The frantic chicken flapped and flapped
while the man tried to pen them back
– None of them was having any of it
Jostled as the bus swerved and jolted
on jutting cobblestones and potholes
– How the pens burst open in the first place
When feathers and poop flew about
nobody was having it and shouted
cursing man, bus, road and birds
in the anointed vehicle of Christ
His image stern and His finger up
looking sterner even having to watch
both the comical and the pitiful
Amid the flying feathers and curses
flailing arms and a-tossed bodies
heavy-bosomed ladies in Mayan dresses
slapping chicken and angry faces
the priest who had boarded at Santiago
criss-crossing the sinners in vain
the man cooping his poultry up
cap askew and covered in crap
the driver holding the wheel for dear life
but his foot down the pedal nonetheless
Amid the chaos the woman next row
beamed a smile as our gaze met
in disbelief and amusement
– a smile impossible to resist
who would have thought
that love could be found
while all possible hells
broke spectacular loose
on a chicken bus to Antigua
that love could be found
while all possible hells
broke spectacular loose
on a chicken bus to Antigua
