In May’s unclouded light,
I walked my grief –
short leash heart-tethered
Cool blue breath against
my skin reverberating
with our paired gait’s
catch & swing
Strides synchronized
etched from fragrant air
Each, a pulse of beauty,
a tear shed for my own,
for the world’s suffering
Heart-leash short tethered
wending home again
On my doorstep –
patient, casting shadow
Nowhere to go, I let it in.
— C.Birde, 5/24
Lilac dream –
each branch’s whole,
flowers within flowers unfolding
as dream within dream
recalled
forgotten
yet entirely dreamed,
perfumed, &
growing.
— C.Birde, 5/24
Red & ripe & weighty,
a convexity
in my hands’ cup
Red-gem arils snugged
within thick skin,
protected
She,
Persephone,
swallowed six seeds,
slept through two
seasons,
awoke refreshed
in Spring
The fruit’s thick peel
falls away,
red-skinned white flesh
patterns the counter
I wolf scarlet-bright beads
by the handful,
greedy for slumber curative
& deep,
greedy for uninterrupted
dreaming.
— C.Birde, 1/24
That night,
the Moon’s pale & brilliant eye
shone wide across the water
And you three & you & I walked
through the end of an October
warmer than memory allowed
While the fallen, whispering leaves
of oak & sycamore followed us
on brisk & skittering feet.
— C.Birde, 11/23
Blush
of pink,
palely reflected
in down-turned
petals,
conceals this
persistent
awkwardness
of being.
— C.Birde, 5/23
Farewell
to green-fringed
sheltering limbs…
The hole hewn
from the gray sky,
where you stood
a hundred years,
cannot contain
your absence.
— C.Birde, 5/23
Falls,
fallen,
falling down
d
o
w
n
into the depths
of self.
— C.Birde, 4/23
Chains…
of Andromeda,
broken
into bloom.
— C.Birde, 3/23
After winter’s long
monochrome,
this cup of winged
spring light —
a revelation.
— C.Birde, 3/23
Crocus…
Pulls focus
toward the slow-
opening gift
that is Spring.
— C.Birde, 3/23
Nightjars & Damselflies 