Bird Bath

after Simone West

you could be on stage
the way you belt it out      flute-like

I understand      the quietly guarded note

homeless bird
someone will eventually catch you

and let you go
in the name of letting you go

how clean you are
now your feather is no feather-duster

many times I immersed myself      in hot water
a squeaky underplayed instrument

drown never
and always spit out the water

whether you are sung to      or singing
in the shower

_________

Sarah Koenig lives in Seattle, WA. Her poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in DIAGRAM, Barrow Street, Stringtown and Forklift, Ohio, among other journals. Her work has also appeared in Washington 129, an anthology of Washington state poets and on King County transit as part of the Poetry on Buses project.