Selected Poetry by Kris Green

Photo Source: Unsplash

Little Bird

Little bird, why do you sing?

You poor thing,

It’s four in the morning and yet, you chirp chirp chirp.

It’s too dark to see the sun,

From here, we can’t see the moon or stars?

Little bird, why have you built your nest here?

The parking lot has one tree.

Under bright fluorescent lights, you don’t even see the dark.

Can’t you go and explore the world,

Find the dark, so that maybe you can experience the real light.

Yet, here I am. Chirp chirp chirp.

Why do I settle for the things that are temporary?

Why do I hide from the Son, filling myself up with poor substitutions?

It’s early in the morning and I stir and I sing.

Afraid of the dark, knowing that in it, I might one day see the real light.

Mud

Your words don’t mean anything if your actions don’t follow.

I don’t want your balloons or your empty gestures.

You only speak in religious riddles,

At me, not to me.

Forgiveness is like rain washing away this mud.

Why am I stuck getting dirty again?

Why can’t I let these things go?

Am I in a drought? 

You had a point when you said, I didn’t want anybody to tell me what to do.

I’ll give you that.

Wouldn’t relationship cure this disconnect?

The tires are stuck going in circles, mud killing traction.

The clouds are dark above.

I plead for rain.

I want to let go of the past.

I don’t wanna be angry anymore.

Kris Green lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and two savage children. He’s been published over 60 times in the last few years by the wonderful people at Nifty Lit, The Haberdasher: Peddlers of Literary Art, In Parentheses Magazine, Route 7 Review, BarBar Magazine, and many more. He won the 2023 Barbe Best Short Story and Reader’s Choice Award for his short story, “Redemption”. Currently, he has regular nonfiction articles being published by Solid Food Press on fatherhood entitled: “On Raising Savages”.

If you would like to learn more about Kris, you can find him on Facebook here and on Instagram here.