{"id":594,"date":"2012-05-02T12:46:53","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T17:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=594"},"modified":"2012-05-02T12:46:53","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T17:46:53","slug":"poem-running-chickens-heads-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/02\/poem-running-chickens-heads-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Running Like Chickens With Their Heads Cut Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

POEM: Running Like Chickens With Their Heads Cut Off<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Have you ever looked a chicken in the eyes?<\/span>
\nMost of us city folk probably never have<\/span>
\nWhere are you?<\/span>
\nChickens can look quite different in the city<\/span>
\nJust the same<\/span>
\nTheir bodies run around<\/span>
\nLike death will catch up with them if they slow down<\/span>
\nTheir heads flit about<\/span>
\nEnsnared by nothing at all<\/span>
\nAbiding mirror fax of life<\/span>
\nWho has got one’s back?<\/span>
\nMissing only you, won’s greatest faux<\/span>
\nPossessed by a vacancy<\/span>
\nThat will soon enough be dismissed<\/span>
\nWading for something more<\/span>
\nUnable to see what’s beneath their own feat<\/span>
\nWhere we are grounded<\/span>
\nStill, six feet is better than two<\/span>
\nWhen it’s not yours!<\/span>
\nAs if one May fly!<\/span>
\nTo live but for one day<\/span>
\nToday<\/span>
\nEven four proves oddly better<\/span>
\nFore what can thou dust do, in turn?<\/span>
\nDon’t you see?!<\/span>
\nChickens re-member!?<\/span>
\nThey are almost everywhere<\/span>
\nThough they are practically invisible where I live<\/span>
\nSo I am bound to run into more than a few<\/span>
\nEven more so if you cross to the other side<\/span>
\nJust, please, don’t bother asking me why<\/span>
\nI must<\/span>
\nHave chickens<\/span>
\nIncite me<\/span>
\nTo a whirl<\/span>
\nWithout<\/span>
\nChickens<\/span>
\nRunning about<\/span>
\nWith their heads<\/span>
\nJust being<\/span>
\nCut off<\/span>
\nLike trafficking enflesh<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote this poem a while back, but thought that it might be a good poem for the month of May, given the reference to the short-lived May fly.\u00a0 Nonetheless, this poem fits on a long-standing theme, particularly for those living in Western civilization, of busyness and not being present in the moment. Like many of my poems, you may have to read it several times, because it involves a lot of puns and multiple meanings depending on how you read various phrases.\u00a0 It’s difficult for me to comment on longer poems, because I end up commenting way, way longer than the poem itself.\u00a0 Sometimes I like to leave the poems to speak for themselves.\u00a0 Still, I think it’s probably comment on one strain in this poem.\u00a0 The phrase: Still, six feet is better than two <\/em>is a reference to being buried 6 feet underground and a reference to a chicken with its head cut off lying on the ground looking at the 6 feet of three other chickens and taking some small comfort that it is not their two feet that they see in their last moment of life.\u00a0 Also, this is an allusion to the apparent ease at which we will trade other people’s lives for our own.\u00a0 If you find this somewhat morbid, then take some comfort in the line: Even four proves oddly better<\/em>.\u00a0 In our fixation on the quantitative in our culture, it might seem odd that four is actually better than six.\u00a0 However, the four refers to two sets of feet and a pair of chickens or people.\u00a0 This refers to the comfort that we find in companionship with one another.\u00a0 This value of companionship strikes a sharp contrast to the hurried busyness that tramples our presence of any given moment, and rushes by authentic relationships with others.\u00a0 In this crazy world, which may seem dangerous and short at times, especially if you are chicken, companionship and solidarity may prove to be the reason or purpose in our lives.\u00a0 I guess the message is: pay attention to the people around you.\u00a0 Oh yeah, you may want to pay attention to the chickens around you as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

POEM: Running Like Chickens With Their Heads Cut Off Have you ever looked a chicken in the eyes? Most of us city folk probably never have Where are you? Chickens can look quite different in the city Just the same … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[236,167,427,516,385,329,10,359,168,658,491,7,423,265,279,85],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funny-poems","category-poems","tag-busyness","tag-consciousness","tag-crazy","tag-culture","tag-death","tag-expediency","tag-funny","tag-life","tag-mindfulness","tag-poems","tag-present","tag-puns","tag-relationships","tag-self-discovery","tag-solidarity","tag-western-civilization"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Running Like Chickens With Their Heads Cut Off | Funny Poems, Poems | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! %<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"POEM: Running Like Chickens With Their Heads Cut Off, Funny Poems, Poems, Busyness, Consciousness, Crazy, Culture, Death, Expediency, Funny, Life, Mindfulness, Poems, Present, Puns, Relationships, Self-Discovery, Solidarity, Western Civilization Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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