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# Chicken
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/chicken/
- Published: 2026-05-17T03:17:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-17T03:17:00.000Z
- Description: “Chicken,” a short scene capturing four generations in a skillet, written Sunday, May 17, poem 137 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo, "Chicken and Waffles," by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Poems, May, Spring, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

"I only just learned how to fry chicken   
a few years ago." She says,   
while lowering a plump, freshly-breaded tenderloin into   
a hissing cast iron skillet roiling with oil.  
  
"My mother never cooked it at home;  
My grandma fried chicken all the time,   
but she never wrote down recipes.  
Now every time I make a batch,   
I feel compelled to take a photo—  
and share my success."  
  
She says this last bit,  
as if her triumph at the stovetop  
won't last, that it might be   
as fleeting as the whims of time  
and passed-down teachings.  
  
Her children walk in and out,   
assessing the status   
of waffles steaming in the iron   
and crispy browned chicken   
nestled next to golden rounds of waffles  
in the warming oven.  
————  
I look on, silently.   
I nod.  
I am not concerned for her kids.  
  
I already know this is no game of Chicken.  
Her reclaimed culinary skill   
and the worldly wonder of fried meat   
atop buttery rounds dripping with local hot honey  
won’t   
\--  
skip  
\--  
any   
\--  
further   
\--  
generations.