Chris Pannell
To Touch A Bird
The beak is guardian and brain of the bird.
You must pass it to reach
the heart,
that essential wildness you want.
Do not show your fear of bites
by wearing gloves
or a smile.
The bird speaks with its eye and tail,
builds a nest among the smokestacks,
steals sandwich bread from the men in the hot mill.
You want to escape,
keep your hands in your pockets,
place your cheek on the bird’s back.
Even when closed, how broad the wings!
Understand
when they choose
you are mated for life.
Page(s) 39
magazine list
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- 14
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- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
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- Dream Catcher
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- French Literary Review, The
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- Iota
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- Lamport Court
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- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
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- Poetry London (1951)
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- Poetry Salzburg Review
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- Private Tutor
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- Quarto
- Rain Dog
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- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
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- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The