For Every Bird…A Stone by Isabel Hermano
I feature other poet’s poetry when I am very moved by their poem.
This is one that did that.
My Second Life friend and visual artist, Isabel Hermano had a show recently
that was inspired by this poem, “Good Bones” by Maggie Smith.
It is a perfect statement of our world today!!
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
Ouch very much for our times indeed. I think we tend to hide these things from ourselves also, pretty often. A raw and moving verse.
Yes, she hit the nail on the head and now my children are old enough to sugarcoat the world a bit to their children…we love our children/grandchildren and life lately really has been one big fixer-upper!!:(
Putting the finger into the wound. A great poem.
Right? I just had to repost it…See you later Joey:):)
Hit the nail Karima !
Thank you for sharing my friend 💖
Thanks a lot Maggie…I started sharing this poem with friends one by one and then I realized..Oh I have a blog hehe..I can share it with everyone.🥳
A memorable poem and excellent choice for further exploration. Do you have a link to your friend’s show? I saw the poet on a show a while back. Interesting conversation. 👍🏻
Hi Michele, no the show was in Second Life and was not filmed unfortunately… The first I heard about Maggie was through the Art Show connection…I really enjoy her style!!
👍🏻
A very moving poem and there is so much truth in it. We do try to save our children ( when they are young) from the ugliness of life.
Thank you so much Sadje for reading it and yes, I agree, we do try to protect our little ones from the harsher realities of life.
You’re very welcome. We did so but now I see that my children are gently explaining these realities to their children, in a way that they can understand.
Yes, humans could make this world beautiful, but they choose not to do it. There will always be people who selfishly see the world as a place for exploitation and self-aggrandizement. There will always be violent, desperate people who harm others. There will always be people who are too beautiful and sensitive to survive in this world.
Sorry, I just found your thoughtful comment Dawn….sighs..yes this fixer-upper needs too much work…I agree.