When the Parakeets Disappeared

When The Parakeets Disappeared

I remember what you were,

although I dreamt of you becoming

something else.

I recall your actions of brilliant deviltry,

while wearing so well your anthropoid sneer,

remaining so nonplussed while I bled.

You brought home to me two parakeets in a cage

during one of your rare, dolorous frames of mind.

But, I learned that you were

a bungling traitor on whom

I had wasted worthy love while

smothered beneath your lustiest mockery

of expressions of affection.

I also discovered that you

sought to use the birds  

as a means to confine me, as they themselves were confined,

and all heard my grief.

I thought your shallow inputs to help 

cure my oblivion were real.

But, your sad and cruel refusal to abjure trickery

showed the truth.

You promised to re-orient yourself, but continued 

to rule your roost,

laying down petty rules,

as if formulated by an emperor.

Your haughty fabrications

brought me to the point of leaving the cage door open,

and as I exited through the front door,

those beautiful birds, now free, chirped,

and I felt no despair, pain, or anger at their escape.

We all got away,

and all heard my relief.

 Linda Imbler

Linda Imbler’s poetry collections include five published paperbacks: “Big Questions, Little Sleep,” “Big Questions, Little Sleep” second edition (expanded with 66 additional poems), Lost and Found,” “Red Is The Sunrise,” and “Bus Lights, Travel Sights.”  Soma Publishing has published her three e-book collections, “The Sea’s Secret Song,” “Pairings,” a hybrid of short fiction and poetry, and “That Fifth Element.” Examples of Linda’s poetry and a listing of publications can be found at lindaspoetryblog.blogspot.com.  In addition to writing, she helps her husband, a Luthier, build acoustic guitars in Wichita, Kansas, U.S.A.