DP

©Luke McGuff, 2009

Click here to HEAR the poet read her poem

I
One sunny Sunday afternoon
Ascending stairs at
Jack London Square
Onto courtyard partially bared
I sit at its pinnacle
By bay this day of heat
My senses drink greedily.
Vault of heaven bright blue
Swaddles families hues
Women, men children, babies
Eyes laugh talks pleasing,
Folk walking easy
Winds blowing breezy
I lift my head toward skies
When suddenly a Sparrow
Graces my horizon
Lands right in front of me
Delivers another kind of peace
I feel silent serene.
When all at once
Its feathers flutter
My spine tingles, I shudder
Then like mirrors
We look directly into one another
And cock our heads to the same side
A moment of unity confides
We stare
Then share
Then sparrow flies and flies
With a piece of my light
And Sparrows’ in me.

II
Three days later
Walking the Lake
Near my lap’s end
Another Sparrow descends
So quick, so near
Without fear
It’s was as if
Sparrow demands
that I stop,
So I did
As it hops from my right to my left
And looks up at me.
Must be a kindred spirit I think.
Amazed I look down
At this little miracle
On the ground and sense
A heaviness release
Feel lighter, a bit more free
Then Sparrow flies and flies
With a piece of my light
And Sparrows’ in me
III
Now the next day,
The very next day
More happens than I wish to say
But Sparrows’ theme
Continues to play
At Mingles, Thursday night
Of open mic at N’er Citys’ Blues Joint
I sat listening to poetry and prose
As spoken word nears its close
A young woman ask N’er City
If she could sing
And sang this very old song,

“I sing because I’m happy.

I sing because I’m free

well his eyes are on the sparrow

and I know he’s watching me”

Well I do know Sparrows
Have been watching me!!
You see according to
Cultural anthropology
Birds are seen as
A sign offering
of things to come.

To the Shaman Priest,
The sparrow means,
Desire, fertility of race, and
The power of song
Ashe

©Tureeda Mikell, 2009

BAWP Fellow since 96, Poets in the Schools instructor since 1990 published over sixty anthologies of student’s work. Love to witness the excitement students release on paper while teaching poetry in the classroom. Most recent publication, Tembu Tupu, anthology, released in Japan 2009 by Kinokuniya [717 pp.], and Chicago via Emory University. N. Warren, editor, accompany authors Rita Dove, Nikki Giovanni, June Jordan, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde and many others.