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DRINKING BIRDS by Nanci Bern

 I love watching birds…

The ease with which they hold their power, the intelligence they have that we are just beginning to appreciate, the swoop of flight that makes me swoon.

One blustery afternoon I was having a coffee at a favorite café that looked out at the local mountain. I was marveling at the hawks that were flying over it. While sipping my coffee and watching them my senses got the best of the situation and my gaze of flight and sense of taste became enmeshed and I wondered what it would be like to drink a bird.

Drinking Birds
by Nanci Bern

What would it be like to fly?
To have the fluid of flight careen down your throat
and lift you off the ground.
What would it be like to fly?
To spread arms of feathers
that shine with the sun
and take the moonlight
like a lotion of reflection.
But like the beat of a wing that pushes forward,
do we not, in our footed way,
soar like the birds when we unfurl ourselves
toward our gathered dreams?
Our paths are paved with our soul prints.
Our lives echo off one another.
And if not a thing of flight, what is it when
two meet and have a dialogue of soul?
This is our nature’s flight.
It is like drinking birds.

Nanci Bern: Inspired, amused and sometimes befuddled by the creatures we call ourselves—nature, the arts, the spirit and the mind, cosmic or otherwise—she is ever in awe of the spectrum of life. Born hearing, feeling, seeing and knowing her way toward the energetic and emotional imprint of many realms, Nanci’s first awareness of healing was in the 4th grade when she put her hands on one of her stuffed animals and said to herself, “If I out my hands on her, I can heal her.” Whether her fingers are tapping out her latest work on the keyboard, or delivering relief through her healing work, teaching the spiritual path, pouring lodge water, eco-art therapy and social justice work; Naci’s goal is to infuse and inspire your spirit with healing, humor and the thoughtfulness of natural inquiry. Visit her healing website here, and blog here. Her essays, non-fiction and poems have been featured in various online journals and her poems have also been composed to, danced to and displayed. Learn more on her literary website The Cenafinla Illuminations. Nancy is a gardening lush who dances, meditates and cajoles with the garden Devas of all the seasons. Loves to play in the snow, laugh, share thoughts, make jewelry and cook up and serve on carious sets of dishes, delicious meals for anyone who is willing to try anything. Warning: don't be ambushed by her humor - it sneaks up on you in the middle of the night.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!
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