What is it about Hope and birds?

Emily Dickinson wrote about them. So did Thomas Hardy. So why not me?

When I don’t know what to write about, I write about birds. They turn h-o-p-e from a four letter-word into poetry. I climb aboard and instead of bursting into flame, I burst into flight.

 

GOLDEN-CHEEKED WARBLER

She can’t quiet down

not while spring is at its peak.

Where oak and cedar meet

she makes her home.

 

She sports white siderails

with black eyeliner.

Endangered, she’s a headliner

found along Edwards Plateau trails.

 

She’s never left Texas.

Her head, golden as the sun.

Her song, should you hear it, stuns.

Her loves, they are reckless.

 

In tandem she sings gems. Her goal:

Sing cold.

Sing tired.

Sing hungry and whole.

 

– Megan Willome, first published at The Way Back to Ourselves, 2024 Renaissance Literary Journal

 

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