Open-air theatre

Cherry

By Parson Thru

Sat, 30 May 2020
  • 1144 reads
8 comments
 

Scruffy old bird
Wandering around on mossy roofs
Hopping down to drink
From waste-water gullies

Where’s your dignity?

Tapping your beak against the plastic gutter
Seized by some demented tic
Flapping, almost falling
Black toes snatching at the edge

Where are your friends?
Where’s your partner?
Eyeless in some ant-infested ditch, no doubt

Dusk brings excitement from the bushes

It’s time to congregate around the roost
You should be circling the canopy 
Air filled with your infernal rasp

Strange I haven’t heard you call

You limp a few feet up the roof
Settle in the fading sun

Do you feel the chill? 

The wind lifts your feathers
Embarrassment of nakedness

You teeter, overbalance and recover
Open your beak to the sky
And blink

So this is it
Reduced to hanging on
Above suburban gardens

To waiting
 
Forgotten and forgetting

Certificate U
Poem
Mortality Games
Nature

Comments

Submitted by Ed Crane on

My sister-in-law had a crow with a duff wing take residence in her garden. It was pretty smart and knew exactly how to find food and it always soaked the bread she gave it in water to soften it, and washed dirt off it. It stayed there for several months I think. It even roosted on the shed.

Rather sad but well observed poem, however I do wonder if you have included a deeper meaning, certainly I see myself in it when I think about how I feel some mornings when I wake up laugh

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Hi Ed. Poor crow is all of us at some point, I fear. Or maybe not, hey? Not a daft species by any means. Makes me think it's not only humans who discard their kin when they stop being fun.

Hope you woke up well today. Hope the joy continues. :)

Parson Thru

Submitted by littleditty on

Nakedness is nothing to be ashamed of...it is beautiful..like your poem. Unnakedness is way more ugly. Great write Parson.

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

It has its moments. Yes, maybe it's just our reaction. It can be accompanied by a collapse of dignity, though. Dignity. Our carefully constructed raft.

Thanks littleditty.

Parson Thru

Submitted by littleditty on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4iETQibBZQ

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Thank you, cheery giver!

Parson Thru

Submitted by Stephen Thom on

Lovely poem man, some lovely touches 'seized by some demented tic' yes

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Thanks Stephen. I'm really glad you like it.

Parson Thru