Esmeralda 

Decorative bird, said my father

The only one named

Small and useless 

to lay or eat

She couldn’t see,

My mother trimmed the feathers around her eyes.

She will be safe inside

Happy to be here

Under a mother’s care

Trimmed and fed

She will become the house bird

Will love to be held

Will come when called,

Esmeralda

Purple Flower Heels

Caught and carried

Wings held tight in her mouth

Trapped in a house

Unwelcomed in this home

An unexpected curse

I was shooed and chased

Pushed out of the open window

Fallen and injured on the sidewalk

I looked up into frightened faces

Am I the one to be feared?

Put in a closed box

Labeled “Purple Flower Heels”

Air holes cut into the lid

Just enough to breathe

Sent to be healed

In purple flowers

And a life that was never mine

Fledgling 

You found me on the sidewalk with a broken wing, small and fragile. 

Held me in one hand and I didnt move.

Touch that brings comfort and fear

Walls that protect and isolate.

Nebraska morning still in bed 

Smell of mold and grass

Creeping bugs silent 

She ran in through dusty sunlight

Small bird in hands unmoving

Happy to show me  

To know me

How I care for small things

And hold them gently in my hands

Swallows flew 

In the bedroom

Trapped in the kitchen back and through

Hit the fly-filled walls the windows

Escaping

A room so beat and worn

Were we inside or outside?

Held safely here constrained

I took her out under my care

To let her go into the sunset 

We’d watch from every angle

Flat land and sky

Still wondering where she’s flown