Beautiful Caged Bird

She watches through the metal bars

Pacing, waiting, restless

Everyone watches, “how nice,” they say

But this isn’t how it’s supposed to be--

A bird deprived of honor.

Her wings are meant for soaring;

For when her colors whistle by

They amplify the vibrancy of the shades down below

She dances like light, bouncing off of mirrors

And the radiant beams of energy linger after she’s--

Gone

Her song is the glistening magic of expression—

Such a shame to be locked up

Did she choose this captivity?

Conformity and uniformity

Are not words for The Effervescent

Being a stereotype and cliché

Doesn’t sit right when one has colors so distinctive

Following directions like a mindless sheep

Is like putting on a mask and pretending to be a pigeon

Doing something exactly as someone else deems

Perfect--

Yeah.

Not me.

My heart pulsates with the vision

There is music and texture

My wings can soar and I feel so intensely

And I think--

I think in pure, potent pigments

But this black crowd makes me squirm

It is starved of dimension

So tell me right, I’ll go left

Tell me perfect and I’ll mess it up to spite you

My rebellion is not from anger

It’s because you’re throwing a sack of gravel on my head

And telling me I look nice.

There is so much inside me that wants to emerge

To imprint on those I love, to connect through what I produce

And even if I can’t tell you exactly what I imagine

Imagination is sacred and I need to explore

And this cage feels so suffocating and humid and wrong

But you tell me I must squelch this if I want a good life

And yet--

I am still here

As I always was

Perched in this small rigid structure

And I’m wearing your outfit

Replicating your nuances

Choosing this cage?

It’s called reality.

That dumb thing that means my kids need a school

And I need friends, even if most of them are superficial

I need community.

But I’ll you a secret

I have a trap door

And when you’re not looking, I slip out at night

                And

                                Fly

I fly into the night and parade my vibrant colors

Passing stars I feel energy; I feel strong and alive

I soar and I glide and relish the freedom

Because I am freedom and freedom is creativity

And I need my creativity to love and feel whole

And you can’t cage my vitality behind metal teeth!

Sometimes--

No, usually

                                I hide

My gems

Though I wear your costume, and live in your world

I despise it and so

I keep one of my cherished feathers

                At the foot

                                Of my cage.