River of Words - Art and Poetry - 2010 Poetry Winners

“The world’s children are perhaps its most truthful and sensitive observers.”

—Pamela Michael, River of Words co-founder

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Blue Jay, Black Cat

I remember how you looked
in that sugar-dusted Christmas tree,
your blue wings shining between
white and green.

I remember how you flew
beneath the stone sky,
your delicate body
a contrast with stormy gray.

I remember how I woke that morning
and blood spattered the snow,
how my black cat stalked away
with a glint in his eye
and your feathers on his chin.

I remember how that night
the cat curled up on my lap
in a ball
of seeming sinlessness,
how my fingers stroked his silk head,
and he touched his cold nose to my palm.

Though I love him,
he is built to kill.
Your absence
in trees and beneath sky
is the brutal proof.

2010 Finalist
Heidi M. Ziegra, age 13
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Center for Teaching and Learning (Edgecomb)
Teacher: Nancie Atwell