Shawn L. Bird

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

poem-lilo April 28, 2021

Filed under: Poetry,poem — 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

 

Poem- Parts May 24, 2015

Filed under: Friendship,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:49 am
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I’m part English, part Welsh, part Prussian, part French

Diluted by experiences of generations born the ‘right’ colour.

Not even ‘No Irish need apply’ to tarnish their immigrant dream:

Canada, land of opportunity for the stalwart farming types.

Though great-grandpa was an accountant and failed at farming.

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So who am I to comment on anyone else’s parts?

.   My great-niece: part African

.   My nephew: part First Nations

are just family.  Or 

Those friends from here and there whose colour

Was not as important as their character

Whose home culture was a matter of curiosity

Never animousity.   We were

White kids convulsing over that time at the bar

When the guy climbed into the back of Khalid’s car

convinced he was a taxi driver,

And we never considered that maybe  parts of his heart

Were incized by the stereotype he laughed off.

Because we didn’t waste time worrying about races or colours,

We were full of the wonder of all our parts racing together toward our futures.

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This was created as part of an assignment in my Education of Inclusion course.  This week we’re looking at cultural inclusion and racisim.  One of the videos we watched was about ‘hyphenated Canadians’.  We were expected to comment on this, but I just don’t feel like I can say anything about what it might be like to feel caught between cultural identities, so this poem is my offering on the subject.

 

 
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