Martha Deed

Morris Island Mockingbird

 

The Mockingbird on the road to Morris Island
does not sit on a fence, but rather on a metal
lobster trap though if there are lobsters off Cape Cod
I am unaware

Unaware of this bird’s ancestry
socioecomic status
party affiliation
or its reason for perching near this road
on the way to a military installation
or whether it is on Homeland Security’s
No Fly list

It does not fly when I approach
document its presence on top of the lobster trap
which in turn sits on a pile of gravel
the provenance of the gravel
also unknow

But the mystery of its age
clears with the wind
that ruffles its feathers
exposing the down underneath

too young to carry a gun
but perhaps old enough to mimic
the auto alarm sirens on Clinton Avenue
as sung by its long-dead relatives
in South Nyack, New York

Mimus polyglottos, 10 in (25 cm)

 

 

 

 

 

Martha Deed recently completed a mixed-genre book of poetry and primary documents to reconstruct her daughter, Millie Niss's death in a community hospital, The Last Collaboration (Furtherfield, 2012) and editing Millie's poetry collection, City Bird (Blazevox, 2010).  She has five previous chapbooks: The Lost Shoe, The November 2010 Project, and This is Visual Poetry all from Dan Waber's imprints, 65 x 65 (small chapbook project), and #9 (Furniture Press).  Her poems have been published in Shampoo, Moria, Edifice Wrecked, CLWN WR, Big Bridge, On Barcelona, and many others. Her website: www.sporkworld.org/Deed