“Just a Bird” by Rosalynde Vas Dias

A new poem by alumna Rosalynde Vas Dias (poetry, ’06) appears online in Riverbabbble:

Afterwards, once she returns from wherever
that place was . . . the oriole—but of course,
it isn’t the same one. It is just a bird again.
Anyway, she never sees him—maybe once a year
she sees him. Or them. Not often. Once, then
not for years. But always suddenly still—
a quick check around—is she still right there?
Is the bird just an ordinary bird, the day still
clear, early spring—he is on his way somewhere—
and she sees herself—in the past or in a dream—
or maybe this is the dream, a brief reprieve—
she sees herself back there—a figure in a landscape—
like a sketch, like an idea, like the way an image
begins to bother you, at the edge of yourself—
just like the cat’s eye . . .

…

Continue reading online.