Tour de Cluck 2012 was a hit! With 700 tickets sold, over 90% of our visitors rode their bicycles! Folks came from as far away as Fort Mills, SC to enjoy a fun-filled, but suitably fowl, day of chicken coops, delicious food, crazy clucking by innumerable wacky fans, bicycling visitors and chickens, barnyards and bicycle-themed auction items. As usual, Tour de Cluck participants provided as much entertainment as they enjoyed. We must share a shining egg-zample, the memorable prose created and performed by the irrepressibly clever and witty John Whitehead! He can always be counted upon to produce praise-worthy poultry poetry, his non-clucking contribution to the Community Kick-off Courage to Cluck Exhibition. Leave it to John to put his stamp on the event by NOT clucking! Herewith:
Tour de Cluck Rhymes, with a few explanatory notes, by John Whitehead, 2012 May 26:

Does everyone remember the "finger lickin" man from Kentucky?

There's more to a bird than the lickin'
That's egg-xactly why folks are love-stricken
I can hoot like an owl
But I'll throw in the towel
If you ask me to squawk like a chicken.

My taste buds prefer the bird dies
Just give me a breast and some fries
To chew on a leg
Or to scramble an egg
Are not on my life's list of highs.

If all the chickens in town pooled their resources to build their own shared housing, we could have one of our famous Davis debates about the correct pronounciation for "chicken c-o-o-p." At least it is a fun challenge for poetry.

In their yard my good friends have a coop
Oh my gosh, all those feathers and poop!
For me that's a no-op
So I shop at the Co-op
There's no mess eating canned chicken soup.

To explain a bit more, I'm terribly allergic to feathery and furry creatures. I have to keep my distance, lest I relive my worst childhood memories from growing up next to my grandfather's chicken farm. For myself, the Tour de Cluck is especially appreciated as a spectator activity.

This last verse is about being a morning person.

We'd have no hens or eggs without guys
Future chicks are a gleam in their eyes
As a Tour de Cluck booster
I relate to the rooster
And look forward to every sunrise.

Cockadoodledoo!