With Emily – a poem by Janet Madden

With Emily

My thing with feathers is black and white, 
a speckled hen, like something out of a picture book,
or a nursery rhyme but real, limping then hopping
and finally, lying quietly until I realize that her only hope
is me, a makeshift scalpel and a chicken-keeping forum.
And so I transform into a surgeon—who knew 
so much blood could flow from a chicken’s foot?
For weeks, I force open the wound open 
for another round of treatment 
every morning and every evening, 
until one day she flaps her wings in my face 
telling me that yes, hope holds so much power 
that saving the life of a single chicken 
can feel like saving an entire world.

Janet Madden is a writer, reader, teacher, ritualist, gardener herbalist and handquilter who resides on the West Coast.