Chicken Feed on the Fortymile
I spent one summer on the Fortymile
not far from Chicken in Alaska
dredging with outboard motor
rigged to a device that sucked up
sand and dirt from river bottom
a coffee can of that summer
work sits on a shelf in the garage
to separate particles of gold
from black sand and soil
requires centrifugal force
which would yield chicken feed
small return for huge expense
poets and prospectors alike
scratch in the soil for simile
and metaphor but often
recover bits and pieces
tattered remnants of grand
potential unrealized
in reality
poets keep undigested
experience in notebooks
and failing memory
much as prospectors
keep black sand
in coffee cans
on forgotten shelves
chicken feed
minute specks of gold
in line and verse
can excite
like the gleam
of gold
in coffee can
poem by Michael Pruchnicki
Added by Poetry Lover
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