Feeding the Jays
I hung up the sheep’s breastbone –
my bird table offering for the year’s infant months.
I could sense fear when they first flew by,
cautious twitching heads as they weighed their safety.
Persuaded, their ravenous beaks set to work,
stopping only occasionally to flit, amused,
around the rack. Such appetite,
despite being only the size of my hand.
This was not a selfless gift. Days lighten
when I see those green wings fly in,
black heads bobbing for the fat they hunger for.
Winter has been sparse, we’re all desperate to be full.
.
Claire Walker’s poetry has been published widely. She has two pamphlets published by V. Press – The Girl Who Grew Into A Crocodile (2015), and Somewhere Between Rose and Black (2017), which was shortlisted for Best Poetry Pamphlet at the 2018 Saboteur Awards. Her third pamphlet, Collision, is due in 2019 from Against the Grain Press. She is Co-Editor of Atrium poetry webzine.
Abegail Morley 