Free The Birds

(an Essay on Flying)

Free the Birds
( an essay on flying)

Nesting in a scallop of earth
or born form a circle of sticks
a Kestrel hovers over the arroyo,
and a Seagull balances on a buoyant  wind,
Albatrosses circle the Antarctic:
Terns follow sea currents around the globe.
What you were taught is a prison window
Look how the thoughts of birds fly free.

 Id like to hang upside down  on a pine cone
like the Red Breasted Nuthatch I saw today.
Let go of the pine cone and brace myself
on the wind with my wings.
 wings of mind
--- like Da Vinci's first flight
hovering above the Grand Canyon like a Condor
or a seagull's vision of rainbowed sunset.....

There is no point in climbing Kilimanjaro
the tourists have been burning fields up there,
causing erosion, carrying backpacks full of food
while the native people below are going hungry.
The snows are disappearing.
I do not believe in commanding the heights
or the ethics of higher and lower.
Bring the monks down from the contemplation
of non existent gods

Free the birds from all the ascetic cages
in the river valleys
and the mountain tops.
What use are dreams of earth-less flight---
until the arrogant Apollo who claims to conquer the sky
learns how to care for the earth that birthed him?
There is no escape from the reality of earth

Since there are no gods, it is all up to us.

A jumbo jet is a parody of flying
bloated with tax-free bags of junk
birds in cages squawk in the cargo bay.
Don't make a settlement on Mars
until money is abolished on earth.

Da Vinci used to buy birds and let them go.
I wish I had that much money.
Let go parrots back to the Amazon,
watch caged Cukoos fly again to Australia.
I wish there were more laws saying
no one may own what has feathers
because feathers are hope
and hope should be free.
Who that lives on earth
really
understands the life that loves air and sky?
Outlaw birds as pets, stop the bird trade,
 the hunting of birds.
Albatrosses veer down wind
and pick a fish out of the water
and the fish is attached to a long line with baited hooks
and the albatrosses swallow the hooks and
are dragged by the ship till they drown

Nesting in a scallop of earth
or born form a circle of sticks
a Kestrel hovers over the arroyo,
and a Seagull balances a buoyant  wind,
Albatrosses circle the Antarctic:
Terns follow sea currents around the globe.
What you were taught is a prison window
Free the birds and your thoughts will be free.

there is no escape from the terrestrial
no escape from the reality of earth
Since there are no gods it is all up to us.
What use are dreams of earth-less flight?
What arrogant Apollo claims to conquer the sky
when he doesn’t know yet how to care for the earth.
A jumbo jet is a parody of flying
bloated with tax-free bags of junk
birds in cages squawk in the cargo bay.

Da Vinci used to buy birds and let them go.
I wish I had that much money.
Let go parrots back to the Amazon,
watch caged Cukoos fly again to Australia.
I wish there were more laws saying
no one may own what has feathers
because feathers are hope
and hope should be free.
Who that lives on earth
really
understands the life that loves air and sky?
Outlaw birds as pets, stop the bird trade.
Albatrosses veer down wind
and pick a fish out of the water
and the fish is attached to a long line with baited hooks
and the albatrosses swallow the hooks and
are dragged by the ship till they drown.

Nesting in a scallop of earth
or born form a circle of sticks
a Kestrel hovers over the arroyo,
and a Seagull balances a buoyant  wind,
Albatrosses circle the Antarctic:
Terns follow sea currents around the globe.
What you were taught is a prison window
Free the birds and your thoughts will be free.

I’ve never liked airplanes much.
The first planes were used for war.
Leonardo knew men could not yet be trusted with bird’s wings.
I was at Fourth of July family party on an Indian reservation
when some Air Force Jets dived bombed the picnic.
They still hate Indians
The sonic boom broke the salad dishes.
Fruit bats don’t need jet engines.
Gliders intrigue me:
Leaves floating in the wind:
Damselwings.
Birds are the ancient children of trees.
They climbed up into trees to be safe.
Take refuge in leaves.
Leap to the ground or to another tree
like a winged lizard or flying squirrel.
Wings are hands that hold air.
hold air currents under scalloped wings
turn feather fingers down into the updraft

I like to swim underwater because I feel like a bird.
Otters know more about birds than airplanes.
Air fish, dolphins of a liquid sky.
One secret of bird flight is bones made of air
and a light  breastbone that faces the wind.
Peregrines sweep down from up high
like plummeting corkscrews.
I wish I had bird muscles
stretching from my breast-bone to my elbow
then I could stretch my wings.
Pull them in like a closet door, or rowing a boat
 like ropes on the mainsail
buoyed up like a bubble on a pivot
dancing windcurrents on a gyroscope--
and then I could pull the sky down to my heart
and rise up with the thermals
Return to the trees that I came from
return to the trees where I was born
return above the trees before the trees are gone.

Nesting in a scallop of earth or
born form a circle of sticks,
a Kestrel hovers over the arroyo,
and a Seagull balances on a buoyant  wind,
Albatrosses circle the Antarctic:
Terns follow  ocean currents around the globe.
What you were taught is a prison window
let the birds of our hearts fly home and free.