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photo by Walker Evans; U.S. Farm Security Administration

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My Homing Pigeon Heart

My homing pigeon heart
Eternally it wings me
On a long journey back through time
We follow the north star to the lake
Of Neptune’s song and mermaid hair
And land beside that ramshackle cottage
With a carport on the side
And the porch with the swing where I fell in love
The pigeon heart comes to roost atop the broken chimney
It tucks its wings close to its sides
And coos and doves

And I wander through the ghosts
And cobwebs of the carport
To open the back door
And walk across the kitchen’s black and white tiles
And see the washing machine that sits by the stove
I hear it churning and wringing the fabric of time

There is a parakeet by the window: he whistles in the sun

And because it is a hopeful spring
My father is planting a garden
And my mother is so young
Her eyes sparkle and snap

My brother is playing catch
In the empty lot by the carport
And my sister is digging
Into her box of paper dolls
She sees that again bunny has chewed
Edges of doll skirts, arms and legs

I wander outside to hear the lake
Of Neptune’s song and mermaid hair
And I say to the pigeon
Sitting atop the broken chimney
“We must go now for I have lifetimes of tragedies and triumphs
To live”

But my pigeon heart says, “Why go?
Always we come back
For don’t you remember
It was a spring of hope
You fell in love on the porch swing
Your father planted a garden
And your mother was so young
Her eyes sparkled and snapped.

 

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by Susandale

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…………………………….Previously published in Best of Year Anthology: 2013: Hurricane Press; Literature Today: Volume 8: 2018

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Susandale’s poems and fiction are on WestWard Quarterly, Mad Swirl, Penman Review, The Voices Project, and Jerry Jazz Musician. In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan. The Spaces Among Spaces from languageandculture.org has been on the Internet. Bending the Spaces of Time from Barometric Pressure is on the Internet now.

You can reach her by email at [email protected]

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Listen to Hank Jones and Charlie Haden play “Steal Away”

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