“Sing with me”,
she trilled,
“our tongues curling
‘round each fleet,
green note;
‘round the tender sound
of each new leaf
unfurling…”
— C.Birde, 4/21
Do not mistake her soft tone
for genteel invitation;
cruel evidence I have seen
of small, misguided rodents
swallowed whole.
And you, sweet-feathered one,
preening beyond glass barrier,
would be no rare exception.
Disbelieve her call.
Within warm wash of light,
she lies always attentive –
eyes slit, ears a’twitch,
hostilities belied by tail’s flick,
by rumble, croon, and mew.
Believe me when I warn –
concealed in her tri-color coat
of fur she holds cruel daggers
to swipe and catch and eat you.
— C.Birde, 3/21
Sent out…
away from this
bright impersonal
space
with all its
glittering crosstalk
& hectic motion…
Cast out…
into umbrous night
& with an errand tasked:
return with cake…
Pavement,
heaved & crack’d & bound
around in encroaching,
tangled trees that bow
& rub together limbs
all but leafless…
And,
at the farthest end –
near swallowed up
in starless scrub –
a structure…
O, architectural wonder!
Entirely comprised
of swoops
& swirls
& curves
of hammered metal
sheets symmetrically
arranged to either side
of a single, central
door…
And,
above this fabulous
entry’s lintel –
nested amidst curls &
intersecting twines
of metal –
an enormous lemon,
all aglow in halo
of soft yellow
light…
Indeed,
the only light to move
or chase throughout
the whole benighted
place.
But,
nowhere,
anywhere at all,
a single frosted piece
of cake
in sight.
— C.Birde, 3/21