Last year, I rescued three jackdaws
from out of my chimney’s vault

One of their brothers’ body lay
chilled in the midst of ash

I carried them in gloved hands
upstairs and out the window to the

roof above my laundry room, gable
for the world away from indoors

I set birds three upon the edged
brick edge of my old chimney

In the morning, no squeaks or shrieks
remained, only lonesome feathers of

three jackdaw chicks who came of age
in one plunge to near-death and the denouement of wings

Today, I find their cousin or
half-sister dead in the heap of

last Christmas’ ashes. My poor shovel
was meant for more, I think, or perhaps

just that: to carry the weight of entropy.
I picked her up (maybe him) and took her

outside before the watching eye of my
albedo-nigreddo spaniel (those are her middle names)

I dumped her (or his) carcass over the fencerow,
pickets no longer white nor stained nor treated,

but weathered gray from life. She (or perhaps he)
landed on the other side, out of sight, mind,

save but the ashes that fell not like soil
upon a coffin in some ceremonial cemetery

but rather snowing down, a winter of jackdaw,
here in July in the midst of the first triple-digit drought
in living
(or loving)

memory.


Keep jackdaws in mind for the distant future when I start publishing Gergia stories…

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  1. Doberman

    Very good. I wrote a poem once about a Goldfinch that crashed into a window and died. I disposed of tiny body body with gasp…gloved hands! Then his mate pecked at the window for three days. WooooOOoooOoOO!

    Eerily similar…although your ending is miles better than mine. 2000 miles mo’ bettah.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Well thanks. Yeah, it’s weird how often they hit windows. There’s a poem in that as well. Weird about his mate, haunting even.

      And thanks for the other compliment as well. This, among other things, resulted from those books you send me.

      More to come…

    2. tara (@etsetara)

      it’s sooo true. he’s been writing up a STORM of poetry since you sent those books!

      1. lanceschaubert

        Truth. Getting ready to dedicate a whole week to it…

        1. Doberman

          Just love to support poetry. Also, if they just knew how much of it is available and that it is very accesssible to the average reader, it would be more widely read. Not just in University or by the highfalutin’. Especially American poetry that isn’t the Beat poets. Although I have a soft spot for a couple of those. O’Hara especially.

  2. logankstewart

    Wonderful stuff, dude. Powerful, too. Keep it up.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Thanks so much, Logan. As always, I appreciate your support.

      Good to have you back.

  3. Doberman

    I just had a thought…WHO TOOKTHE PICTURE OF YOU CLIMBING OUT OF THE WINDOW? LOL.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Kiddo, of course. Who else’s brave enough to go on that kind of a’venture with me? We have often sat on that roof and gazed at the stars with a bowl of popcorn between us.

      I used to let my PC play music upstairs before it crashed (#fail) and leave the window open but one day I heard pattering up the staircase followed by silence followed by the sound of four puppy paws landing on the shingles.

      That was the end of open second-story windows.

Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

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