I am making a book of Black-Birds
I hope that this photo and poem may be included.

Jackdaw Fool -- Daniel Imburgia.

“There is a world elsewhere.” Coriolanus, William Shakespeare.

It began the day I was born
When the drugs wore off and
I first opened my eyes to the
Light which would come to
cause me such
pain.

I was addicted to amniotic fluid plus
nicotine, alcohol, and barbiturates
and a biting satire that would
cost me friends among
the snugglers.

In the darkness god
was everywhere and
we had no secrets until
my parents circumcised me
after that I began hiding when
people spoke of
fathers.

During catechism they tried to
blame me for god's murder
so I confessed weekly to
being the cause of paradise lost
and I would punish myself
accordingly.

Doctors invent new medicines for
my condition but still no cure so
pain-management specialists
administer the bread and wine
at sunday communion
until the market objects.

The Jackdaw reminds me
that he is god and
I should have no other
the sun is also a jealous deity
and she makes dire threats
flooding rivers charge the banks
demanding my worship
a newborn fawn dwells
at the center of her universe, but
the willow I planted now shades the
old Japanese pear tree and so
it no longer bears fruit
or speaks to me.

I come to miss that darkness
I fear less abiding in mystery
attending to the voices of silence
speak not of unforgivable sins
or the promise unkept
why wait for someone to
come get us from
somewhere else

Obliged.