Tectonic Shift

We don’t lift up someone who is standing still.

But we can point to the foothold that is worn

From the feet of others

And if someone were to reach up

We can grasp and pull

And maybe they can climb too

Break this smallest breach

To reach what matters

This thing more precious

Than water or food.

— Neil Frederick, Brown County

The Sounds

The birds outside my window

Sing

In ways, I never fully heard

Perhaps hear today

This

Intricate

Theatric

Perpetuating rhythm

Sometimes high inflection

The complexity of their

Voice

Punctuating the something

Of everything specific

That seems to

Take my soul along to sing

Another life

Language of

Fear and fight

Procreation

Survival

Perhaps on a tree

In my yard

Still other places

Universal

Auschwitz

Berlin

Relenting to the Russians

Death among occasional pitched sounds

Of birds

And journalistic words

Victory and loss

A Man’s Search for Meaning

Crusts on the ground

Unleavened

Sanctity for the feathered

This love in the heaven of now

Our silent dead

And sound.

— Neil Frederick, Brown County

Brown County residents or others with a Brown County connection can submit original poems to Poet’s Corner by emailing them to [email protected] or mailing to P.O. Box 277, Nashville, IN 47448. Include your name and town of residence.