October Conviction
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
The bird lifts up its wings to soak up fire’s
Orange warmth, its orange and yellow heat. The wings
Spread wide to soak up more. The black aspires
To be at one with brightness as it sings
Among the trees. The cormorant sits high
Up on a birch branch bent in black and white.
The bird must know that autumn colors dry
No feathers, but the wings are spread despite
This atheistic attitude. The plumes
Will dry out anyhow as if the leaves
Defy the laws of physics. Faith presumes
Against fall’s common sense. The bird believes
The spreading and the lifting of its span
Of feathers will prevail. Perhaps they can.
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