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“Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?” A Poem by Nora Hutton Shepard

by | Feb 14, 2022

The how of how she crosses, the why,
require more study. What compels her? What
lures her? It looks like love. The rising sun
has wobbled up and she will fly against
all advice and warnings of bad examples
and all prescriptions for her safety.

Look at this bird, needing to move
forward, and you might say: hunger.
But hunger is too easy. What roads
string out before her? Country lanes?
a black–top back road to a cul-de-sac?
Consider her under a highway bridge
that lifts the traffic into the air and over
itself onto twelve lanes, no less.
Speeding, blurring tons of metal,
eighteen-wheelers, minivans,
tires whirring a fine gray spray.
Windshield wipers swipe across
the faces of drivers who will ignore
her. She is no cliché.

 

Nora Hutton Shepard

Nora Hutton Shepard is a poet and alumna of N.C. State’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program, as well a graduate of the MFA Writer’s Program at Warren Wilson College. She taught poetry courses at N.C. State before relocating to Davidson in 2019 to be closer to her daughter’s family. Nora has quickly acclimated to life in Davidson and is a wonderful addition to our Community.

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