Three Stories My Grandmother Should Have Told Me
The Mockingbird
Once upon a time
a bird sat alone on a tall pole
pouring out sparrow lies, jay lies,
swallow lies to the sky. Foolish bird,
pretending to be a forest full of birds
when anyone could see him, up there
on the pole in his lying white stripes!
My grandmother should have told me:
chuck a rock quick, even if it’s a diamond,
when you hear a lying bird, or else
your throat will click shut on truth for the rest of your life.
The Magpie
Once upon the same time,
but far away, a fat hopping bird
spotted a bright gum wrapper in the grass.
Having an eye for the aesthetic,
not the utilitarian, she carried it back
to her already dazzling nest.
My grandmother should have told me:
bend down and pick up every shiny thing you find,
even if you don’t know where it’s been,
or your children will sleep on dirt floors forever.
The Owl
Once upon the same time, but in a shadowed wood,
a snowy owl dreamed (although birds hardly ever dream)
of flying blindly in a sunny sky
bereft of darkness, unable to break free
of these three compass points:
the sleeping eye, the pretender’s song, the thieving beak.
My grandmother should have told me:
if you go out and about in daylight in this world
You will see things no child should ever see.
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