Love comes hungry to anyone’s hand. I found the newborn sparrow next to the tumbled nest on the grass. Bravely opening its beak. Cats circled, squirrels. I tried to set the nest right but the wild birds had fled. The knot of pin feathers sat in my hand and spoke. Just because I’ve raised it by touch, doesn’t mean it follows. All day it pecks at the tin image of a faceless bird. It refuses to fly, though I’ve opened the door. What sends us to each other? He and I had a blue landscape, a village street, some poems, bread on a plate. Love was a camera in a doorway, love was a script, a tin bird. Love was faceless, even when we’d memorized each other’s lines. Love was hungry, love was faceless, the sparrow sings, famished, in my hand.
—Carol Muske-Dukes
Rights & Access
From Poetry Magazine, Oct.-Nov. 2002
The Poetry Foundation
Copyright Carol Muske-Dukes.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the Poetry Foundation. Copyright 2002 by Carol Muske-Dukes. For further permissions information, contact Poetry, 1030 N. Clark St., Ste. 420, Chicago, IL 60610, poetry@poetrymagazine.org.
-
Carol Muske-Dukes
Carol Muske-Dukes (1945- ) is the author of a number of novels and poetry collections, including Wyndmere: Poems (Open Road Media, 2014). From 2008-2011, she served as the Poet Laureate of California.