the sky isn't falling

I.

Brown hen clucks loudest
knows the end is coming

coming by the way the farmer
lays the feed

in consistently larger piles
from one day to the next

II.

Brown hen took the longest
to make into dumplings

Granny lost her ring
in gooey dumpling dough

as the bald man on the news
prepared us

III.

Brown hen's feathers
made a decent pillow, Mama said

the coughing ensued
in two days mama was dead

buried near the pasture
where she played as a kid

IV.

New brown hen doesn't cluck
doesnt cluck

and we havent had dumplings
in years

we have biscuits with mustard
by mamas grave

in the pasture

dedicated to Henny Penny & Billy Bob Thornton