The Stellar’s jays came to me every summer
and I listened to them each year.
I maneuvered through and around
my many pots of gardenias and daphnes
to reach the bird feeder. I fed them well.
Their breasts plump and royal blue.
Their tassels on their heads like hats.
Similar to the one I wore at our wedding.
I had our pictures in the back room,
but when I looked at them, I saw
two strangers in black and white.
Gerald didn’t look like Gerald.
The Gerald I remember is the one
with his hair falling out, wearing
the wool hat with the black tassels.
Every night, I listened to him rasp
trying to remember everything he could.
When he got tired, he would hum notes
of a Sousa march before he fell asleep.
And I would always wake before him
to the sound of the Stellar’s jays
scratching at the earth, fluttering their wings.
to the sound of the Stellar’s jays
scratching at the earth, fluttering their wings.
When I fed them, I swear they sang louder,
but no matter what, they always flew away.
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I love the setting among the pots of gardenias and daphnes, and the birds that link the living and the dead, especially the ‘tassels on their heads like hats. / Similar to the one I wore at our wedding’. The contrast between the ‘two strangers in black and white’ in the photos in the back room, in which ‘Gerald didn’t look like Gerald’, and the Gerald of her memory, is so powerful.
ReplyDeleteThis was amazing! I was touched reading this!
ReplyDeleteVivid imager--love the detail!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully expressed. Love how you have described the details that really moves us, the readers.
ReplyDelete