LIVELIHOOD

The white necks of geese are inclined
to the farmer as he carries his seed
into the rice field. The farmer,
needing to fatten them up,
understands this, but he also has rice
to plant. On the strength of their
hunger, he leads them into a tar pit.
Surveillance planes called blackbirds
keep their eyes on the geese
as they wait out the first frost;
the unthinkable disappointment
of the farmer makes sense when you
realize that the geese grow a hard
sheath that cannot be detected
by birds similarly pitched. Still,
authorized or not, the farmer smiles;
where once there was a flock
now is a highway for his perishables.