Mark Stucky Poet Free verse

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Purgatorial Perceptions

Purgatorial Perceptions

By Mark D. Stucky
In the basement, I heard fluttering sounds
coming from inside the old chimney.
Cautiously opening the clean-out trap,
I came nose-to-beak with a panicked bird.
Having fallen down the depths
of the narrow furnace flu,
it now lacked sufficient strength and space
to escape through the constricted ascent.

With gloved hands, I reached in
to grab the imprisoned sparrow.
It pecked and struggled in my grip
because in its terrified mind
mine were the hands of death,
plucking it from purgatorial confinement
to surely crush its desperate hope
and condemn its soul to aviary hell.

Carrying my captive outside,
I opened my hands to the sky,
and the set-free sparrow flew
into tree-top liberty
but without giving me
even a thankful tweet.

But can any mind fully comprehend
crises as dangerous opportunities?
Or that a frying pan exit path
might lead through fire into freedom?
Or that seemingly certain death
could actually bring salvation?


(First published in Agape Review, 28 July 2022. See also my poems “Consider the (Dreaming) Birds” and “God Around the Corner.”)

(Image by Alexas_Fotos on Pixabay.com.)

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