Squawkings In Nagasaki Poem by Abby Koning

...and now the twittering of birds becomes incessant poundings in my ears
squawkingSQUAWKINGSQUAWK!
while atomic bombs, those discordant voices, wreak havoc on
the Nagasaki in my mind
screaming, wailing, whining, beating verbal fists against
metal cages
(that are really of something much softer, butter perhaps, that patience
alone would melt away)
and I lie hunched in the corner of a vast, green field
free from my cage (for i had the patience to allow it to vanish) but pursued...
RELENTLESSLY! ! ! ...by the masses of the discontent
why argue over trivialities, i mutter, my hands clamped over my eardrums,
gaping funnels vulnerable to all those violent screeches
why be always complaining when life unfolds before you,
like an orchid blooming beneath the sun's rays,
when the cool breeze drifts through you...
(let it take you away...let it spin your mind to foreign lands
inhale the scent of time, relish it for tomorrow is already gone
and today is fleeting, and the future may not even exist)
why not dance, why not fling arms and legs wildly in exuberant display
why not embrace, why not clasp hands
and why not doubt the existence of those cages you struggle against,
open your mind and watch as they vanish before your eyes, yellow
melting into oh so many sunflowers blossoming before you
why not cease your commotion (even that which spills from your pen
cuts through my eyes, a complaint is a complaint no matter how poetic the
housing)
why not discover your own freedom, i cannot do it for you....
but oh, behold, my eardrums are bleeding, red spilling onto the dissolving butter of my cage
and i cannot contain my scream: 'Silence! '...
but you merely pause, shrug your shoulders, exchange glances
and continue in an even louder ruckus