Category Archives: poetry

by RF I see your arms:tree trunks, deep umber, shell smoothcurved and bulging deltoidswith slender wristswrapped around and close and undera chickenheld with just enough tension to still a ragged wing. The chicken has water belly.We are setting up an impromptu operating tableand I am to be the one to drain herwith my inexperiencedpremedical hands.YouContinue reading “Water Belly”

by Day Gonzalez Courageously fighting with no hope for valor,Honor and death before survival in surrender.I’ve never understood why cowards are called “chickens,”Kings of their domains, every one of them.Cowards they are not, though foolish might fit,Ego and pride often outweighing sense,No chicken I have met has ever died hiding. Day Gonzalez has spent hisContinue reading “Hawks Overhead”

by Bill Brymer Chickens will survive us.The true cocks of the walk.They’ll set the pecking order.become leaner, craftierversions of their ‘roided brethren.Strutting down our desolate streetslike Travolta in platform shoes.Taking to sagging rooftops,broadcasting the morning prayer. Bill Brymer lives in Louisville, Kentucky. A Pushcart-nominated poet, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Sheila-Na-Gig Online,Continue reading “Staying Alive”

by Chris Mesch “a reputation as poor man’s food for beingcheapand plentifuland servants would sometimes bargain with a new employer to not be given heath hen for food more often thantwoor three days a week.” The greater-prairie chicken,they are boomingat the pasture rose altarof the oak savanna. Fire four roundsand a blank,a blindfolded canbackstopped byContinue reading “Booming Grounds”

by Dreama Weaver Every day, it starts againA warbled screech, my feathered bane.The sun’s not up, but he sure is,That rooster lives to scream “showbiz!” He crows like he’s announcing doom,And I sincerely hope it’s coming soon.No gentle coo, no pastoral charm,Just full-blown barnyard fire alarm. I’ve counted sheep, I’ve begged and pleaded,But that bird’sContinue reading “The Rooster Next Door”

by Alexis Ashe When I ignite my American spirit,I set the peacocks’ hearts ablaze causeI’m the chick with all thezippers on my jacket,stockings and the white feather stripeI’m the rock n roll chicken Why be some sorrow dovewhen there’s a rockstar on the bird brain?I know, let’s feaston my psychedelic chicken feeduntil the coop’s pinkContinue reading “Rock n Roll Chicken”

by Emily Burr A family of chicks lives in the garage,Peeping and jostling their cottonball bodies against each otherThey are confined to the wood and wire structure lovingly assembled by my roommateWhich is confined within city limitsWhich is illegalWhich means the family of chicks living in the garage is already hard at workProving that simplyContinue reading “Contraband”

by Cela Loud crowing competes with horns heralding terrible driving / empty skillet in the kitchen, again I plea for hens / Guido’s white plumage once ruled the yard, now barren, barely more than a grassy courtyard / Ma killed more than radios when Pa died / the only music now is the static ofContinue reading “Am I the Flashy Bird?”

by imarkanx Unleashed to strut about,Tail feathers, wattle, and comb,Free-ranged,Unchained,Deranged—Cockerel of the run,Crowing proudly at the sun. Snickering fills the coop.All the hens know the truth.Gelded rooster, you and IShare this designation:Prized and emasculated,Mostly there—but in the end,Just a dumb mannequin.No better than plastic,Like Barbie’s dear Ken,Not a real rooster at all. Author’s Note:This poemContinue reading “Prize Capon”

by mk zariel You don’t know what’s more of a pain—your gender, or the chicken you’re currently attempting to handle. The way she runs across the lawn at the childrens’ museum, evading your grasp, flapping her wings without purpose, having a minor freakout. The way you told a toddler, attempting to be funny, that chickensContinue reading “self-educate”