The Empty Nest
“Look”, she said, from the sunken hammock
rocking to the amniotic pulse
that hummed through the chain that linked on the hook
that was screwed into the tall pines
that reached all the way to heaven,
“that bird is walking upside down, down the length of the trunk.”
He took notice, though noticing was not 'normal' for him.
to her, he seemed a puffy little politician, scrambling for votes
of confidence from crawling ants and eight-legged walk-abouts
who hid beneath the fluttering shadows of spring
as he cocked his head in slightly more than concern.
Was it a he-bird or a she-bird, she could not know,
or where the mate of the season was, or whether he, or she,
migrated back here from a winter’s sojourn
on some subtle season in the south, or whether they even had eggs yet
to lose, in the winds, or to be taken by nest-robbers.
She decided he was a male, quite filled with caterpillars,
beetles, wasps, bees, a bulging belly and gray mourning coat,
feasting after a funeral, perhaps. In fact, the rusted curves
beneath his wings, may have,to some, designated him “Doctor,”
with little time to scrub before coming out to check on her.
“How does your recovery go?” he asked between the puff on his pipe
and his interest in something beneath his nail.
“Listen,” she said, “it sings to the babies in the fur-lined nest.
Do you suppose they sing back?”
“What nonsense you have become since our trip back from Africa,
sprawled against that jute like a sunburned sunflower, your eyes
black as misery and your belly mapped with the roads of the journey.”
She watched the titmouse, heard it chitter, and knew him to a hawk
waiting to feed on the rest of her. Her nest was empty.
Author notes
A woman, clinging to a hammock, watching upside down, as a titmouse pretends not to notice the hawk that would have her.
Perhaps you know why she is in the hammock...
Written May 20th, 2006
In a list
A contest entry
- Tit by ea.
300 points, ended May 23, 2006, 9 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 13 of 13
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I love titmice. allpoetry.com/Poem/1810683
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Yes toots...there is a sense of grief to this. I was hoping to drive the rhythm with the repetition of "that". I am glad it worked for you.
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You know, of course, how much I honor your comments.
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tk u dutch. I enjoyed writing this...that place I go to when a story writes itself.
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ty granny. I appreciate yoru comments. yes, I ahte to give it all away. A reader needs to be able to decipher their own meanings within poetry .
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tks ea. I jsut went somewhere with this one. Sometimes that happens..and I lvoe it when it does. I appreciate your constructive criticism. thank you.
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A perfectly lovely story-poem - It seems sad in some regard, but I can't help but appreciate it's inner beauty. I am quite fond of your rhythmic beat, especially in the first verse. Feels like I'm in the hammock, too. Congratulations on your silver trophy - well deserved! Best regards, Toni
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Wow! Congrats on a well deserved win. I don't even know which level of this I like best the straight up beat poem, the sub-text, or the other layers I dreamed while reading the second and third times. Damn, I wish I wrote that!!!
Peace, Rob -
congrats on silver, deserved!
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Congratulations on winning silver in this contest. A neat poem, some deeper meanings in the lines as well,
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How thrilled I am to get something of this caliber and this layered with meaning for this contest, I can't tell you.
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Yes, indeed....the slave girl and the doctor, who keeps her.
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Your poem suggests a feeling of loss in her, that something happend, like a misscarriage or a illness that has robbed her of having children. (my own opinion) I really like this write, it had a enigmatic feel to it.
Good work!
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