LIKE HORNY MEN.

[dadio]

Don’t let the chickens out
Uncle said

close the gate
we don’t want

the foxes getting in
and tearing them

to pieces
because they will you know

they’ll go in for the kill
but maybe only go off

with one
and you stared

at the chickens
running around

as Uncle went
into the henhouse

to collect eggs
amongst the straw

and hay and feathers
you want to come in

and find the eggs with me?
Uncle called

and you followed him
into the henhouse

and smelt the henny stink
and shit and closeness

of hay and straw
getting up your nose

and Uncle held up an egg
and said

be careful how you hold them
don’t want any broken ones

and you searched
amongst hay and straw

and feathers and picked out
a warm egg between

your little boy finger and thumb
as if it were some gem

pulled from a pile of dung
and you held it up

to the light coming through
the henhouse window

like some offering
to the gods

a fertility symbol
you knew nothing

about then
the ways

of wild women
and horny men.