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Tuesday Matin~ By Carol Folsom

7/1/2019

1 Comment

 
On a walk to fetch the newspaper
a sight made me stop and stare
a gathering of ibis
white as altar cloth 
on my neighbor’s dying grass

a conference had been called
more birds arrived in groups
graceful swooping squadrons
wings tipped with ebony 
circling slow to land

beaks like shepherd’s crooks
blood-orange stalks of leg
bowing heads and grunting chants
a manna feast of bugs
an avian hallowed ground

a schoolboy of twelve or so
trudged down the sidewalk path 
hey look they’re thirty birds, I point
he glanced and smiled and quickly passed
polite but unimpressed

sights like these may be for eyes
who’ve learned to measure time in breaths
I sighed and opened the front door 
the scent of fresh ground coffee
rose like incense in the air


Author Bio:
Carol Folsom used to practice law but now finds joy in practicing poetry. She is proud that she was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy JAGC Corps for three years. She was awarded a Lily scholarship to a poetry workshop in Collegeville, MN, , and has been published most recently in Algebra of Owls, Belle Reve Journal, and On the Veranda. Her work is soon to appear in Edify Fiction. 
1 Comment
Paula Reed
7/7/2019 01:33:07 pm

I love this poem. The idea of the birds calling a conference is fresh and the contrast between the boy hurrying along unimpressed and the reverence of the poet who now measures time "in breaths" is powerful.

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