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In Childhood we hear stories that affect our lives and how we grow to adulthood. This tale, The Ugly Duckling, from The Brothers Grimm was a favorite. I did not realize that I was identifying with this cygnet, and how true its story would resemble my own life, and the need to break the mold of what I was supposed to be, according to the norms of society, as to who, and what I am. A poem of tribute follows.
Duckling
July 15, 2015
Gouache 12 x 16
Duckling
Felt
ugly did I
They
said so
some
blunt, commanding
many
with
looks and sighs, too polite
in
pretense of civility that I
did
not fit
in the
landscape
nursed
on Jim Crow milk spiked
with Johns,
Calvin and Wesley
parsimonious
with kindness
cursed
from birth by a loving god
(He slyly bargained a deal)
Bordering
the green or fallow fields
of the
farms, of the town
is the
forest, the mysterious forest
where
creatures, not human, live
(far away you are told
is the fright of cities
where they flock)
inherited
lies of the good news
to be
reaped at death
it has
taken those who have gone before
weighted
down with rocks carved with their names
silently
waiting for the return
of the
ancient godly one
off to heaven
off to war
off to work
off to the store
voices,
looks
sound the malaise
you
are ugly
your
words cannot chant their song
cannot
dance to their rituals
though
you try and try
and
try
you
are ugly
lost
among others, like you
with
arms and legs and eyes and mouth
hearts
and minds
some
minds
have
stopped thinking
stopped
questioning
while
yours spins and flies
a
circling bird
looking
for the coveted
source
someday
you
will be a pretty bird
flying
free
flocking with others
the
good citizens of the world
all
the same flock
a
rainbow of colors
of
wing shapes
beaks
that sing different songs
eat
different foods
whole
as one
together
you
will fly
all
free
in the
sky
and
nest on land
in
trees and forests
mountains
and prairies
soar
into and above the sea
free
birds
all of
you
flocking
in one
habitat
one
parent
one
planet
home
J.
Frase-White
With
thanks to the Brothers Grimm and one special cygnet
15
July 2015
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