Accidental Birds by Deborah Howard

One Poem Only · Sep 5, 2025 · 2m

Accidental Birds

Deborah Howard

Let’s meet beyond the ticking of clocks

where the river flows over smooth stone

and wildflowers lace the muddy banks.

I will come over the stone wall,

knees bloodied from scrambling

across sharp-tongued granite.

You will walk out of the forest,

a canoe hefted on your shoulders,

past deer silent on fallen leaves,

smelling of rot and redemption.

There will be a vagueness to your face,

no more than a trick of light.

You will not remember

the snow that fell in oceanic drifts

outside the window

where your bed was moored,

the small hurts

or the last

when everything…