My name is Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
you sing it my name
I turned into a bluebird last summer, I flew
through all the South. My wings are blue
and I touch the sky.
At first, I decided I was never coming back.
I took off my black
housedress. I knew freedom
was not the act of flying,
but the steady beat of wings.
It was my steady black,
blue and my blues were gone,
I wanted to be
a bird and became.
Copyright © 2020 Tyree Daye. From Cardinal (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). Used with permission of the author and Copper Canyon Press (coppercanyonpress.org)