#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

A wild bird is trapped in our writing studio. As I climb the stairs I startle her into a doomed flight across the room straight into the closed window overlooking the sunlit pond. The junco bangs helplessly against the glass, falls to the floor.

On Wednesday mornings, fresh from my walk in the woods, I lead a women's creative writing workshop in a friend's private room over her garage. Sometimes she leaves the door at the bottom of the stairs open to the outside for our arrival. This morning, I'm the first.

There's a window over the stairwell; I push it open. The screen only swings out so I must prop it open with a large pad of easel paper. I worry the opening won't be wide enough for her to sense or see.

I cross the room to open one nearer the fallen bird. Anxiously, she flits to the other side of the room, bangs into the closed window next to the open one, falls and lands on a stair. I look down on her tiny soft gray head. She's anxiously alert, entirely vulnerable, and completely unharmed. We sit, silent and still.  

Moments later, the door to the outside opens, I quickly call to my friend to be mindful of the little wild bird on the stair. Startled, the junco swiftly alights and flies straight through the only opening - she knows how to be free.

All text and photos copyright Kelly DuMar 2017