Island of the Birds

by Bluecat

Published January 16, 2016

E - Everyone

In Poetry

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As you step in, the island seems small

Floored by grasses and permeated with fog

Everything is in place and everything seems still

Then you look to your right and there is a swan

In a small lake, demure, bearing a coat of snow

You turn to your right and spy many conflated trees

Broad and tall, conquering the earth

Then you feel a surge of energy spread throughout

You look back to the lake, where the water is empty

Then, a swallow flutters from the trees

Just one speck in an endless sky

A cardinal of deep red traces a line from a tree

Streaming in the air, letting out a short chatter

And soon, the entire sky explodes with color

You see an assemblage of birds going every which way

There are circling blue jays

Like sapphires fluttering next to one another

Plus the macaws with feathers of a rainbow

And jasper-eyed owls

gracefully gliding on a pillow of air 

Thousands of pastels blending in with one another

Each color being important to the masterpiece above you

Each color being unique

None are alike

But they are all beautiful

And they have all bloomed together

Comments & reviews · 2
User avatar
RSTorres
Review
RSTorres wrote a review Review · Jan 17, 2016

I can feel every single thing the narrator is feeling. I could also see and experience every thing going on. I had to come out of myself and calm down before I actually myself. As weird and cliche as that sounds, it was true. Remember those breathing exercises we do to calm down and go to another place? I had the same calming effect right after reading this piece of yours. Thank you for that. I needed it.

Wow.

The tone is great! I loved every part of it. I also found the imagery slaying with perfection! Overall, awesome job and I sincerely hope to see more!

Thank you so much! I will definitely write more

User avatar
Arathorth
Review
Arathorth wrote a review Review · Jan 17, 2016

Hey! I'm here to review, so here goes:

I love this poem. I can guess that you intended to transport readers to a new place and I can safely say you've achieved that. You build up such incredible imagery and your description builds your poem beautifully, so well done.

There's no real structure or rhyming pattern, which is OK - that just means I have less to talk about. One formatting thing I would say is to consider splitting the poem into stanzas. You have a lot of different ideas and I think by paragraphing these the poem will flow better. For example, you'd have the introductory stanza, then the swan, then the trees, then the lake etc. All of these ideas can be defined with a simple space between them

The thing is with good poems is that I can never find anything to criticise them on. I'm looking pretty hard, but I really can't find anything. That's definitely the sign of a great poet! Instead of criticism, I'll just pick my favourite line:

In a small lake, demure, bearing a coat of snow


and

And jasper-eyed owls / gracefully gliding on a pillow of air


These lines in particular capture your skill at conjuring up images of the island. I love this poem, and look forward to seeing what other work you create. Good job!

Keep writing!

Thank you very much for your compliments!



Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.
— Dr. Amelia Brand, Interstellar