Wednesday Poem: Home to Roost, by Kay Ryan

Home to Roost

The chickens

are circling and

blotting out the

day. The sun is

bright, but the

chickens are in

the way. Yes,

the sky is dark

with chickens,

dense with them.

They turn and

then they turn

again. These

are the chickens

you let loose

one at a time

and small—

various breeds.

Now they have

come home

to roost—all

the same kind

at the same speed.

Kay Ryan is the Poet Laureate of the United States. To read more about Ryan, see my interview with her. She will be at the National Book Festival on the National Mall on September 26.