Blackbird

in the dead of night

Blackbird

 

inside

there is a blackbird

sinful and dark

his needle bones crisscrossed

beak a shadow-bloodied sword's point

piercing heaving lungs and the dripping red meat of her spleen

 

whimper whimper, little child, for he cares naught of your pain

 

locked with iron key, the blackbird is kept

a mystical oracle with beady eyes

night sky plumped and fattened with rain-rich clouds

christened by mother moon's starlight kisses, it goads

tempting as adam's hands spidering down eve's back

 

he sings to cheer his own solitude, the forest solo echoing her loneliness

but never joining

 

in dim animal thought, he remembers

leaving the warmth of the nesthome

free -- freedom -- flight!

stretching out across the moon in a silhouette of grace

for the first time knowing the beauty of the wind

 

but she will crush his scaly legs before she sees him fly again

 

twist his tear-stained wings around her arms

a midnight prism scattering across her skin

force him to submit to the mortal, the earthbound

selfish girl, forging in the icy heat of her isolation

a monstrous pterodactyl from nature's purest onyx

 

the torturer has become the tortured has become the torturer

and there is blood everywhere

 

veins cut and songs rewritten

and still she clasps him even tighter as they spiral together

into the devil's darkness

the great poets say everything that rises must converge

but she knows everything that falls must break

 

Author's Note

i saw chuck bukowski's 'bluebird' posted up on somebody's profile and thought it was such a cool poem i had to do my own take on it :)

for the original inspiration see here or here

Reviews

[...]

… ah … it’s a haunting tale … narrated with skill and passion … it breathes as much as it bleeds … the vivid descriptions are as lyrical as they are violently volatile … the pain almost palpable … the darkness almost awake and alive … for me this verse is a metaphor for something that is mourned with intense emotion … riveting but only because it is rampant … the deathly screams embedded in this verse are devastating and mark the morose and mal-intentions of mankind … the nearly nullifying attitude towards nature … this is the anatomy of demolition … of succumbing to the negative spiral … bit by bit … step by step … and in waves … a brutal mourning of a blinding fascism … where one controls the plight of another … writes it … rewrites … embossing misery on existence … a very dark write … potent and lethal yet exquisite poetry … an immensely enriching read …

(serah)

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

and somewhere...how does the saying go...you bleed to know your alive? This piece tears at me on so many levels ...clawing at my soul ....but in the in between there is a knowledge that cold and calculated wins out in survival and we simply are all that we ever need to be..... Excellent!

[Kelsie Eileen Stark]

This reminds me alot of Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven.
Wonderful imagery, descriptions...Great job~

[Livia Rose]

This is beautiful.

[Antonio Valentino]

"locked with iron key, the blackbird is kept
a mystical oracle with beady eyes
night sky plumped and fattened with rain-rich clouds
christened by mother moon's starlight kisses, it goads
tempting as adam's hands spidering down eve's back"

Good lord Sara, this was extraordinary!

You never fail to impress and inspire me with your talent.

How do you thank someone for that?

Loved this.
Antonio xx

[mildly biased]

Excellent writing, all of the poems you've got up here are brilliant. This one's my favorite though.

[Hamkar]

I read this more than five times, each time getting something new from it. All I can say is WOW!

[deeps]

WOW this is wonderful and dark!
I love it. Amazing write.

[Sunflower/Sara Kendrick]

Interesting thoughts that you have penned..I am having a bad vision morn..So am not able to read very well..I will try to read again when my vision is clearer..Thanks for inviting me to be your friend..I am a retired grandmother..I have a grandson who is twenty-two and one that is eleven..Sunflower/Sara

[Arthur Henn]

This writing knocked me out of my chair. I'm in awe of the usage and selection of the way you worded this fine writing. A favorite of mine.

Art

[Fabian G. Franklin]

You write so beautifully sometimes you take my breath away, this is one of those occasions.