Christina Matthews introduced us to her persona poetry in April with Western Honey Bees. Today we get a look inside the mind (?!) of a different sort of creature, well, object. Read this poem and be inspired to write your own persona poem.
Wild Birdfeeder
By Christina Matthews
From the window, she asks about desire.
She questions the birds who know nothing
but desire. They fly in the very float of it.
Snub desire, I hang on my crooked nail,lean
towards the weight of the finches and give,
give and give
All of myself. Like the woman, I’ll be
my empty, naked shape.
How I pity her slide through the door–
Same dumb face, same gray terry-cloth robe
to fill me with feed.
If only I could speak to her, tell her
I desire to own my emptiness.
But, oh, she plays a speechy god.
In the way of the seed, she packs herself behind form
and machines as middle man, untouchable transcriber,
poet-preacher.
With all the constant coddling and rephrasing,
there’s no wonder
none of us
press for more.
I take it you birds are getting picky. 🙂