Karen McCarthy Woolf: An Aviary of Small Birds
An Aviary of Small Birds
My love is an aviary
of small birds
and I must learn
to leave the door ajar…
Are you the sparrow
who landed when I sat
at a slate table
sowing lettuces?
Webbs Wonder, Lollo
Rosso, English Cos…
Swift and deft
you flit and peck peck
quick as the light that
constitutes your spirit.
Yes, you were briefer
than Neruda’s octobrine.
So much rain that night.
Our room is an ocean
where swallows dive.
The bubble bursts
too soon, too late, too long:
all sorts of microscopia
swim upstream, float in
on summer’s storm.
The tenor of your heart
is true as a tuning fork struck
—and high! My love
is the bird who flies free.
Discussion Questions
In ‘An Aviary of Small Birds’ what thoughts or feelings did this poem generate in you?
How does Karen McCarthy Woolf’s use of the extended metaphor of a bird(s) in flight communicate her grief and loss?
Would you recommend poetry, essays, novels, or any kind of literature to your patients, colleagues, students (or friends and family) as a way to open up discussions about reproductive trauma? In doing this, what should you be mindful of?
Reflections from #MedHumChat
“I immediately connected to the feeling of letting go—learning “to leave the door ajar”. For me, this move to acceptance has been a core part of my parenting experience and I way I've dealt with loss”—@bioethicsjosie
“I felt all sorts of emotions. To me, a bird symbolizes hope and freedom, yet this is a poem about profound loss. I felt that loss, but the image of birds added hope”—@Moodboard16
“To me it encapsulates that loss is a necessary part of the existence of love. Without leaving the door to the aviary ajar (vulnerability to loss), the birds (love) are trapped (diminished). But I may be projecting since I've been pondering this concept lately”—@MGraceOliver
“To me, this represents how emotions can seem to have own will and independence, how we may often feel completely over them until a sudden reminder evokes them. They come and go like birds with an open cage, roosting at home in your heart in dark days, but otherwise free.”—@czaw13
About this #MedHumChat
“An Aviary of Small Birds” was paired with “Shame, Denial and Reproductive Trauma: the conversations we need to have, and don’t,” an essay by Eliot North for a #MedHumChat discussion September 4, 2019 exploring Reproductive Trauma: Ending the Silence.
We were honored to be joined by special guest Josephine Johnston (@bioethicsjosie). Ms. Johnston is an expert on the ethical, legal, and policy implications of biomedical technologies, particularly as used in human reproduction, psychiatry, genetics, and neuroscience. In addition to numerous scholarly publications, her commentaries have appeared in Stat News, The New Republic, Time, Washington Post, and The Scientist.
The pieces for this chat, along with the discussion questions, were selected by Eliot North.
About the Author
Karen McCarthy Woolf (@KMcCarthyWoolf) is an award-winning poet who holds a Prairie Schooner Glenna Luschei Editors’ Prize and a doctorate from the University of London for her research into diversifying ecocritical discourse. You can learn more about her here.