a small head on a long curved neck
kuk kuk kuks through tall grasses
I watch, utterly still, for the brown bobs
of ten poults foraging around her
they rock forward & back, investigate
every sunlit blade, lunge at ants
& centipedes & dragonflies
if I make a sound or turn my head
mother hen hustles, duly warned
her poults whirr up, flutter down
pitch & yaw around her bulk like boats
breasting a choppy sea, cluster close
then skitter off like wind-blown foam
to browse another field of green
