in praise of poultry

they are like dinosaurs, they way they run, big legs pumping and covering ground quickly. they can fly but often choose not to. When they do, its an interesting flight. If they were jets they could land on aircraft carriers...they make extreme sharp turns and short landings. the little wings blurred like fast moving insect wings and the tail feathers fan out like a quail. they are master earth movers, scratching up grubs and larvae, picking them up and dashing them down to the earth to bleed out the soft insides. their eyesight is enviable and when they turn that one eye upon you for inspection it is the stuff of horror films. Its no mystery to me that birds are the descendants of dinos. Their vocabulary is very specific with soft trills and sharp reports, and they can be so so sweet - when you have peanut butter to share or some sweet cake-like cornbread. they are a social creature in may ways, hanging around wherever the people are and inquisitive of the goings on around the place. Yes, this is another love letter to chickens and probably not the last.