Stuck Behind a Tractor Trailer Carrying Chickens to Dobson, N.C.,
I Contemplate Civil Disobedience
by Aaron Poller
Mind driven
I set them free
burst
the tiny cages
bloody fowl
excrement
pissed off
ambience
downy sweep
perplexed
breath hot
unswerving silence.
Author’s Comment: I wrote this poem during the time I was teaching at a rural community college and was often traveling the backroads to get there. I had already developed a healthy disregard for these types of vehicles during the years I lived in Pennsylvania where several meat packing plants where located off the same exit of the Pennsy Turnpike as my home and I always seemed to get stuck behind these slaughterhouse trucks and eventually I became a vegetarian. Still am. Sometimes, however, that does not seem to be enough. As a poet, I hold some strong social and political beliefs that often find their way into my work as they are a part of who I am and what I do.
great poem. i especially like the long title and narrow verse. well done!
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed this poem.
Extremeists keep the rest of us honest. Kudos.