Murmurations<\/p>\n
By<\/p>\n
Jennifer Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
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The flock of starlings rises, like a black dot-to-dot,<\/p>\n
Lifting from the page, into the air, where it swirls–writhing, like<\/p>\n
A confused river tossing and turning\u2014back and forth,<\/p>\n
Dizzying the threat of the falcon.<\/p>\n
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As suddenly as it began it starts to dissolve, each starling<\/p>\n
Finding its place on the powerlines and trees, where they breathe<\/p>\n
Little sighs of feather-settling relief.<\/p>\n
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As I sit in my car from the side of the road where I pulled over to watch,<\/p>\n
A panic surges within my chest and it seems to me<\/p>\n
There is no other way than the lifting of all things\u2014<\/p>\n
Moments, friends, kisses, ways of walking and singing\u2014<\/p>\n
All things releasing themselves into the unconscious sky,<\/p>\n
As if time were shaking off the sheets of the memory.<\/p>\n
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Suddenly as it began, the panic disperses, my fears<\/p>\n
Finding their places coursing through the hollow bones of a faith<\/p>\n
That carries me inexplicably over the hillsides and valleys, where death–<\/p>\n
That falcon who notices all things–will only fall back<\/p>\n
For so long, and yet what I love gathers on higher branches<\/p>\n
And upon the lines of the staff of the song the goddess sings<\/p>\n
Forming a universe filled with galaxies giving birth to starlings<\/p>\n
That, in turn, give birth to entire flocks of revelation\u2014<\/p>\n
Wings and hearts swirling into the form of shared communities of hope.<\/p>\n
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