In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

46 Sunny Side Up Unlovable, but not unloved, the broody hen cackles like a crone the whole town tarred and feathered. Her hard eye pecks away at anyone who peers through the galvanized loopholes of the coop or steps lightly inside the deep dung and dark, where she settles on a ledge, a crusted nest, and won’t come down for corn, for grit spread to purify the gizzard. Nothing stirs her; she’s fixed in an excess of motherhood, brown breast bristling over the globe. Only a hawk, or a sliding hand, could hoist the red flag on her forehead or crank the cutback shuttling stumps she claims as wings, an engine revved in neutral on a nowhere run, refusing to squawk off in that awkward knock-kneed gait that starts from scratch and ends with a keen wind hackling through the ruff, crack and spatter in the black pan. All day she cradles the egg, bears down as if the warm weight of her body could save it, shell and sac, birdwit working to keep her from the bitter repetitions of the roost. ...

Share