Friend of Birds

A little experiment in freewriting

Good morning, Dear Ones! Usually, when I write this newsletter, I take something that I wrote in my morning pages and squish it into a poem. There’s maybe a little bit of editing for coherence, but it is still very much a first draft. This morning, I find myself with several mornings of blank pages, so I thought I’d try something a little different: Draft 0. That is, attempting to draft a poem in the newsletter. Let’s see what happens!

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedThe painted bird's eye, almost as big as my hand,startled us as we walked around the corner.And what could we do -- two grown women wandering Rogers Park --but fall out and laugh until we cried."That's so bird!""The birdest bird that ever birded!" Just like that, the moment formed into gems, dropping,one in your heart, the other in mine.An infinite radiating warmth connects us.When I wake up in the middle of the night,chilled by the faults of my being,it glows tenderly, makes a spacefor me to sit and warm my hands.

Definitely a Draft 0, but I think there’s more there to play with than I expected. And a shout out to my dearest friend and amazing poet, Maggie. You’re the birdest.