----- Original Message -----
From:
Carolyn Kunin
To:
Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent:
Sunday, December 15, 2002 8:05 PM
Subject:
to a grouse (from a nit picker)
We are mere pheasants if we can't find the poultry in the poem.Enough grousing - see PF, the poem, p1.
To a Grouse
O, Grouse,
poultry
is a funny word,
meaning "kept flock", and not "a bird."
The pheasant, ring-necked or torquated,
Though in Shade's yard, is liberated.
She's to be admired for tracks of feet,
Not kept for eggs or for her meat,
Thus a
game bird
, yes, that's the word,
But
poultry?
O, Grouse, how absurd.