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Three Songs

Mike Wilson

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                      	I 
 
A bird untucks her head from her wing. 
measures the spaciousness of sky. 
 
Clutching the branch, she feels the tree 
drinking earth with the beak of its roots. 
 
Without thought, she sings I am happy 
this morning before fighting for food begins.	
	
 
                     	II 
 
King’s queen quivers beneath an umbrella, 
shivers around the corner 
                                      	out of sight.  
 
He sits on a throne behind stone walls, 
swaddled in selfishness,  
                                   	and sings:    
 
I am the king haunted by emptiness.  
The stench of bodies on the lawn 
is the price of all good things of life. 
  
 
                    	III
 
Prairie dog, upright atop his mound,  
mirrors the setting sun with his eyes. 
 
Someday a red-tailed hawk  
will carry away his prairie dog body   
and his prairie dog soul will fly 
to Jesus. 
           	But tonight, he barks: 
 
           	My handsome fur gleams  
           	under the orange dusk! 
            	        My heart beats victory! 
            	        I am like no other! 

___________

Playlist song: Bob Dylan, “Never Say Goodbye”

__________

Mike Wilson’s work has appeared in magazines including The Gravity of the Thing, Mud Season Review, The Pettigru Review, Still: The Journal, and in Mike’s book, Arranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic, political poetry for a post-truth world.

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