Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Songbird” by Guy Elston.

---

Songbird

By Guy Elston

Nothing worse than forgetting a good first line.

No matter – open throat, vent lilt.

I’ve got a license to trill. The power that made me

blessed me, I swear, no concept of quality

inhibiting me now. I’m a verse of nature.

Hook of inherent self-singing. Bridge of skies.

To revisit, revise – these insecurities

are empty as prizes. What’s certain is voice,

only. There’s an old songbird joke:

Q – How do you tell a happy song from a sad song?

A – I’m sorry, were you singing something?

That’s the problem with being naturally gifted.

I pour out fresh, flawless soul each morning –

so do all the others. I hope trees listen.

---

Copyright © Guy Elston

Previously published in The Character Actor Convention (The Porcupine’s Quill, 2025).

Guy Elston is a UK-born, Toronto-based poet. His debut full-length collection is The Character Actor Convention (The Porcupine’s Quill, 2025). His poems have appeared in The Malahat Review, The Ex-Puritan, Grain, The Literary Review of Canada and elsewhere.

---

Subscribe to Poetry Pause, or support Poetry Pause with a donation today!

---