Strangeness
The goose on the roof
isn't aware it is doing anything
odd; it just stopped
because it was tired, or because
it thought the roof
was grass. Maybe the goose
is colorblind; maybe it lacks
depth perception. The point is,
the goose doesn't care
that you've stopped traffic
to stare, or what you risk
as you insist
on capturing this
strangeness.
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Author's Note
Yes, I really saw a goose on a roof , in a suburban neighborhood outside Buffalo, NY, in late March 2010.
Other stories by Deb Oestreicher
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Thank you for sharing this
Strangeness.
Nice. I especially like the depth perception line. I've seen a goose on the roof of the three story building where I work. Freaked me out.
Deb, I'd end up quoting the entire poem to emphasize lines I like.
In Clarice Lispector's story "The Chicken" the chicken intended for lunch escapes the kitchen and goes to the roof, and the family, especially the father, chases it. She saves her own life by laying an egg for the young girl to witness. The story is 2-3 pp. If fowl on the roof is a genre, this poem is in some good company.
*
(Yet even stranger that a wild animal would flirt with domestication by stopping on the roof.)
Great metaphor: stopping to capture the strangeness. Hey, it's our job, isn't it?
Love it.
Thanks for the comments, all.