Flock

Sarah Elizabeth Turner

This is a poem I’ve had out for submission on and off over several years. It was recently rejected (again) so I thought I’d publish it here in honor of Thanksgiving (and because it started to feel like winter this week).

I definitely want one warm winter—this winter—away. Unfortunately, with Covid continuing to rage across the country, and especially in my state, that’s not in the cards. But it’s fun to daydream. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the geese: how they look out for one another. How they are stronger together. How they move as if one being, connected by an invisible current of air. How we humans could do better if we behaved like these birds. Maybe it the phrase shouldn’t be “silly goose,” but instead silly us for underestimating them.

I wanted to capture the conspiratorial, gossipy nature I attribute to geese, but I also wanted the poem to feel more intimate, like I’m talking just to you. I don’t love when poets tell me what the poem is about (it should stand on its own) but I don’t mind hearing how they decided on structure or form. This one came from progressing prompts: two- to three-word sentences, then chaining sentences (where the last word in one sentence is also the first word in the next), and finally one long sentence, which is what became this poem. I changed a few words and tried to make it look like a formation of geese and voila, here we are.

Happy (early) Thanksgiving!