the nature of everything
i want to tell you a secret:
silence is a charlatan and answers are for birds
the sparrow scrapes through a litter of leaves
looking for worm or the snail that will save him
today
but he keeps one eye on the sky for a martyrdom of hawk
and his beak has begun to grow crooked
he knows the dangers of complacency
life or death, work or hunger
boredom is never an option
fight or flight remains a literal refrain
the sky is a cage of infinity
posing as the song of room to soar
the sparrow knows the gravity
of thinking
he’s a miracle in the melt of mirage
he sings so the morning won’t be lonely
he lives to defy his mother’s odds
he sings
he sings
he sings
to tell the nature
of his story
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A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month. Day 22
I’m participating in NaPoWriMo, and Writer’s Digest Poem a Day Challenge.
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April 22nd, 2015 at 10:17 am
This is extraordinary, truly – thank you.
April 22nd, 2015 at 1:00 pm
Love the photo and poem. It seems to be a day of thinking about birds and animal perspectives. I listened to an interview this morning with Helen MacDonald about her book “H is for Hawk” and read an article in the New Yorker titled “Can Fiction Show Us How Animals Think.” Actually, not so well — poetry does a better job of it. 🙂
April 22nd, 2015 at 1:09 pm
the sky is a cage of infinity
posing as the song of room to soar
but we sing on. No choice at all, and just as well, because singing is one of the few things that always needs to happen.
April 22nd, 2015 at 5:35 pm
I’ll echo the sentiment – extraordinary!
April 30th, 2015 at 12:20 am
“he’s a miracle in the melt of mirage”
I wish I could write like that ~