Here is a beautiful poem by Victoria Doerper for Day 13 of NaPoWriMo.
Thank you, Victoria!
My Sky Swirl Child
Like wind fruit from some tropical storm
You came to me scooped from the sky
In violence, you shining fire of flashing feathers
Bright yellow-green and blue, my willful sky swirl
Child of crippled-leg, curl of tender toe, wild eyed,
Screaming like a banshee, blaming me
For your loss of freedom.
Ah, my feisty fighting soft-winged boy
You spark and shock of light-boned life
And hooked beak dictate, drawing blood
Tribute from my lacerated dumb fingers,
A test of worthiness to be your minion
In the alien world that you transcend—
Capture, cage, confinement, kindness.
Oh my broken-winged boy of the sun’s
Dappled days, sweet mists of feathers
Rising in smell of new-mown hay, spirit bright
Beyond the injuries of days and age,
The always now of scream and preen,
Of peanut and the sun’s flowery seed
Breaking open only for you.
My dearest child of the swirling sky, I still grieve
Your leaving me, though five Aprils have passed
Without you. Your garden grave beneath the maple
And bamboo is weathered now. I scrub off lichen
And trace inadequate words etched there—
Best boy in universe—fly free and whole. Thank you.
Petey, 1984-April 13, 2009
–V. Doerper, 04.13.14
Still Life with Tortillas 