Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Birds of a Feather

Poem-a-Day Challenge, Day Three!
Birds of a Feather

you’re not listening
sometimes you hear but
rarely understand as
you sit in the
wooden chair
whose roots are much
more grounded than my
loftily searching mind

you talk,
I listen, we all
hear, they chatter
and that’s how it goes
with these kind of days

maybe you’re a
mockingbird
            hearing everything
and repeating it as I
want it to be heard
like a familiar echo,
the kind that are
forever out of reach,
a mountaintop away
and every bit as empty

and me?
I’m the songbird
searching for a tune
when she’s lost her voice
or maybe I’m just hiding
in the valley where
there are no echoes

sometimes you watch
we all do
but even in a tree
hidden within a forest of
chirping you’d think
someone other than a
songbird could hear
through the stationary
branches barring
true melodies

and I’m sleepy
always sleepy in the
mornings
maybe I’m not a
songbird, but
 a mourning dove
waiting to be noticed

can you be a
mourning dove too?
come, lament the woes of
a songbird in disguise
and all the kind hearts
who are never far
enough away

~Olivia

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, this is beautiful!

    It's hard to narrow down my favourite lines, because I absolutely adore every syllable of this poem! But I think this part is my favourite:

    "you’re not listening
    sometimes you hear but
    rarely understand as
    you sit in the
    wooden chair
    whose roots are much
    more grounded than my
    loftily searching mind"

    :)

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  2. I think this might be the most accusatory poem you've every writen. You actually wrote about someone (or a fictional someone) and I really enjoyed it. Your wordage (as always) was brilliant and I can't post my favorite lines because I would simply be reposting your whole poem. You're awesome!

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