Goldfinch

A cento from Mary Oliver’s "Blue Horses" that got cut from "Each One a Furnace"

Photo by Aaron J Hill from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/american-goldfinch-bird-on-brown-tree-branch-10466594/

Entered the forest of my body,
The briefest of fires.
opening slowly, and very slowly rising—
as the doe in her summer-red coat
Let the goldfinches be furnished their humble dinner.
of imagination.
What’s magical, sometimes, has deeper roots
When it is cold they will be given blankets of leaves.

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Note:

Goldfinch: The sequential lines of “Goldfinch” constitute a cento from poems in Mary Oliver’s 2014 collection, “Blue Horses.” Each line is from (sequentially): (1) The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac; (2) The Oak Tree Loves Patience; (3) First Yoga Lesson; (4) To Shiva; (5) On Not Mowing the Lawn; (6) A Little Ado About This and That; (7) Such Silence; and (8) The Country of the Trees.