The Knowing by Rebecca Gomezrueda

Upon stepping outside this afternoon

I was delighted to find a little bird

With comically short legs

A round middle

And a friendly sort of face

Perched on the roof of my car.

I warmed with the want to introduce myself

To say hello I am me

And you, sir or madam

Are a fetching surprise.

I am beguiled by your round black eyes and baby beak

And I want you to like me so much that it's embarrassing

But the lovely little thing met my gaze

And flew away

Not to hurt my feelings

But just because it had other places to be.

I wonder if the bird had known without my telling it

That it was precious and delighting

I'm sure it must have

Nature ought to know that it needs no audience to be beautiful

Whereas I

Am still learning how to dress myself

Without using a person for a mirror.

Is it really okay

For no one to look at me and wonder

Whether or not I know?

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Rebecca Gomezrueda is a Philadelphia area poet, playwright, and speculative fiction writer. Her short stories and poems have appeared in The Drabblecast and Apocrypha and Abstractions among other markets. Recently, her first stage play The Clinic premiered in the 2019 Philadelphia Fringe Festival with Lone Brick Theatre Company.