Gavage (and the Stress of Flying These Days)
The truth is, geese invented it,
fattening themselves to survive months
of mealless flights. It didn’t take long
for us to suspect that stress added flavor,
at least in the liver, that most-taxed organ.
Turned out they were best
when forced with figs, just as sweet
and seeded as old shame,
perfect for the imagination—
tomorrow is always the day of migration,
but no one has to fly anywhere.
About the author
Jennifer Abbott lives in New Orleans and has an MFA in poetry from the University of Arkansas. Her poems have been published in Babel…
Read the full bioIssue 08 · February 2010
Table of contents
- From the editors
- Poetry
- Lisbon Holds a Prisoner One Night
- Postcard from Texas
- Four poems by Mahogany L. Browne
- Three Poems by Michael Bazzett
- Travelling Long to Inform a Friend’s Death
- Train Ride to Zagreb
- Two poems by Stephen Bunch
- Gavage (and the Stress of Flying These Days)
- Then
- Two Poems by Jon Sands
- Two poems by Neil McCarthy
- Two poems by Sue Burge
- Summer is
- Two poems by Sheila Wild
- Two poems by Susanna Rich
- Postcard Prose
- Travel Notes