Category Archives: nonfiction

by Lilli-ann Buffin I never thought I would say this, but… give me the bird. I’m not the only one asking. According to the National Chicken Council, in 2018 Americans consumed an average of 93.5 pounds of chicken per person due mostly to the American love affair with rotisserie chicken. But a council of chickensContinue reading “Give Me The Bird”

by Leah Mueller My mother and I didn’t talk much during the summer of ‘76. She reclined in her bathrobe, chain-smoking and re-reading old Mike Royko columns. Mom hated downstate Illinois. She’d always identified with Eva Gabor in Green Acres, who fervently desired a luxury high-rise apartment. Thirty chickens lived in an enclosed coop behindContinue reading “The Chicken Mutiny”

by Maya-Gawonii Shabazz-Saleh My grandmother was four when a rooster lunged at her face. She lived on a farm in Kansas in 1947, small enough that some animals stood taller than her, loud enough that very little startled anyone—except the way the rooster chose her. Wings first. A violent bloom of feathers and air, theContinue reading “Good Meat”

by Anisha Mascarenhas I’ve lived long enough to see many humans come and go. They build their fences, wave their sticks, and believe they’re in charge. But we hens remember. My great-grandmother used to say, “If it runs toward you waving a stick, run faster. If it laughs, peck its toes.” It sounded silly whenContinue reading “If It Laughs, Peck Its Toes”