{"id":3653,"date":"2020-10-16T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T04:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3653"},"modified":"2020-10-16T08:55:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T12:55:07","slug":"jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/10\/16\/jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaal May  &#8220;There are birds here&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, October 16 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd no<br \/>\nhis neighborhood is not like a war zone\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We, who live and work in Detroit \u2013 8 Mile Road down to the River \u2013 live 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 \u201cWork Day\/Hard Time\u201d poetry list.<\/p>\n<p>Every poem does best when read out loud, with pauses \u2013 today\u2019s, perhaps, especially so by the 3rd or 4th reading. \u00a0Detroit alive with vitality while carrying wounds as well.<\/p>\n<p>Have a blest weekend,<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nToday\u2019s Post \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cThere Are Birds Here\u201d<br \/>\nFor Detroit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are birds here,<br \/>\nso many birds here<br \/>\nis what I was trying to say<br \/>\nwhen they said those birds were metaphors<br \/>\nfor what is trapped<br \/>\nbetween buildings<br \/>\nand buildings. No.<\/p>\n<p>The birds are here<br \/>\nto root around for bread<br \/>\nthe girl\u2019s hands tear<br \/>\nand toss like confetti. No,<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t mean the bread is torn like cotton,<br \/>\nI said confetti, and no<br \/>\nnot the confetti<br \/>\na tank can make of a building.<\/p>\n<p>I mean the confetti<br \/>\na boy can\u2019t stop smiling about<br \/>\nand no his smile isn\u2019t much<br \/>\nlike a skeleton at all. And no<br \/>\nhis neighborhood is not like a war zone.<\/p>\n<p>I am trying to say<br \/>\nhis neighborhood<br \/>\nis as tattered and feathered<br \/>\nas anything else,<\/p>\n<p>as shadow pierced by sun<br \/>\nand light parted<br \/>\nby shadow-dance as anything else,<br \/>\nbut they won\u2019t stop saying<br \/>\nhow lovely the ruins,<br \/>\nhow ruined the lovely<br \/>\nchildren must be in that birdless city.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2016\/09\/JamaalMay.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1968\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2016\/09\/JamaalMay.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"133\" height=\"133\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n1982-<\/p>\n<p>Jamaal May, \u201cThere Are Birds Here\u201d from\u00a0The Big Book of Exit Strategies.<br \/>\nCopyright \u00a9 2016 by Jamaal May. Reprinted by permission of Alice James Books.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goodreads.com%2Fbook%2Fshow%2F26196185-the-big-book-of-exit-strategies&amp;data=02%7C01%7Cketterrd%40udmercy.edu%7Cefd664823e6d476c875f08d81c31f164%7Cc8a4c2d8bd6840bab8b67522be9a7171%7C0%7C0%7C637290348147018304&amp;sdata=TUEdOFcMbQcw6HrkFU58fAdiTZlAy4rgQqD40Q2dyfE%3D&amp;reserved=0\">http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/26196185-the-big-book-of-exit-strategies<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, October 16 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd no his neighborhood is not like a war zone\u201d We, who live and work in Detroit \u2013 8 Mile Road down to the River \u2013 live with many perceptions of Detroit. \u00a0Jamaal May\u2019s \u201cThere are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/10\/16\/jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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\/3653"}],"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=3653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3654,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3653\/revisions\/3654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}