Published: 29 August 2025

Singing with the cover over my cage

It’s not bad. A little stuffy perhaps.
But I’m on my own, and I wonder
if I don’t prefer it this way?
There’s regular seed regularly changed
shredded newspapers beneath me
changed as well. Old news seems fitting.

The singing seems unnatural, but I’m driven to it.
I don’t think there’s a real reason.
Perhaps it’s biological.
Or, just a quirk of character
neither necessary nor worthwhile.

No one takes the cover off the cage.
Aren’t they curious? The cage is singing?
There is of course the potential reason
the song is not appreciated.
I’ve lain an egg. For want of a rooster.
Which is curious, because I am a rooster.

Perhaps it’s a shroud they’ve thrown over me,
my race is run and I’m to wait for death.
But I don’t like waiting and I feel like singing.
What a wicked world I live in. It presses
around me, suffocating, sequestering me.
Isn’t that strange? That I wish to sing?

Think of my song thus, this reason I sing,
it’s more than a wish, less than a whisper.

More Poetry:

Pun-aphors

A pigeon flew at me and made me duck.
I was excited by the bow and arrow, but I no longer get that quiver.
I wanted to write an alphabet in a boat, but I floundered at sea.
I got a dog and wanted us to have pet Latin names — he was going to be Canus, but my friend said “You can’t be Sirius.”

Your Evil Eye

Your evil eye
is much more beautiful
than the other one.

Your evil eye

WW#3

WW#3’s on, no one knows it
first one who says so — they’re the one who blows it
satellite views won’t disclose it
eleven o’clock news is on, but somebody sold it

Father and Child in the Water

You’ve taken her further than Mom would,
now, her giggles are sneezes and tears.
I look up from my book, see you splash,
try to scare the voracious horse fly

white cat

white cat appears at the head of the stairs
disappears as footsteps approach
white cat rests on the crest of the wave
skitters away across multiple planes

Northern water, once again

Get in the water.
This fresh lake bears no threat,
close to mother as you could imagine.

First steps seem simple,
but be deliberate. Step
into the lake, into the water, away

Related

Pun-aphors

Pun-aphors

A pigeon flew at me and made me duck.
I was excited by the bow and arrow, but I no longer get that quiver.
I wanted to write an alphabet in a boat, but I floundered at sea.
I got a dog and wanted us to have pet Latin names — he was going to be Canus, but my friend said “You can’t be Sirius.”

read more
WW#3

WW#3

WW#3’s on, no one knows it
first one who says so — they’re the one who blows it
satellite views won’t disclose it
eleven o’clock news is on, but somebody sold it

read more

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