Vigil
Daybreak brings an overflowing of swirling birds
without purpose or plan.
My face ripples with that swooping wing movement.
I stand at the gateway of whatever will happen next,
light quivering as day begins.
I lift this message in my hands,
feathery-light,
and offer it to you.
*
Someone Killed the Bluebird of Happiness
Each tomorrow erases you
further from my heart, every day rips
memory apart, splits time into unequal slices.
This earth itself seems speechless
about whether or not you were real,
or vague fragments of hesitation.
Useless words torment as black rain,
because someone killed the only bluebird
singing recklessly about happiness.
It took a minute for you to leave,
a rending of sheet music, a disturbance
of sound being murdered. You left behind shards,
pieces of words too late to apologize,
and now my tongue blackens from untying
grief. Tugging never untangles memory.
*
Martin Willitts Jr, a retired Librarian who trained Librarians for New York State Public Libraries. He lives in Syracuse, New York. He is an editor for Comstock Review, and he is the judge for the New York State Fair Poetry Competition. He won 2014 Dylan Thomas International Poetry Contest; Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize, 2018; Editor’s Choice, Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge, December 2020; 17th Annual Sejong Writing Competition, 2022. His 21 full-length collections include the National Ecological Award winner for “Searching for What You Cannot See” (Hiraeth Press, 2013) and the Blue Light Award 2019, “The Temporary World”. His recent books are “Ethereal Flowers” (Shanti Arts Press, 2023); “Rain Followed Me Home” (Glass Lyre Press, 2023); “Leaving Nothing Behind” (Fernwood Press, 2023); “The Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” (Shanti Arts Press, 2024); “All Beautiful Things Need Not Fly” (Silver Bowl Press, 2024); “Martin Willitts Jr: Selected Poems” (FutureCycle Press, 2024); and “Love Never Cools When It Is Hot” (Red Wolf Editions, 2025)
Poignant poems.