Museworthy: Wooden Bird
painted crowd; unsurprised children quietly skipping;
everyone where they are supposed to be following
the announcement of a new world — until,
into the very centre of the square from a juxtaposed tree
and sky falls a wooden bird — CLAP,
onto the approaching ground
no-one gathers about it; nobody moves differently
yet the bird has become for them all unless
unless they can stop thinking
of its heaviness while they make love
unless they can escape the way
it lies still in their laughter
unless they can imagine that bird
back into its tree
nothing flies and perspective becomes weak fed on dead
men, women and children who allow wood and birds to mingle
beyond the symbolic
BY MTC CRONIN
MTC Cronin has had seven books of poetry published, the most recent being Bestseller (Vagabond Press, 2001) and My Lover's Back — 79 Love poems (UQP, 2002). After being employed for most of the 1990s in law, she has in recent years begun teaching literature and creative writing at secondary schools and universities. She is currently working on a PhD, Poetry and Law: Discourses of the Social Heart. Her books are available by contacting her at <margie_cronin@hotmail.com> or phone (02) 9550 2918.
From Green Left Weekly, May 8, 2002.
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