{"id":1967,"date":"2016-09-07T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1967"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:38","slug":"sept-7-there-are-birds-here-jamaal-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/09\/07\/sept-7-there-are-birds-here-jamaal-may\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 7 – “there are birds here\u201d Jamaal May"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday September 7 <\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 ”\u00a0And no
\nhis neighborhood is not like a war zone”<\/p>\n

We human beings who live and work in Detroit, 8 Mile down to the River, \u00a0live with many perceptions of Detroit. \u00a0Jamaal May\u2019s \u201cThere are Birds Here\u201d \u00a0was new to me before a friend sent it, suggesting if for the “Work Day\/Hard Time” poetry list. \u00a0Every poem does best when read aloud, with pauses. \u00a0 Today’s, perhaps, especially so by the 3rd or 4th reading.<\/p>\n

Have a blest day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There Are Birds Here<\/span><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Jamaal May<\/a><\/p>\n

For Detroit<\/em><\/p>\n

There are birds here,
\nso many birds here
\nis what I was trying to say
\nwhen they said those birds were metaphors
\nfor what is trapped
\nbetween buildings
\nand buildings. No.
\nThe birds are here
\nto root around for bread
\nthe girl\u2019s hands tear
\nand toss like confetti. No,
\nI don\u2019t mean the bread is torn like cotton,
\nI said confetti, and no
\nnot the confetti
\na tank can make of a building.
\nI mean the confetti
\na boy can\u2019t stop smiling about
\nand no his smile isn\u2019t much
\nlike a skeleton at all. And no
\nhis neighborhood is not like a war zone.
\nI am trying to say
\nhis neighborhood
\nis as tattered and feathered
\nas anything else,
\nas shadow pierced by sun
\nand light parted
\nby shadow-dance as anything else,
\nbut they won\u2019t stop saying
\nhow lovely the ruins,
\nhow ruined the lovely
\nchildren must be in that birdless city.<\/p>\n

\"JamaalMay\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jamaal May, “There Are Birds Here” from The Big Book of Exit Strategies<\/em>. Copyright \u00a9 2016 by Jamaal May. Reprinted by permission of Alice James Books.<\/p>\n

Source: The Big Book of Exit Strategies<\/em> (Alice James Books, 2016)\u00a0http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/26196185-the-big-book-of-exit-strategies<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday September 7 \u00a0 \u00a0 ”\u00a0And no his neighborhood is not like a war zone” We human beings who live and work in Detroit, 8 Mile down to the River, \u00a0live with many perceptions of Detroit. \u00a0Jamaal May\u2019s \u201cThere are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1971,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1967\/revisions\/1971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}