How the Hummingbird Came to Be by Matthew Friday
Something was missing from Creation.
Almost all extremes had been explored,
but imagination still conjured tricks.
So the Creator left a niche for Being to fill,
frantically on the edge of starvation, needing
to feed every two hours or die, so much
sugar to keep impossible wings beating,
cells racing on the edge of atomic function.
There needed to be just less than enough
flowers for desperate tongues to find
liquid sun. The Creator added aggression
so that not even miracles were spared.
For there to be diversity despite the mix
of impossible ingredients is the miracle.
Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has been published in numerous international journals, including, recently: Dawntreader (UK), The Dillydoun Review (USA), VerbalArt (India), and Lunch Ticket (USA). The micro-chapbooks All the Ways to Love, The Residents, Waters of Oregon and The Words Unsaid were published by the Origami Poems Project (USA). Matthew is a 2021 Pushcart Prize nominated poet.