Building Birds
Hunting images and words, entering this in Gabrielle’s Challenge, link after poem

Images bombard me,
phrases running around in my head
with no place to land
and rest their beautiful words and images,
the jigsaw puzzle
still in pieces on the dining room table,
completion at bay, teasing, waiting
in fragments, refusing
to allow dinner to be served.
Scarlet staccato sunlight,
the sun on summer sorghum,
pathetic puddles lying muddily near raging rivers,
criticizing the flow
from stagnation
ending in evaporation.
These misfit images revolve around my mind,
revising themselves,
circling like hawks,
keen eyes laser focused on the landscape below,
searching for prey, another smaller image
to tear talons into, snatching it up
and carrying it far away, only to smash it
on the ground and devour it,
word by delicious word,
becoming a more complete, more complex bird,
perhaps ready to build a nest,
an aerie atop the most ancient conifer,
a sacred, unstructured sanctuary
composed of sticks, ribbons, straw,
and miscellaneous scraps and threads
of this and that, things you would never
recognize as useful, much less
beautiful,
where other birds will someday
peck their way out of their fragile shells,
fierce, dainty things
with fluffy feathers
and screaming beaks.
✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️✍️
https://shopping-feedback.today/poets/the-creative-endeavor-unofficial-poetry-challenge%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="1x3zcuc-StoryContent">.css-1x3zcuc-StoryContent{pointer-events:none;}
About the Creator
Harper Lewis
I'm a weirdo nerd who’s extremely subversive. I like rocks, incense, and all kinds of witchy stuff. Intrusive rhyme bothers me.
I’m known as Dena Brown to the revenuers and pollsters.
MA English literature, College of Charleston
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Excellent storytelling
Original narrative & well developed characters
Expert insights and opinions
Arguments were carefully researched and presented
Eye opening
Niche topic & fresh perspectives
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
On-point and relevant
Writing reflected the title & theme



Comments (11)
The Metaphor here is working sooo well. Happy belated congrats on Top Story! Thoroughly enjoyed!
Look at you before we even met and my clear svengali influence was upon you you were already a winner. 🤣 This was astonishing and a great look at your process. Especially now I've consumed a lot. Well done lassie
You had me with the image...all my favorite colors...all the way into the deep, the whole time my fluffy feathers shaking about as I peck!
Ahh so this is what it looks like to follow a prompt 🤔
Lovely piece! I especially like the phrase, "Scarlet staccato sunlight." 💜
The imagery in this piece is absolutely mesmerizing — the way thoughts and fragments take flight as hawks circling above is both vivid and haunting. I love how the poem captures the restless beauty of creativity, refusing to settle yet always building toward something sacred. Truly captivating work!
This story by Milan Millic fed so many of my birds: https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/borrowed-moon?modal=open
I love the metaphor, congrats on top story.
Never considered the imagery of ideas and distractions as birds of many kinds. Very interesting.
nice writing
Breathtaking work, Harper! This is a poem I will surely read again. Congratulations on your top story!