Walk
like water
river-spined
ocean-hipped
heart
a steady beat
within its grotto,
sheltered
each step,
each stride,
a rain-softened
footfall
arms
shore-aligned
welcoming
the full tide
of becoming…
— C.Birde, 1/23
The holidays…
That spill & wash
of extremes –
everything &
nothing,
chaos &
silence,
crowds &
isolation,
bright light &
healing dark…
The holidays –
that span of time
that left me
on the far shore
of Self,
breathless,
disoriented,
& stumbling –
have past,
& I have again,
at last regained
the holiness
of my
own
steps.
— C.Birde, 1/23
Oh, falling sky – pieces of blue
tipped black & white & falling
Crying bright reply to peanuts
clacking against dark shingles
& rattling aluminum gutters,
white painted.
Jay-filled sky in blue shadows
falling toward my outstretched
hand, emptied now, but hope-
fueled.
— C.Birde, 12/22
Uninvited,
unexpected, they arrive…
Four men – stocky & absurd,
frowning in black overcoats
& bowler hats.
Crowding into the bathroom.
Bearing, between them,
a large birdcage –
ornate wire, curled & domed.
On one perch,
a red-gold parrot;
on its twin,
a second parrot’s skeleton;
& on the cage’s floor,
a lovebird contained,
restrained,
in a cube of wire mesh.
“We done did the best we could.”
Muttering,
shuffling, the men depart as,
tumbling from its perch,
the parrot falls,
flashing red-over-gold…
The lovebird remains…
Love,
trapped —
caged within
a cage.
— C.Birde, 12/22
Run, run, run
run free,
unfettered by mortality’s
pale restraints as,
when first we met,
you ran,
Electron made flesh
in four fleet paws that,
for seventeen years,
obliged earth’s gravity
in jovial orbit.
Run, run, run
run free with yip &
click & jingle, & leave us,
dear Josie,
to the heartbreak
& surreality of your
departure.
— C.Birde, 10/22