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Like a Wounded Bird Trying to Fly

Written: November 13, 2025, for contest sponsored by Joseph May.

" Inspired by the song: 'Like a Wounded Bird Trying to Fly' sung by Kurt Vile.

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Like a wounded bird trying to fly,
I flapped through a mellifluous sky—
not quite broken, not quite bold,
just chasing warmth over winds grown cold.

I strummed my soul on an equine red,
while ghosts of my father rode rails in my head.
My mother, shrewd, stitched up our knees—
with eleemosynary grace and teas.

Now I sit where the green ferns grow,
my kids disport in the woods below.
There’s an imbroglio in my chest—
a luculent ache I can’t arrest.

So if you find me, don’t ask why
I’m like a wounded bird trying to fly.
It is only my style of saying goodbye—
to the weight, the waste, the wondering why.

birdemotionsencouragingsongrhyme

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