Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

poem-Dear Rachael March 15, 2024

Filed under: Friendship,poem,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 1:58 pm
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Dear Rachael,

After years of joy with Jamila Mai

It’s very hard to say goodbye.

Rachael!

making us all grow daring

baring our bellies! Our thighs shaking

like jellies, as we shimmied

our way to a happier day

making laughter priority—

What a joyful sorority!

Flyng veils like full sails,

Sounding zagreets as we’d come

Every week. We dressed up

and had fun. Everyone welcome,

whether younger or older, the shy

and the bolder; we twisted our hips

to long-lasting friendships.

Folks overcame fears because

Rachael was here.

When we are apart, we’ll still zill in our hearts:

“I want chicken legs not chicken wings, buddy.”

‘Til we see you again.

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This poem was performed and presented at Rachael’s last Jamila Mai hafla March 13, 2024. Nearly 20 years of dancing for joy in the Shuswap and she is moving to the Island. It was so sad, but wonderful to see so many dancers from various times through the years could all gather to dance together for another time!

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poem-lilo April 28, 2021

Filed under: poem,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:57 pm
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Our friendship can lie low

for months and years

Wading through the morass of obligations

from family and job.

Fallow fields tended on Facebook

with a like or a care emoji.

Does anyone else write letters any more?

I miss live laughter,

the belly aching kind,

making new memories.

I miss voices harmonizing until the cells

reverberate into joy.

Time doesn’t lie between us

it surrounds us

paints its creases on our skin

but within, this friendship

hasn’t aged a day.

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Napowrimo Day 28. This actually links to the prompt from yesterday which was to explore ‘an obscure sorrow’. Yesterday, my sorrow was too overt for obscurity. Lilo is an interesting concept. I have so many friends whom I only see once a year at certain writing conferences, or others that I may go years between seeing. My friends and adopted families in Finland, I don’t see for decades, but I think of them often, and when I see them, it is like we slot back into each other’s lives like no time has passed. As if I could be the neighbour next door. Some days, I wish I were. It is hard when real life means you can’t be with the people who fill your heart. I must say, I definitely appreciate how Facebook has made it easier to touch into those distance friends far more easily.

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ignore ads following

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poem- didn’t say July 9, 2019

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:11 pm
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He didn’t say it.

Not on the day

or the day after, when he used to remember.

No more embers. glowing.

Not hanging on the threads anymore, I just realized.

How strange when forever

truly dies.

 

poem- missed August 25, 2018

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:23 pm
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Your eyes glow

when you see me across the room.

It’s been a long time.

You’re still wearing your heart

on your arm.

Once again,

I feel appreciation for your admiration,

awkward it’s still unrequited.

Oh, the confusion of my youthful charms.

Thank you, for

reminding me

so sweetly

who I used to be.

 

poem-thinking of you September 3, 2017

Filed under: Friendship,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:23 pm
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Today, I’m thinking of you,

new friend, met for a weekend,

those intense moments of stretching

ourselves into expectation,

birthing pains.

I find your words here,

between the pages,

and hear the anguish of your loss.

I remember our late night conversation,

the smile you fought for as you shared.

I’m thinking of you,

and wishing you lightness,

today.

 

quote- home May 21, 2017

Filed under: Quotations — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:54 pm
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“Wherever you have friends, that’s your country.

Wherever you receive love, that’s your home.”

Tibetan proverb quoted by the Dalai Lama in The Book of Joy (I highly recommend this book!)

This quote brilliantly summarizes my experience of life with and as an exchange student.   Half your heart has moved to a new location.

 

poem- beautiful September 29, 2016

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:15 pm
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Astonished eyes

Gushing mouths

They say, “You’re so beautiful.”

Compliments deserve courtesy

“Thank you.”

Warm smile.

Their words are bees,

around a flower.

Droning pleasantries.

You are the only one

who needs to say the line,

and you

do not.

What is beauty?

What fear lies beneath refusal

to see it?

What interpretation of honesty

forces you to decline

to observe it?

 

poem-serendipity March 12, 2016

Filed under: Friendship,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:29 pm
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Old friend synchronicity

Visiting one,

Another arrives out of the blue.

After forty years,

there are sympathetic vibrations

that draw us together:

joyful serendipity.

 

 

poem-promise September 29, 2015

Those childish promises

made with fervent belief

prove the power of intention:

Fealty sworn with hooked pinkies

in confident conviction.

 

poem- touched August 24, 2015

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:58 am
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One finger tracing

One hand resting

Two hands kneading

Two arms embracing

Four lips brushing

I’m touched