The sparrows that mate on wires by Carole Giangrande

Poem name: The sparrows that mate on wires Poet name: Carole Giangrande Poem: will never roost in trees again. Having struck claws to dry bark and fled, they have grown restive, electric. They’ll never ascend to heaven, never return from the taut perch humming under two tails fanning sky. Watch them — they are like no others, held as they are in the love of earth, their claws tight to the wire, while Spring throws the switch juice pumping the air blue as under their thrumming bodies, high-voltage current flows and all the lights in the world go on. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Carole Giangrande Previously published in People, Places, Passages: An Anthology of Canadian Writing (Longbridge Books, 2018). Carole Giangrande is a novelist and poet and the author of eleven books, including the award-winning novels All That Is Solid Melts Into Air and The Tender Birds. Her novella, A Gardener On The Moon won the Ken Klonsky prize, awarded by Quattro Books. Her poetry has appeared in Canadian and U.S. journals (Grain, Queens Quarterly, The New Quarterly, Spiritus, Prairie Fire, Mudlark and Braided Way) and her poetry chapbook, The Frailty of Living Things, has just been published by Aeolus House (2021). Her first poetry collection, This May Be The Year, is forthcoming from Inanna. She’s also an essayist (and Pushcart Prize nominee) and a children’s writer. Born and raised in the New York City area, she now lives in Toronto where she spends a lot of time photographing birds and enjoying nature in the city.