Bird Watching
Rent from DeepDyve- Bird Watching
The honest pigeon feels sick in the morning, the news unhappy, head aching from the night
before, awoken by what at first felt like joy but turned into dread as soon as it bubbled up
from that unappreciated darkness where she was used. The forgotten canary can
only dream about being noticed, purpose forgotten. He might as well be an Easter
bunny, as neglected as a risen Lord every other day of the year but Christmas
unless he’s being blamed for singing, which he does best and reflexively. Never mind the
crow, intelligent but ever discontent, constant reminder of innocence gone for
ever, lifting off the carrion on the road into a sky flat as asphalt, part of
the scenery, the inevitable. And the uselessness of the dove! Dependent on
circumstances which have nothing to do with him and which are beyond his control. Out in [End Page 124]
front, he can’t decide, has no defense, the whole world an ark ever since the flood, surviving
afloat in space, supporting a few olive branches for plucking if they aren’t stripped of leaves
in some camp, the most current means of stabling animals, two by two no longer possible. [End Page 125]
Sandra Kolankiewicz’s poems and stories have appeared most recently in New World Writing, Gargoyle, Fifth Wednesday, Prick of the Spindle, Per Contra, and Pif. Years ago, story of mine appeared in Appalachian Heritage. Her chapbook Turning Inside Out won the Black River Prize at Black Lawrence Press, and her chapbook The Way You Will Go is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
