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An Insignificant Experience with Birds
Even young, I was unable
to fit my finger through the bars.
He sat there eyeing my every effort
to reach in and offer a nibble of thumb
or pinkie, but he never moved towards me,
only perched there quietly
morning after morning
until I went away to school
in my yellow slicker
or brown jacket,
weighed down with wondering
why this bird fascinated me,
a parakeet with only a cage to his name.
Was he was not suitable
for flying at large?
Was his soul too small
for the hungry world to accept?
So when my mother told me
to quit picking at my food like a bird,
to consider all those children in China,
I left the table and went to his cage,
peered through steel ribs to read the paper
to see how many went hungry that day.
Larry Fontenot (Click for bio.)