By Kenneth Mburu
The swallow swallowed all the larvae
That would never be pupae
And went to nest in the west.
The eagle said she was escaping the
storm
When she pierced the chest
Of the robin pick-pecking worms,
We used her feathers to make our nests
Not knowing we might be next.
Where is the order we once observed?
Where, the dignity we once preserved
In the reign of the lion king and trickster rabbits?
Have we lost all the good old habits
That we kill our nestlings in their yolk
And chirp away to the tryster's joke?
Houses remind me of the apocalypse:
A pile of expired eviction warnings,
Being kicked out,
Into day-and-night-lit streets.
In a nightmare
I had on the line at the feeding center
Houses were filled with pets.
The wild tenants refused to clean up, pay up.
The owner had them swept out,
To the last of their remnants.
He couldn't bear their suffering--
The rare kind landlord,
Interviewed the old tenants
For new places he just built.
First priority he gave the homeless:
The world was never their home
Besides, he said,
He was to them familiar
In the many faces he mirrored
Of so many able to give,
who do not give--
Adept at ducking lingering hands.
Whoever had a dog
Was locked out with their dog:
How can a dog have a home
While humans have none?
Little fish in little jar,
Little wish to be a star
I have seen you:
Glow into a shooting star.
You started as a stir
Slowly gained the fire:
Eyes glowed, scales levitated
Rising to the brim
Propelled by the desire to be free,
To unleash the stifled scream
That would shatter the jar.
I thought you shattered the jar!
The blue sea spilled over:
Sorrow flowed, hope glowed,
With you the rider that propelled each wave,
Opened each grave,Ķ
And we rose forever upwards,
Sound the wings lifting our beings.
Then you were all alone-- Nooo,Ķah!
Sole survivor of the flood you created
You glimpsed the arch-angel:
Trumpeter who blasts the last blow
That shatters heaven's bowl
And the sound of heaven's throngs
Singing ethereal songs
Take us on their wings
Beyond the corked rim
We transcend in dreams
and jazz