The Sparrow Here's a common sparrow, a bit of a schnorrer come to celebrate my 88th at Whole Foods at 10th and Alton in Miami Beach, a block away from where my mother lived for 27 years, the wrong end of Miami Beach then but now the center; though she can hardly stay for the party she is so busy with the cheese which disentangled from the bread and one would kiss her but she is partial to the bread and has to fly away so she can eat in secrecy which is a good enough gift compared to the knowledge that I was common too and if I eat from china I would just as soon eat from paper--or plastic--the difference between the sparrow and me is I need a solid plate of some sort--even a leaf--a noble spine and green in all directions and the smell of the mother tree everywhere but I am slow now.
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Copyright © 2013 by Gerald Stern. Used with permission of the author. |
About this Poem: "I always report the truth with precision and accuracy. I loved the sparrow but I'm back north now and a titmouse is building a nest (I think) in the Redbud tree right over my head, and the poem I'm now writing is called 'Three Sharp Sounds.'"
Gerald Stern
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Poetry by Stern In Beauty Bright |
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