This month we had a tough choice between two poems by dis•articulations readers in response to the prompts posted by Eric Howard and myself. Ultimately, we chose Bryan Marshall’s “Caged” as our contest winner; he takes inspiration from Terrance Hayes’ “American Sonnet for my Past and Future Assassin,” but moves it in an entirely different direction. We are also grateful to have received a poem by Devon Balwit, but she has requested we not print it at this time.
Thank you to the poets who invest their inspiration and creativity into this project and thanks as ever to our devoted readers.
Caged
I am locked in open space,
where songs are turned
keys wrought from the bones of birds.
I am locked in the silence of a symphony,
trapped, unwinged, hopping,
stopping to peck at the reflection
of my eyes.
I am locked in a future
written by starlings
and crows who continue
to murder the past.
I lock you, safe in the cave
of our hearts, where the music box
grinds and the magpies glisten.
Bryan Marshall has a PhD in music, and therefore works in a bar. He runs a writing group, sings in a choir and likes watching the clouds over the sea.
