The Waxwing Slain Poem by Cody Simpson

The Waxwing Slain

Rating: 2.8


The unseeing waxwing which once was slain
By the false azure of the windowpane
Has picked up his shadow and carried on
Past the wilderness of that crystal lawn.

Drunk on berries, he had mistook the glass
For the heavens through which once he had passed;
The reflections of the cerulean sky
Formed a mirage that fooled the waxwing’s eye.

Fallen then back to the snow-covered ground,
Become silent with nary chirp or sound,
The stilled bird lay bleeding upon the white,
Unmoving still as day turned into night.

Thus I rose to the place where once I saw
The waxwing race through the bleak ice’s thaw.
I took in my hands that form without breath
And cast it high, that it see not death.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Charles kinbote 19 August 2007

The image in these opening lines evidently refers to a bird knocking itself out, in full flight, against the outer surface of a glass pane in which a mirrored sky, with its slightly darker tint and slightly slower cloud, presents the illusion of continued space. We can visualize [Cody Simpson] in his early boyhood, a physically unattractive but otherwise beautifully developed lad, experiencing his first eschatological shock, as with incredulous fingers he picks up from the turf that compact ovoid body and gazes at the wax-red streaks ornamenting those gray-brown wings and at the graceful tail feathers tipped with yellow as bright as fresh paint.

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Bob Eichen 05 August 2007

Outstanding! You have quite a talent!

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Cody Simpson

Cody Simpson

Farmington, MO
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