Chick Lit

Bird-Understander

Craig Arnold

Of many reasons I love you here is one 

the way you write me from the gate at the airport 
so I can tell you everything will be alright 

so you can tell me there is a bird 
trapped in the terminal    all the people 
ignoring it    because they do not know 
what do with it    except to leave it alone 
until it scares itself to death 

it makes you terribly terribly sad 

You wish you could take the bird outside 
and set it free or    (failing that) 
call a bird-understander 
to come help the bird 

All you can do is notice the bird 
and feel for the bird    and write 
to tell me how language feels 
impossibly useless 

but you are wrong 

You are a bird-understander 
better than I could ever be 
who make so many noises 
and call them song 

These are your own words 
your way of noticing 
and saying plainly 
of not turning away 
from hurt 

you have offered them 
to me    I am only 
giving them back 

if only I could show you 
how very useless 
they are not

Reflections

whokilled:

by Leonard Cohen:

I remember Marianne and I was in a hotel in Piraeus, some inexpensive hotel and we were both about 25, and we had to catch the boat back to Hydra, and we got up and I guess we had a cup of coffee or something and got a taxi, and I’ve never forgotten this. Nothing happened, just sitting in the back of the taxi with Marianne, lit a cigarette, a Greek cigarette that had that delicious deep flavor of a Greek cigarette, that has a lot of Turkish tobacco in it, and thinking, I’m an adult. You know. I have a life of my own, I’m an adult, I’m with this beautiful woman, we have a little money in our pocket, we’re going back to Hydra, we’re passing these painted walls. That feeling I think I’ve tried to recreate it hundreds of times unsuccessfully. Just that feeling of being grown up, with somebody beautiful that you’re happy to be beside and all the world is in front of you.