WELL DONE! GIRL WITH GEESE by DeLane Phillips

GIRL WITH GEESE by DeLane Phillips

The river is her home

The downtown bridge a shelter

Cross legged

She sits

Calling her children

Unaware of the harsh frozen ground beneath

Aruckus can be heard throughout

The city park

Her children cry out

Loudly

Excitedly

Anticipating

Runners pause to see what the noise is all about

Lovers walking hand in hand turn their gaze from one another and watch

And

Shoppers dashing in and out of pricey boutiques

Pause

Sparsely clothed in shorts

Wearing a ball cap in winter

The girl removes from a dirty back back,

Alarge plastic bag bursting

with bread crumbs

Collected possibly from restaurant garbage bins.

Because,

Day old bread never sells.

Young and

Old

Large and

Small

They gather around

Their mother

Some swim to the edge.

Others trusting enough to leave the water …

A duck shakes off the excess.

Waddling up to her,

The table is set.

The frozen ground a seat.

Into the bag she reaches

Scooping crumbs

Her hand a plate.

Honks are heard

As softly she speaks to

Her children

Geese

Ducks

Mallards

Dine

A tall

Canadian goose

Stands so close

To her

It’s chest against

Her bare knee

Pecking at her hands

Relishing the bread

The girl converses with her children

Dinner is served

DeLane Phillips is a southern writer, former teacher, empty nester, and parent of Mac, the dachshund. Much of her writing is inspired by the rural life from her childhood in Monroe, Georgia and various characters of the small southern towns she has lived in.