Saturday, November 16, 2024

Blue Bird

 

The shell cage inside me

swings with a haunted bird,

eyes wide

mid-molting that never completes.

 

The cage door is open,

but what use is flying

when the sky is broken.

 

Can you hear the

humiliation, grief, and shame

in her song?

 

Job and God say,

beware your “friends.”

They pretend to be with you

but just want to fix you

 

when they should

break their own harps, their harmonicas,

smash their own guitars,

 

and just let her sing.

 

 

© 2024 Jennifer Wagner

3 comments:

  1. Haunting and visually appealing. I wonder what song that bird would sing. Excellent work.

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  2. This bird is blue indeed. One thing I have never forgotten is that when my life was at low ebb, how many people gave me unsolicited advice that mostly boiled down to "be more like me."

    I never liked the book of Job. God wagering with the devil at the expense of some poor bastard? And when Job objects, he's told, "I'm God, deal with it. I do what i want." The OT be like that.

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Thank you for your thoughts!