Tag Archives: birds

“Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt”

Where I live we had an unusually high number of overcast days in February, which inspired the following poem. Peace to your ♥ ! 

Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt

Titmice sing a jubilate Deo:
Dear Brother Sun, who was lost, has been found.
I, too, am thrilling. Praise God for shadows
Appearing like miracles on the ground.

Sometimes you have to make your own sunshine.
Titmice with their wee bird brains carry on,
Clear skies or no. La la la land. It’s fine.
I carry on blah blah blah once they’re gone.

One friend is sapped by sunshine, God love her.
I’m happy (lol) she has gray days
Of unshine and heavenly cloud cover.
Live and let live. I’d die without ray days.

Oh, I know I won’t suffocate—ever—
No matter how low and leaden the sky.
Try quelling my overcast heart, never
Wholly convinced the sun isn’t a lie.

Is it only me who wants a ladder
Tall enough to breach the clouds? Who resents
Feeling in the dark and would be gladder
With a touch (okay, much) more evidence?

Amen to titmice trilling on the roof,
But still give me, I pray, shadows as proof.

© Stephanie Malley

Note: This is an example of a poetic form called a chanso.

“Three Brief Lessons on Worms”

Building on the idea, mentioned in my first post, that as a newbie blogger I’m like a baby bird learning to fly, I herewith present my very modest collection of birds.

It’s a like affair that goes back at least to eighth grade, when I won an essay contest with a short piece on a bird flying over fields and valleys. That’s it, just flying. Perhaps the competition wasn’t that stiff. :)

Peace to your ♥! 

Three Brief Lessons on Worms

 I.
 A bird is a worm eater;
 Ergo, a worm is a bird feeder.

 II.
 the early worm
 how quickly it becomes
 the late worm

 III.
 After
 The rain, a worm
 Curved like a question mark:
 Food for my children, a robin
 Answers.

© Stephanie Malley
[This poem was published in the 2018 issue of the Loyalhanna Review.]