Nicola Warwick
And the Rustle of Quills
Once she was tired of black
she shook off her widow’s plumage
and sought another reason
to visit the cemetery
since staring at his grave
no longer appealed.
She scoured the brown lawns for feathers,
primaries, secondaries, tertials,
it didn’t matter, as long
as they could lift her mood.
Soon she found the neutral of pigeon,
sparrow, warm of a collared dove,
the gaudy blue of a jay’s wing,
all carried home, cupped in tissue
and placed in a polished box.
But these weren’t enough -
week after week, she tried
for something else until they came,
white feathers drifting down
as if from nowhere
although she looked around
for a bird whose tail
might rustle like the wind
through bamboo.
Page(s) 18
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