JAN CHRONISTER

★ ★ ★ ★

POETRY

Cross-pollination

She grew up too close to the common breed,
rogue pollen blew its way into her silks,
ears engorged with coarse kernels
inedible to all but chickens.

Fancy hybrid seed, what a fake.
Give me the hard-working
Golden Bantam open-pollinated
no need to isolate,
immune to corruption.

Jan Chronister lives and writes in the woods near Maple, Wisconsin. Her chapbook Target Practice was published in 2009 by Parallel Press at the University of Wisconsin. She currently serves as president of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets.