by Thea Schiller
Grabbing the fistful,
Gunning forever the red winged blackbird
To place it on its back –
But not kill it.
The window finally opens,
Heeding the heat of anger able to fly upwards,
(there’s no goat and no sin),
but rage left within from the loss,
ascending into the Universe
Where you can no longer see it, taste it.
The hurt,
And second degree burns
Withered the heart resting in its loose skin.
Pretending it didn’t happen,
You lived without salve
Until you couldn’t anymore,
And you needed the red winged blackbird
To carry it away,
so you,
and the sky could finally open
to love
as a
Replacement.
Thea Schiller
*“After Great Pain a Formal Feeling Comes” by Emily Dickinson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thea Schiller, a New York poet and psychotherapist, facilitates a poetry workshop at the Somers library in Somers, N.Y. and practices psychotherapy in CT. She holds a B.A. in creative writing from The City University of New York, and an MS in counseling from Western CT State University. Her poem, “Sarah” was the Orchard Poetry Prize winner in Furrow, University of Wisconsin. Recently, she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her poems have appeared in The San Diego Annual Poetry Review 2017-2018, Edify Fiction, The Ravens Perch, 4th & Sycamore, Hevria, Lucent Dreaming and The Tenth Muse, as well as many small literary journals. When given the chance she follows her muse from Norway to Greece.