Swallow in the Farmhouse, 2020
Etching and chine colle
5 x 7 in
Swallow in the farmhouse
Nebraska morning I was still in bed
Smell of mold and grass
Creeping bugs silent
She ran into our room
Through dusty sunlight
Small bird in hands unmoving
Happy to show me
To know me
How I care for small things
And hold them gently in my hands
Swallows flew
In the bedroom.
Trapped in the kitchen back and through
Hit the fly-filled walls, the windows
Escape
From a room so beat and worn
With doors always open
Were we inside or outside?
Held safely here, constrained
I took her out under my care
To let her go into the sunset
We’d watch from every angle
Flat land and sky
Still wondering where she’s flown
If she remembers
Fledgling
You found me on the sidewalk with a broken wing, small and fragile.
Held me in one hand and I didnt move.
Touch that brings comfort and fear
Walls that protect and isolate.
Fledgling, 2020
Etching and chine colle
5 x 7 in
Hold for the first time
Little feathers tickling my palms,
Tiny warm feet hang on to my pinky
as if to never let go.
Heart racing as you sink,
Fear that brings comfort
To know that you need me,
You’ll stay.
Hold for the First Time, 2020
Etching and chine colle
5 x 7 in
Home holds in place
Familiar comfort
Hope for the unchanging
A safety within four walls
Keeping only what we know
Leaving out what we don’t need
In these walls we are asleep