I Know How the Fly Felt
by Kayla McClurg
Trapped in the window
Between glass and screen,
She hums and crawls
All of two inches
Before hitting a deadend.
Stuck.
Wedged tight
Between helpless and hopeless.
I open the window,
Setting the captive free.
Alleluia!
Sing loud and long of the
Sweet dancing joy of release!
The fly doesn’t move.
Just stays there, clutching the wire bars,
Frozen, staring wide-eyed into her prison.
Even the balmy beckoning breeze
Of this late fall day
Does not distract her
From her desperate clinging confinement.
Her determined avoidance of liberation.
‘A Fly Went By’ by Mike McClintock
The fly ran away
In fear of the frog,
Who ran from the cat,
Who ran from the dog.
The dog ran away
In fear of the pig,
Who ran from the cow.
She was so big!
The cow ran away
From the fox, who ran
As fast as he could
In fear of the man.
That man heard a thump,
And away he ran!”