SHE SAID THE GEESE
Lyn Lifshin
when she heard them
squabbling over a
crust she starts
shivering. But in
the light she felt
the shadows, how
on their knees, in
the camps the young
and old battered wildly
in mud. for the dry
bread. A mouthful
thrown for hundreds,
the smallest,
the frail trampled.
She said the corn
slid thru her
hands. She couldn't
move, toss a crumb.
They weren't geese,
only men and women,
someone dressed in her
sister's clothes
clawing and scratching
blood and dust
