Dream of Flying by Janet Ruth

          -after Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Green Parrot” (Paris, Autumn 1886)

With no means to pay models,
I sat in dark museums
painting things that were dead—
plaster statuettes minus limbs and heads,
pairs of old boots, still lives with dead fish,
flowers drooping from vases,
and this parrot that was once alive.

Posed by some long-dead taxidermist,
frozen forever in this shape of flight—
just before escape
and therefore, never free.
Although I tried to imagine the parrot
gone—escaped—with screeching—
when I opened my eyes,
he was still there—
wings spread,
clutching a branch
or some unrequited dream,
perched in a dusty corner.

But there was this shaft of light
that illuminated his yellow head,
scarlet at bend of wing,
beneath his tail.
And I saw him—
as Rembrandt would have rendered him,
if he had been inclined to paint a parrot—
a spark, lit to push back
the darkness.
This is how I painted him,
and in my mind
                              he flew.



Janet Ruth is a NM ornithologist and poet. Her writing focuses on connections to the natural world. Recent poems in ABQ inPrint, Ekphrastic Review and anthologies including The Nature of Our Times (Paloma Press). Her book, Feathered Dreams (Mercury HeartLink) was a finalist for the 2018 NM/AZ Book Awards. https://redstartsandravens.com/janets-poetry/