My Grandmother Told Fortunes – a poem
My grandmother told the fortunes
of caged birds, plucked yellow
or orange feathers, burned them
over coals - reads the grey
smoke like prayers
or tomorrow’s headlines:
“A certain bird in a certain city,
in a specific house will not sing.”
The bird trembles at the bottom
of a cage – eyed by a blue sky
bluer than the eyes of a Siamese cat.
I sit in a corner throwing
sparrow bones, Ask her, “
“But what, what does it mean?”
© 2025 Chris Leibow — Salt Lake City artist and poet.
poetry, collage art, mixed media,
Explore more art at leibow.art.
Christopher
Christopher Leibow is a poet, visual artist and a sensei is a lay minister with Bright Dawn Way of Oneness Buddhism and is the sensei and founder of the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship which he has led for ten years. He has had his art and poetry published international. He lives in Salt Lake City and spends his time with his two youing boys Teague and Ronen
