THIRTY CANADIAN GEESE

by Laura Rodley


You do not know it
oh people of Japan
but thirty Canadian geese
are holding  the ground in place
here on the other side
of the world, in a field
laying fallow, their feet prickled
with sheared-off corn stalks.
They nestle on the mud
in places where you would
search for your houses,
your friends, your families, their bodies.
These geese chose this mud
here to hold the earth
in place just for you,
their tucking their heads
under their wings
a constant prayer that such destruction
will never happen again.


Laura Rodley’s chapbook Your Left Front Wheel is Coming Loose has been nominated for a PEN New England L.L. Winship Award and a Mass Book Award.
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