Vox Populi
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Lisa Zimmerman: Loft
She returns as a red-winged blackbird or maybe
all three blackbirds swinging now on the feeder,
seeds spilling like hard drops of water
to the dirt below. Their black art of flight
and escape pleases her, she who broke halters
and ropes because she was strong enough
and loft was sewn into her hooves and marrow,
how fences shrank beneath her mighty leaps—
Also, her body at the end, birdlike in its thin affect,
black wings unfolding on the inside to lift her spirit
from the sad corpse lying on the ground
outside the vet hospital.
Copyright 2024 Lisa Zimmerman
Lisa Zimmerman is a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Northern Colorado. Her many collections of poetry include Sainted (Main Street Books, 2021).
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Bird horse poem
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P.S.: That red-winged photo, Mike — wow & thank you!
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Wonderful horse elegy!
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What a beauty!
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Yes, in this difficult time, we need moments of beauty like this poem.
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We DO need such moments of beauty — we *must* continue living and celebrating them — for this, also, is a form of protest.
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I love this comment, Laure-Anne–may I share it (separate from my poem) with my Writer as Witness class tomorrow?
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