The Scottish Exodus



One for the Birds
The pigeons are like
boys I used
to kiss and kick away
sometimes it was
6 minutes sometimes
6 months
but always after awhile
I had to turn out
my pockets to prove
that there was
no more bread
Then they would get
haughty
chest and head held high
they’d strut past me
and retreat
but then sometimes they’d
come home again
just to be sure
everything really was gone
Those time I
held my arms out
believing on return that
they might grab
my hand
talk a few minutes
and stay
but usually I had
to leave too
or else
I’d wait well into
the evening
hoping they didn’t
go south when they
probably had
I didn’t know then
what I needed
but I imagined
a sleek magpie messenger
slicing the dark
into day
with razor-tipped wings
just wanting to
get home
to sleep on my
red breast
Copyright İAndrea K. Devenney, 2009, all rights reserved.