The Brown Feathered Bird Sings the Blues

By: 

Juanita

Cox

The Brown Feathered Bird sings the Blues was written during lockdown last year and emerged out my solitary walks along the River Thames in Thamesmead. Lockdown meant that I was often alone but also that I had time to go on walks and reflect on my surroundings. I was struck by the presence of a lone bird sitting on rusting barbed wire instead of on the branch of a tree. I became aware of the industrial London landscape, the human waste and yearned to be "re-wilded".

In a yellowing and russet autumn,
easterly winds release long whistles,
scatter ripples across the waves.
Riverside reeds bow in deference.

A small lighthouse stands alone,

On a scarred outcrop. Iceland
trolley, burnt out motor-bike,
careless b l o a t e d cat, drape
seaweed rocks.

The thicket of trees are long gone,
replaced by razor-wire fencing;
corroding steel, this city’s rustic.
Yet still I sing even as light slips

toward night,

high-perched, high-pitched trill
of unwavering hope, compelling chirrs
for the re-wilding of barren steelscapes
and styrofoam-free crevices

where a whole other world
of in(ter)sects s(tri)ve
to live. To live.
To be/e alive.

Alive.

To be/e alive.

Alive.

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