SMALL SUPPER

1.

we’ve placed our shadows inside birds
where they can’t be found

shadows in birds nesting between the shadowy hands of trees
or flocking across the blue lit sky

shadows cast only
when beaks are open

2.

indeed it was during open beakings when
we put our shadows there
or the potential for shadows

the shadow of a shadow
is my friend

and my friend’s shadow
is nighttime in the shape of a friend

3.

let’s put our unconscious in a carseat
let’s put a worm in a carseat
let’s put our regurgitated dinner in a carseat
close our eyes and street race through blood vessels

the creature that rises then bends towards the earth
is a bird

4.

a mountain can’t fly unless
the ground disappears

5.

a thousand darknesses in the chests of small birds
barely visible from the earth
a pupil in the centre of an iris
not dark but transparent
absorbing almost all light

6.

it’s not so much that Polly wants a cracker
but that the lark wants its small supper of sky
its late dinner of twilight among the blue leaves

7.

now a bird’s small shadow is in my chest
the branches of the ribs
the chest blue sky