dirty their water immediately
so refrain from judging the farmer
if you see filth where they dip

the rocks prevent drowning
for they still long for the salt sea
of the unbroken egg

that they run from your peering
is because you blot out the lamp
like a hawk does the sun

give them any good thing and
they cannot help dashing and cheeping
a fanfare which invites robbery

where one goes all follow
and when they drop with their heads
in their feed they are not dead

only exhausted from being
like any of us
awaiting our fledging

This article appears in April 2021.

Devon Balwit’s most recent chapbook is Rubbing Shoulders With the Greats (Seven Kitchens Press, 2020). Her most recent collection, Dog-Walking in the Shadow of Pyongyang, is forthcoming (Nixes Mate Press, 2021).