Magpie those diamonds
glint in dark eyes
silent, like strangers
stroking my thighs.
Smooth secret steel
sheds feathers like martyrs,
crazy black crispy
childhood lies.
Sharpening shivers,
Trickster wisps by,
prisoner of laughter,
mimics my cry.
Beneath the tree
upon my back
into the sky
I stare.
Your feathers shine
iridescent circles,
shadows that fan
the biting flames I hide.
Brenda Warren 2014
Notes: I started this piece yesterday, and was not satisfied. Three times, while walking the dogs, a magpie yelled at me. The magpie worked its way into this piece. The piece started with “you” rather than “I” but confusion between the narrator and magpie ensued. Thus, the narrator is an “I.”
Wonderful and beautiful poem because there is no magpies where I live. And love the opening stanza too.
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Strong poem, Brenda! The words, the ideas, the spirit and magpie of it – just a winner!
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A beautiful bird, a bully. I call them the neighborhood roudies. I don’t know if I have ever written about them, I hope I can follow you and do it! Drop one in.
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I am reminded I need to write about the flicker.
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Do it, Annell! And thanks for stopping to read. 🙂
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It’s amazing the way these wordles get under our skin. Like you, every Sunday morning I start writing and meet problems, abandon it, get up and get going, while the wordle words wurgle around in my head to resurface later with a poem. Your walk was utterly successful.
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It was the magpie’s persistence. Thank you, Viv. We commiserate and celebrate with words and the world. Happy to share this small space with you. ❤
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That last stanza!
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Absolutely love the idea of dropping a wild creature into a poem, especially a bird. It seems to create wings for the words, sets them free to fly. Really like this piece, Brenda,
Elizabeth
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/
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Thank you, Elizabeth. It feels good to be writing again.
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Brenda, this reads beautifully aloud. Excellent use of the words, my friend.
Pamela ox
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Thanks, Pamela. I just gave it a try. Yes, I like it aloud, too. Glad you shared your thoughts.
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Secrets, eroticism, mendacity, laughter and tears; what a treat you have given to today. Your offering is one of those poems I would honestly say “I wish I had written this”.
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Thanks OE, I went back and forth on this one so many times. The magpie whirled its place, circling the sky on walks with the dogs.
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The first stanza in particular is absolutely stunning….’the glint in dark eyes…stroking my thighs”—wow!
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Thanks CC. These lines suggest a literary allusion to a Maya Angelou poem, Still I Rise–
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
The meaning there is different, but that’s where I first saw the pairing of diamonds and thighs.
http://emilyspoetryblog.com/tag/still-i-rise/
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Always find a hint of underlying sensual thoughts in your writing, your deep love for your husband lies in the underpinnings of how you weave words, even words about birds!
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They are amazing little birds. I love this tribute to them.
>
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Being a prisoner of laughter can be either a good or a bad thing. In this poem, I tend to think it’s the latter.
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That’s how it felt to me, too.
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I love it when those callings come..also what rich pickings the magpie gave you in these words..shiny shiny diamonds
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Thank you, jae rose. Billy Collins dropped a mouse into a poem to see what would happen. I’ve dropped a monkey, ants, and now a magpie into mine. They change it up. Drop something into a poem. See what happens.
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Tsk…will give it a try 😉
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