimism. These appear prominently in "Standing on the Earth Among the Cows," a free verse poem composed of 15 lines in a single stanza. It was originally published in the 1992-93 issue of the literary journal Ploughshares before it later appeared in Mörling's 1999 collection Ocean Avenue. "Standing on the Earth Among the Cows" engages deeply with the natural world and gestures toward ecological awareness. However, its lack of environmental critique aligns it more with nature or spiritual poetry than eco or environmental poetry.

In the poem, the speaker recalls stopping the car while driving through freshly tilled fields in Wyoming. Cows numbering in the thousands stand contentedly. The speaker observes them with care, all the while noting their collective breathing. Later, the speaker wishes to recover the sense of contentment that this moment provided.