Learned Behaviour
Blackbirds are
most commonly the ones
heard beneath the
lower skirts of tree limbs,
unpicking the riddle
of last year’s leaves
with a sound like
the hurried, clandestine
turning of tiny
pages; while robins materialise
from apparent
nowheres whenever a spade
breaks open the
brown lens of the earth.
This I had to
discover by sitting, being,
quietly, in the
ill-fitting clothes of my own life.
Along with how to
operate the confusing tools
of language. And
how to recognise love
in all weathers,
and all things that imitate it.
Because what did I
ever learn from you?
Just that set of
barbed-wire rules we inherited from
someone else,
handed down without ceremony.
And how to behave
whenever their back is turned.
Robert Ford
Robert
Ford's poetry has appeared in both print and online publications in the UK, US
and elsewhere, including The Interpreter's House, Dime Show
Review, Butcher's Dog and San Pedro River Review.
More of his work can be found at https://wezzlehead.
Tags:
Poetry