“FLIGHT” by Chastity Rodriguez

by Chastity Rodriguez

Winner- Best Writing

Puerto Rican parrot in your gilded cage, take flight!

Rely not on hand-fed morsels of the good life

Instead 

Recapture your true nature and 

Risk the wild 

Rely on the instincts 

That have grown dull with disuse 

Trust them again and 

Seek sustenance of your own choosing 

Remember your other roots

The front stoops of public housing 

Where amongst the street-savvy pigeons 

You first learned to fly 

Shedding the dulled dirty grey of your mask 

For the flashing greens, blues, reds and yellows of your essence 

Revisit that stoop

Share your adventures, your lessons 

And watch 

As another Puerto Rican parrot in disguise

Takes flight!

The Puerto Rican amazon, also known as the Puerto Rican parrot or iguaca, is the only extant parrot endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico, and belongs to the Neotropical genus Amazona.