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
February
snowfall
f
a
l
l
falling down
d
o
w
n
down white
molt
of Winter’s
wings.
— C.Birde, 2/23
Would that the deep
green moss grew
ever underfoot
to soften the fall
of each wayward
step.
— C.Birde, 2/23