Free as a Bird

Janet Thorning
· in ,

When I was nine, I ran away from home. My parents didn’t call the police, so I slept in an alleyway with a baby bird that had fallen from its nest. When I woke up in the morning, the baby bird was dead. I had never touched death before, so I picked it up. It was cold and its eyes were open. Maybe it doesn’t know its dead, I thought. Black clouds formed overhead, so I put the baby bird under my shirt, against my skin. Then I closed my eyes and imagined the rain was love and I was warm and the baby bird was alive again.

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Janet Thorning lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and three children. Janet is currently working on her first poetry chapbook and her first novel, and she has recently published in the Boston Literary Magazine, The Rambler, Arabesques Review, and 971 MENU. Upcoming publications include, Cadenza Magazine and Bateau Press.