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How to Catch Your Chicken
by
Sandra Kohler


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For Tracey Robinson

 

Whatever
you do,
don't grab at
the chicken.
Don't go
for her. Don't
move. Grab
a chunk of
corn-rich feed
with your fist.
Squat down.
Open your fist,
hold it out.
Stay still.
Breathe.
Don't move.
Don't move
even your eyes,
your gaze,
as the hen
squints at
you, shivers,
ruffles
a flurry
of feathers
in the leafstrewn
yard, flutters
closer, a rustle
of dry leaves,
a flinching,
a shudder
of fright,
of will,
intention.
Don't grab
at her don't
reach for
her don't
move don't
breathe.
Breathe.
Stay
still
squatting
until
she's at
hand
in your
hand
eating out
of your hand
and your hand
surrounds
her, has
her.
She's
come to
you, she
breathes
hard
in your hand.
You breathe,
you have
her.

© by Sandra Kohler.
Used with the author's permission.

 

 


Sandra Kohler describes herself as "a septuagenarian, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, lover of Shakespeare and Elena Ferrante, of mysteries and crossword puzzles, of Philadelphia Flyers' hockey and the music of Mahler, Sibelius and Dvorak, gardener, sometime teacher and, above all, I hope, a poet." The author of three collections, one of which won the 2002 Associated Writing Programs Award Series in Poetry, Sandra lives in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

 


Post New Comment:
Antoinette:
Sandra, you gave my morning a great start, one filled with laughter. Thank you.
Posted 07/04/2018 07:36 AM
Alarie Tennille:
Your instructions work for catching many things, including readers. I was holding my breath. Well done!
Posted 06/29/2018 06:21 PM
Nana Ellen:
Bravo Sandra. A perfect & delightful poem. To catch a chicken? Another mystery of the Universe solves. Smiles. Lov'd IT + Thanks.
Posted 06/29/2018 01:08 PM
Lori Levy:
I feel like I'm there with you catching the chicken. Great!
Posted 06/29/2018 12:29 PM
michael escoubas:
Delightful way to wake up, at least for me, if not the chicken!
Posted 06/29/2018 07:09 AM
rhonasheridan:
Words of wisdom!
Posted 06/29/2018 05:47 AM
Jane Eva Cooper:
Oh yes! I get it. Perfect.
Posted 06/29/2018 05:26 AM


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