Skip to content

When The Chicken Crossed the Road

Published by broussardlana on October 16, 2015

When the chicken crossed the road
I was walking with too-tired feet
and a too-smart border collie
When the chicken crossed the road
I admired him there bold
the black, speckled feathers
the red comb
I was not to worry
then the dog’s ears flew up
sensing something…
My grip was firm
he understood
though out of sight
is truly out of mind
Then I happen to stumble
briefly upon a rock
and the leash in my hand
flew out like a bullet
The sensible collie
at once was free
the temptation was too much
for a good chase, you see?
It’s what they do,
those collies
they herd
And that speckled
chicken
she was a running bird!
That hairy dog
he has sharp teeth
and a speckled bird
doesn’t want to become meat
So she ran down
into a river ravine
where she dissapeared instantly
nowhere to be seen
So when the owner came out
calling her left and right
Well you know I wouldn’t say
Sam gave her such a fright!
R ambling in the street
U nder blue sky so rare, we
N ever saw a fowl!
The disclaimer on this is that “No chickens were harmed in the making of this little story.” This is also mostly fiction (if you read the fine print you will already know that I do make many things up). I did; however, see this exact same chicken when walking my dog, and his ears did perk up but we went onward without further ado. The inspiration for this post came from fellow blogger, RaineFairy and her blog, Tweak and Shout https://tweakandshout.wordpress.com/. She writes lovely acrostic haiku poetry that is much better than my paltry attempt above. Happy Friday everyone!
chicken-837506_1280

Published inhumorPoetry

Be First to Comment

  1. tpa72 tpa72

    As I was reading it to myself, I was imagining it to my 4-year old son with ASD who loves the sounds of words and rhythm in stories and poems. He would so love this poem. Thanks for sharing.

    # October 16, 2015
  6. cindy knoke cindy knoke

    I do understand your predicament, with a border collie you may well be walking a dog who is way smarter than any human certainly, and the chicken, well, her maybe just herded it.

    # October 16, 2015
    • L. T. Garvin, Author L. T. Garvin, Author

      Thank you so much. Yes RaineFairy is terrific. I appreciate you reading and commenting on my work. I will definitely take a look at your site. I have never considered myself a poet. I’ve written poems on and off for years. I think we are always evolving as writers and we learn a great deal along the way.

      # October 16, 2015
  10. reocochran reocochran

    Well, Lana, I could imagine the whole scenario from your partially true “fable.” We had a collie, a shelty, a dalmatian and a beagle mix, each were able to chase, only two were able to catch. My brother has a golden retriever who caught a baby squirrel and he instantly dropped it showing remorse. My brother and my then young children took the squirrel to a nearby nature museum and preserve. They reassured the kids they would help raise the squirrel but we did not go back just on case it died. A chicken might be harder to catch and possibly ” mean,” Lana. Loved the poetic and story telling feel of this post. 🙂

    # October 21, 2015
  11. milliethom milliethom

    I really enjoyed the rhyme, the rhythm and the imagery of that poem, L.T. I love the idea of the sensible but hairy collie with sharp teeth and the chicken that didn’t want to become meat. A fun read and so well written. 🙂

    # October 24, 2015
    • L. T. Garvin, Author L. T. Garvin, Author

      Thanks so much Millie. We just saw that chicken today and she had a friend. I swear they were “peeking” around the gate watching the dog as we passed by 🙂

      # October 24, 2015

Comments are closed.