On the fifth day

There are not birds here. But
colonially the trees dart
skyward from heavy ground -
flock so high you can no longer see

the sun. Some days wind wings
through the upper story and there
is music like birdsong but wooden
and hollow and green and no human

hand can bade it land. The trees
nuzzle into one another and their
connection shivers a way to ground.
My dog looks up, tilts his head,

maybe I do too, I’m not sure
how I look. But we both lift
up toward the music - so invisible
it is as hard to glimpse as the leap

of absent birds from knuckles
of bamboo feathering into
the weight of air. In this place
where there are not birds.

Author's Note

2024

Reviews

[Robert Trakofler]

We’re it not for some migrating and or stalwart ravens this time of year in Pennsylvania I scarcely see any birds at all:/ but I do still hear the trees chirping too in fact directly across from my house is a very boisterous one and I often look up at it and wonder what it is saying lol I would swear it is almost laughing at me at times! Eilis with the golden stylis is my favorite nickname for you and this time it fits rather perfectly :) great poetry!

[Eilis]

Hi, Robert, thanks for your visit. I do feel like the trees are laughing at me too, haha. My husky agrees I think. Glad you enjoyed this one!

[Ken Simm.]

Such personification really hits home for me here. I can see it and feel its atmospheres.

[Eilis]

Hi, Ken. Thanks so much for reading. I’m glad to know the poem was palpable for you.

[Pryde Foltz]

A forest so wild in movement that even birds cannot find perch. Yes, yes. I adored this work in symbolism and analogy:)

[Eilis]

Hi, Pryde, thanks so much. Glad you enjoyed the poem

[Thomas W Case]

Brilliant imagery. Powerful work.

[Eilis]

Thanks, Thomas!

[SkinlessFrank]

I wonder how you find yourself in places like this. This piece reminds of those times when I have felt lost. Once, while hiking in an alpine forest, I lost the trail while crossing an avalanche track of fallen trees. It took me all day to locate where I was. And another time, I was not lost at all, but simply walking in a bamboo forest near Kyoto, but I felt lost nonetheless. That tilting of the head upward reminds me of when I finally have to acknowledge to myself that I am, in fact, lost in a place I do not recognize. As always, the atmosphere of what you write quickens the heart.

[Eilis]

I wonder the same thing, haha. At times in my life I’ve thought that if so many little things were hard that somehow I could hold off the bigger things. It’s a false economy that always leads to a dead end. I’ve always felt lost. It defines my whole life. The house I’ve moved to has a bamboo forest behind it. The way the trees grow makes it feel like walking in a graveyard at night. I liked what you saw in the poem. It makes me like the poem. Thanks as ever for your comments. I really most like knowing what my poems make people think of in their own lives. So thanks for sharing that.

[Ern M. Yoshimoto]

' In this place / where there are not birds' is such a powerful image that perfectly cuts into the persona's state of mind, without it being overwhelming for the reader. this verse has beat and rhythm and it was a thrilling read. at the same time, it explores that numb and desolate feeling one has after a loss and one can not help but feel sorrow. i hope the forest does grow back so you can enjoy birdsongs again. but this page in your life was captured in this work in a sublime way.

[Eilis]

Thank you for your kind and insightful comment, Ern. I appreciate you reading and sharing what you see.

[Paul in the Buff]

You describe a place that I can see, and feel.

[Eilis]

Thanks for saying so.