One Thing Leads to Another

A flock of geese and a basket
of grapes want common ground
but one thing leads to another.
She drained the juice from the grapes
and set the pan of empty skins
on the back porch. Warm weather
stirred the skins and days later
the back porch breathed a winery odor.
She wrinkled her nose and tossed
the fermented skins into the backyard.
The inquisitive geese without discussion
gobbled up the skins. Soon the entire flock
turned up their toes in drunken stupor.
The woman shouted to her husband,
she called, ‘‘Come quick, help me
pick them while their bodies are still warm.
I suppose they were poisoned by the grape skins.’’
They stripped off the feathers, stuffed them
in pillowcases. But as most drunkards do,
the geese woke from their debauch, staggered
around naked as Adam and Eve in the Garden.
‘‘They look a mite chilly,’’ he said.
‘‘Oh, oh, oh,’’ she cried, ‘‘the poor things,
whatever have we done? Do you think they feel
ashamed?’’ Her husband stared, then shook his head.
‘‘I never heard of geese missionaries,’’ he said.