in the story I read
every family was the same
and every person took off their mask
of sameness at the end of the day.
.
in the story we’re living
every family’s struggle’s different
we put on our masks each day
to save each other
poem-preservation June 10, 2019
We need to be respectful
of tender psyches, mental illness,
all the agonies of existence.
We need to be respectful
of our own tenderness
and pained existence.
When being gentle of their tender troubles,
makes aches worse for ourselves,
who needs to respect whom?
Draw battle lines,
or at least find a bastion
against cries
calling you to your destruction,
dragging you to drown in the moat of their fragility.
Be respectful of your own precious sanity.
crows June 24, 2013
Flying oilslick
on thrumming wings
collapses on my pine tree
and stares at me
daring me.
My protectors
bark their disapproval
and it languidly lifts off
trailing them behind.
Until they reach the fence,
then, tails
immensely satisfied,
lope back to me,
for their reward.
Black garbed intimidators
with steely eyes
do not impress
the wolf clan.
This is a comfort.
Shawn L. Bird 