Poets answer an age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road? 11. Seamus Heaney

Poets answer an age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road?

Seamus Heaney:

Husbandry says “Stay safe
on this side of the street.”
But once in a while
a chicken will rise to her feet
(if she’s not met defeat)
and see that the other side
is reachable from here.
Now she comes near.

[Click here to read an excerpt from The Cure at Troy by Seamus Heaney]

The Cure at Troy call the Poetry Crisis Line

JERRY (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
THE CURE (chorus): Human beings suffer
JERRY: Philosophers have written a great deal on the question of why people suffer.
THE CURE: They torture one another
JERRY: That is one reason.

Excerpted from The Cure at Troy by Seamus Heaney.