Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
Some of the best poems you'll read - Perigee
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"The Chicken Pluckers"<br />
by Adam Tavel<br />
walk from Allen's Poultry factory on<br />
Pearson Ave. a quarter mile to<br />
<strong>the</strong> Exxon station. The first shift<br />
starts at 5 a.m. and goes to lunch at 9.<br />
I see <strong>the</strong> same three hairnetted women<br />
every morning. Each buys a<br />
box <strong>of</strong> doughnuts and carton <strong>of</strong> OJ<br />
while <strong>the</strong>y talk about <strong>the</strong>ir children,<br />
recipes, <strong>the</strong> new sex quiz in Cosmo.<br />
I stand behind <strong>the</strong>m in line<br />
adjusting my tie, switching<br />
my c<strong>of</strong>fee from hand to hand.<br />
They never stink.<br />
Although <strong>the</strong>ir aprons are speckled<br />
with pink memories <strong>of</strong> blood<br />
I have never caught an<br />
untucked shirt, a stray fea<strong>the</strong>r on a shoelace.<br />
Once I watched <strong>the</strong>m march back<br />
in <strong>the</strong> morning fog. From <strong>the</strong> sidewalk<br />
<strong>the</strong>y looked like nurses<br />
on <strong>the</strong> perimeter <strong>of</strong> a firefight<br />
hunched and praying for peace.<br />
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