poetry writing challenge -day 6

For today's poem, I want you to write a poem about something missing. It can be about an actual physical object or something you just can't put your finger on (like "love" or "the spirit of Christmas" or something).

oh, for christ's sake...
something else perhaps.



The Falconer

They have kept me hungry
so I'd come back
They took off my hood and I was blinded

then the air
the olive orchards

I rose high
there - my falconer,
our glove,
the donkey

the farm
the smell of the river
the shake of the dog

I circled out farther
and below me
just then

the olive orchards turned to stone, went flat, grew houses
the crickets stopped their singing
and the creek had lost its frogs

the houses gathered in circles and moved closer
the houses moved tighter

the children grew taller
the children grew wider
and disappeared inside the houses
that grew bigger
that grew wider

that stopped their music
and the creek had lost its tadpoles

i was circling
and
drifting


the fog lifted forever
the oats went dull and bent under pavement
the pavement filled with metal


light from it blinded me
this high up
and from it rose the sound
of nothing

I circled higher
and could not see
and could not breathe

I navigated by hunger
I navigated by hill shape
I wanted return

to
where the persimmons were
were the peacock was
where the donkey chewed the fence
where the falconer had been waiting for me
his strong arm outstretched.
but I found
no dirt
no hand
no glove
no keeper
no one waiting
no trembling prey and vanishing tail
no sweet barn and board
on which
to fold my wings,
tuck my head
and rest

no one who remembered
letting me go.