Week 5 Winning Poem

"My Place".
It’s hard,
Waiting for happiness to
build a nest inside me.
It takes time
for the sprigs and thistles
to connect.

Other birds flap and flurry
Surrounding me in a race, a whirlwind,
Passing me in a moment
but never seeing.
I get lost a lot
in the middle of “Wait, stay with me. Don’t go.”
I learned being alone
isn’t about proximity but belonging.

I found a room today
With silken drapes
Open and inviting.
My wings lifted beneath me
And I entered
Through the glass of the air.

I found so many birds inside.
Others, just like me.
They never move,
Their ashen wings frozen in flight,
I study how uncontained they are,
And I feel home.

They don’t talk a lot.
But they sure can listen,
And I can be myself,
Unrequitedly.

“Wait, stay with me, don’t go."
I say. And the birds in the wall
They stay.

I’m tired of waiting for happiness
To swoop in unpredicted.
I’m building my own nest inside,
With pieces of silk drape and ashen wing.

And together we sing the most beautiful song:
My wallpaper friends and me.