Friday, March 20, 2015

Friday Follies 20 MAR 15

Black Byrd
swinging in the dead of night
Take those broken wings . . .

Mississippi rain
Half nod of a Byrd
hanging from a tree



EXCERPTS FROM "THIRTEEN WAYS OF HANGING A BLACK BYRD"

ONE

Among twenty rainy trees,   
The only hanging thing   
Was the body of the black Byrd.

THREE

The black Byrd swung in the winter wind.   
It was the Final Act of the pendulum. 

FOUR

The rope and the tree
Are one.   
The rope and the tree and the black Byrd   
Are one.

FIVE

I do not know which to infer,   
A body of shadows   
Or a body of light,   
The black Byrd hanging   
Or just before.

SIX

Raindrops fill the window   
With savage reflections.
The body of the black Byrd
Crosses it, to and fro.
The moon
outlines
An inexplicable cause.

THIRTEEN 

It was midnight all day.   
It was raining   
And it was going to reign.   
The black Byrd swung
In the locust-limbs.

And until next we meet, may all your potatoes be sweet (and dusted with cinnamon.)

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