John MacNeill Miller

Taxis and Instinct

The greylag goose sticks her neck out
for her own. Not an egg rolls off but
she pockets it: the bill
slapped down, the gambler
                                    gathering back deficits.

The greylag goose sticks her neck out
for her own. Not a soul could fault
this acquisitiveness: the tender throat
a spring-loaded cobra, nature
                                    teaching nurture first.

The greylag goose sticks her neck out
for her own. Not just her own but
all things egg-like: mothballs, battery
cells, glass eyes, whatever wobbles
                                    edgeless, inchoate.

But O Great Mother
nurturer of strange burdens
now that night curdles our sightlines
and the sky titters with voices
answer—answer (hiss it quick)
what is it         exactly
                                      we are hatching

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John MacNeill Miller teaches about literature, animals and the environment at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming at Peatsmoke, Flyway, About Place Journal and other venues.