THE CHICKENS

Dave at Age 2

Dave on his second birthday, with a glass of milk and his favorite food.

My parents read to me before I was able to read for myself. One of the books they read–and there were many–was The Big Golden Book of Poetry. The first edition was published in 1947 when I would’ve been two years old, and I suspect they got a copy hot off the presses.

In the collection was an anonymous poem titled The Chickens. It was toward the back of the volume and didn’t have the color illustrations that more important poems got. There’s no obvious reason why it should’ve appealed to me. continue reading…