April is National Poetry Month. For the past four years, I have joined my friend Mary Lee, at POETREPOSITORY and YEAR OF READING in writing a poem every day for a month. This year, Mary Lee's theme is BYGONES. She has selected thirty vintage photographs from a collection she found at her mom's house in Burlington, Colorado, and is writing from one photograph every day. I'm not sure if I will write from Mary Lee's photographs every day, or if I will see if I can find some of my own. For the past few years, we have been joined by several other amazing poets- Kevin Hodgson and Steve Peterson.
"Feeding Time"
my chickens wait
by the gate
knowing
if they are patient
I will scatter corn
across the ground
in haphazard flings
they are much
more patient
than the hungry children
waiting
at my
dining room
table.
Is it any wonder
I choose
to feed
the chickens
first?
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2016
Mom always did
ReplyDeletelike the chickens better
than us
and who can blame her
now that I have my own
crows at the dinner table?
--Kevin
:)
Yes, I can totally see why the speaker would feed the chickens first!!
ReplyDeleteLove the connections between these chickens and the family inside. I wonder if, sometimes, these chores were a welcome relief from the rest of life that waited inside!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Reading your poem I pictured my grandmother feeding the chickens, apron pulled up and filled with seed. It's been 50+ years since I was at the farm with her, but the scene is forever impressed in my memory.
ReplyDelete