by Jon Naskrent

It’s not so hard to believe that a few generations ago we believed in spontaneous generation.

Take for instance these three lone goslings flanked by a parent on each side. Consider

how as a child, food appeared in the fridge, except when it didn’t. We shouldn’t

be so greedy. The turtles need to eat. The people need to eat. The goslings need

to waddle after their parents. This isn’t a metaphor.

Well a week’s passed and another gosling’s dead or vanished,

we’re down to just two goslings. Maybe they’ll make it, maybe they’ve got what it takes.

Physicists agree that subatomic particles act as waves when they’re observed as waves

and they act as fixed objects located on specific matrices when observed thusly.

Let’s envision the goslings, then, as geese. Let’s see if language

can re-shape what’s before us. Let’s render them fat and jubilant,

laden with excess. Let’s imagine them flying south for the winter

and returning to this lake specifically months later—laying eggs.

Let’s determine if after four dead goslings

we can have two grown, happy geese.

I said this isn’t a metaphor,

how was I observed?

Jon Naskrent is a poet from Western Illinois. His work was longlisted for the 2024 National Poetry Competition by the Poetry Society of the United Kingdom. He is currently pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in Poetry at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.