An offering
of self
in blue-eyed
stare –
wholly
h o l y.
A world
all its
own.
Nothing more,
nothing
l
e
s
s.
— C.Birde, 5/20
Witness — An Image
Full Immersion — A Poem
Walk with me
Our faces tilted
up and beaming
catching light &
Truth
free of the dawn
of personal desire
Flash of Oriel’s
tangerine breast
Red-winged
blackbird’s trill falls
from the dead tree’s
totem
Grasses sigh and,
blue-eyed,
stare
Walk with me,
two yards between,
our footsteps
praising earth
water
air
Frame of reference —
Truth cares not
Precludes
Includes
Remains.
— C.Birde, 5/20
Youth-fall — A Dream
Impressive feat –
to maintain verticality
complete
on the cliff’s sheer,
tiered,
limestone face…
Wearing black gear,
stamped white with
endorsements,
a boy on a bike,
pedaling furiously,
tirelessly.
The bike’s nubby,
rubber tires bite,
spray grit,
incise an ever-deepening
groove…
While,
stretched below,
beneath the cliff’s
jutting lip,
the sea sprawls
and waits
and heaves;
ultramarine
and green ;
swollen layers laced
and dimpled,
frothed white with
submerged spokes
and wheels
and legs
too numerous to count,
still churning…
Patiently,
the sea receives
the scree that spills
and spirals down,
down,
down…
accepts all offerings,
large and small,
as easily,
as hungrily
as any mortal boy’s youthful,
wide-eyed resolve.
— C.Birde, 5/20
Antique — An Image
She wore
a dress
of antique
pink
&
sang
to the fragrant,
f
a
l
l
i
n
g
rain.
— C.Birde, 5/20
“Clean Break” — A Poem
Six weeks.
Broken
dishwasher.
No call
placed.
Each day,
each night –
hands sunk
wrist-deep.
Sloshing hot
suds,
Honey-suckle
scented.
Plates,
utensils,
cups,
hands –
all washed
clean.
No need
to count
twenty.
— C.Birde, 5/20
Falling — A Dream
Blue sky.
Green land.
The structure
stands —
white face
bare of marks,
unblemished
but for one
blank,
black
cyclopean frame
that stares –
unblinking –
out and down
the length of
wooden ladder
leaning –
scar-like –
against its flat
and featureless
face.
From
that dark eye
a woman leans,
extends her leg,
her foot
to rest upon
the ladder’s rung,
shifts to set
its mate beside…
Crack!
Snap!
The steps –
one into the next –
collapse…
Legs stiff as spears,
the woman —
earthward —
arrows.
A second woman
follows;
a third;
a fourth.
They fall
like stars,
like stones;
heaped upon
the earth below.
The last alone
tumbles free,
rolls from the pile,
skids gracelessly
at bruising,
breakneck speed –
unshod,
skirts hiked –
feet-first down
the sloped
green sward…
Hear
the torn-turf
rumble of her
approach.
See
the fear
stamped clear
upon her face,
as she draws
near,
nearer,
n e a r e r…
— C.Birde, 5/20
Whisper — An Image
“Unfold your
origami
heart…
Call my name;
I will hear…”
She smiled
in cherry blossoms,
in rain-soaked,
attentive
air.
“Even if you
w h i s p e r.”
— C.Birde, 5/20
Fable — A Poem
Let
the rain
fall softly
soft
perfumed
mist of lilacs
hyacinths
anoint light-
sealed eyelids
that recall
call
to mind fabled
Edens lost &
painless-
ness.
— C.Birde, 4/20
Altered View — A Truth
With all that is &
is not currently
occurring, I find
myself drawn to
windows, closed;
staring outward,
sitting, waiting
for Gray Catbird’s
return.
— C.Birde, 4/20
Ophelia — A Dream
Awaken –
suddenly,
splashingly –
to that song
(despised),
that songster singing;
the alarm’s relentless
ringing
from the bedside as
(swiftly)
he departs
and addresses not
the wailing,
blaring
song.
Emerge.
Upward, surge
from watery warmth,
and rouse translucent
waves to tidal
lapping,
spilling,
slapping
over and past
the slipper tub’s
smooth sides
of porcelain
white.
Outward,
stretch;
extend one arm
(fingers streaming)
to reach and strike
(again!
again!)
the alarm’s
rigid,
buzzing,
boxlike
surface and silence
(at last!)
disharmony’s
jarring
blast.
Awake.
Fully wakened…
In blessed quiet,
become aware —
across the room —
of the calico’s cider
stare;
and —
beyond
the glistening rim
of the polished tub —
of the small dog
that deftly,
daintily dodged
the sluicing
flood pro-
duced.
— C.Birde, 4/20