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Searching for the Soul of America

Poem: Butchering

Comic

Poem: Butchering

Rhina P. Espaillat
Julian Peters
June 15, 2026

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Watercolor comic of an older woman with blood-stained apron holding a knife, chopping wood with an axe.
Watercolor comic of an elderly woman, bowl of food, washing feet, and close-up of two cows in a field.
Four watercolor panels: close-ups of an animal eye, a cow lowing, a person hugging a cow, and a human eye with text.

[.smalltext]From Plough's new book Nature Poems to See By.[.smalltext]

Tags:
Poetry
Black-and-white portrait of an elderly woman smiling with her hand resting on her cheek.
Rhina P. Espaillat

Rhina P. Espaillat, a bilingual poet, is winner of numerous prizes including the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Richard Wilbur Award, and (twice) the Howard Nemerov Sonnet award.

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Julian Peters

Julian Peters is an illustrator and comic book artist living in Montreal, Canada, who focuses on adapting classical poems into graphic art. His work has been exhibited internationally and published in several poetry and graphic art collections.

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Further Reading
Book

Nature Poems to See By

Julian Peters
A Comic Artist Interprets More Great Poetry
A fresh twist on 24 famous nature poems, these visual interpretations by comic artist Julian Peters will delight poetry lovers of all ages.
Illustration of a bearded man pointing with text: THE VOICE OF GOD DOES NOT PANDER.
Article
Mary Karr’s “The Voice of God”
Julian Peters
Mary Karr
Comic
Comic artist Julian Peters visualizes God on city sidewalks.
Black and white sketch of a person raising both hands above water under a cloudy sky.
Article
Stevie Smith’s “Not Waving But Drowning”
Julian Peters
Nobody heard him, the dead man, / But still he lay moaning: / I was much further out than you thought / And not waving but drowning.
Watercolor scene of mourners standing around a coffin in a green open area with trees.
Article
Philip Larkin’s “The Trees”
Julian Peters
Comic
“The trees are coming into leaf / like something almost being said…”
Abstract black and white wavy reflections on a dark water surface.
Article

Poem: Tohu va-Vohu

Matthew E. Henry
Poetry

Tohu va-vohu is the Hebrew phrase at the beginning of Genesis to describe the earth.