BIRDLADY: A GRANDMA TALE
BIRDLADY: A GRANDMA TALE
by Jason Mashak
Over yonder hills (the Cascades,
the Rockies, the Ozarks, but this side
of the Appalachians, the Blue Ridge
and the Smokies) is a lady
who talks to birds, hearing
knowing their chatter
in all its dialects
as if Birdspeak were her native tongue,
and English something she could do without.
And only the far chiming
of a church steeple stops her
conversation with a Robin – something
in those notes… melody seems familiar
a thing from her past
she can’t let go of, a thing that interrupts
her connection to these guardian angels
with small bright feathered wings
and stories of the heavens.
Good God I love this poem.
I imagined more mockingbirds.
I think that’s a good title for a poem.
ok. i’ll go with it. lol.
Your stuff is getting better.
Cloyd, that’s not “getting better” – it’s from around 2003 or 2004, first published by H&H in Salty as a Lip. I’m actually surprised anyone besides my grandma actually likes it, LOL.