The Little Black Bird: A Poem For The Other Woman Poem by RIC BASTASA

the little black bird
goes home in a cave
just below her belly
between
her legs

it sings about love
that she always kills
for nothing

before midnight the
blackbird flies
seeking the warmth
of other blackbirds
it is cold and
dying
in her keeping

now she sings alone
like a blackbird
cursing
the trees and the flowers

she wants to disown the
blackbird
in exchange for the
earthworm

she likes it that way
wriggling
without any feet at all
pointed and
penetrating

the curse continues
it can never be hers
and the blackbird
keeps coming back
mocking her like
an old man