Lives
There’s a cage in my throat with a bird
who sings desire for all the lives I’m not living
There are books whose words could alter my soul so finely
that I may wish to tattoo each syllable across my tongue,
yet I will never taste them.
I crash and dive just to see each sun rise,
hear every song, meet every face,
study each lyric they speak
and trace the print of their heart.
Yet I am doomed with the mortality of time,
Its life wielding such short span
But who am I fooling?
It’s not a long for knowledge but for connection.
I want to see the world
because I want the world to see me.
by Anna Delaney
This is such strong, original work. The opening images of the caged bird and the words in the books are immediately arresting, and they offer us such beautifully tangible symbols for hope, ambition and desire for freedom. This poem demonstrares a real instinct not only for imagery, but also for musicality in the language and really effective use of line breaks. My only suggestion for this one is to look at your third last line: ‘It’s not a long for knowledge but for connection.’ I wonder if there’s a slightly more musical way of putting this? For example, might ‘It’s not knowledge I long for, but connection’ or something similar work well? It was a pleasure to read this poem.