Straw House
written by: Barbara Harris Leonhard
Nestled in a bed woven
of twigs, grass, mud,
a shattered blue egg
and a shiny pink hatchling.
Its tiny head
stretches backward.
Soft yellow beak opens
the bright orange throat,
I am alive!
I am alive!
Fragile, tiny life
screams for food.
Can it thrive
through storms, parasites,
disease?
I shelter in my nest.
Dare I sing my life,
gather with my flock?
If I fly the coop,
fail to soar,
I lie exposed,
hunted by an invisible predator.
Ready to die?
My remains, carted away
to a mass grave.
Huddled in this brittle shell,
cracked open for a view of light,
of sun to scan my glossy skin.
Still alive.
Still alive.
Barbara Harris Leonhard
OCTOBER 2021 AUTHOR OF THE MONTH at Spillwords.com
Barbara is author of the Amazon best-selling poetry collection Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF- Experiments in Fiction, 2022). A poem from this collection was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022. Also, on Spillwords, Barbara was voted Author of the Month of October 2021, nominated Author of the Year for 2021, and recognized as a Spillwords Socialite of the Year in 2021. In November 2022, she became Editor for MasticadoresUSA. Barbara enjoys bringing writers together and has been sponsoring open mics and readings on Zoom during the pandemic.
Latest posts by Barbara Harris Leonhard (see all)
- I Fear Me This – Is Loneliness – - December 28, 2022
- Collateral Damage - August 10, 2022
- Carrying the World in a Broken Laundry Basket - April 15, 2022
