Orioles symbolize joy and positivity. Put jelly in your feeder and they may come to you.

This poem appeared in the League of Canadian Poets’ Poetry Pause in 2023.

A PRESCRIPTION FOR ANXIETY

First—and do this
late in the evening—
make jelly (follow package
directions carefully)
pouring the concoction—
and all perceived personal failures
—into shallow glass jars.

Make one jar ruby for a shattered
worn out heart, and another jar
cerulean for heaving broken lungs,
and another clear as diamonds
—an amulet of protection
against a cloudy, contrary brain.

Add splashes of slow and painful,
sudden and unfinished, deathbed
drama, or alone and unloved.
Take your pick.

Put the jars into the refrigerator
and go to sleep (fitfully
if you must.)

Very early in the morning
walk in dew to a willow tree
(willows are best because
—when burdened—
they simply let go twigs)
and place the jelly jars
in its branches.

(If you wish, dance briefly
beneath the tree, lithe
or lumbering, it’s all the same.)

Go back inside, make tea
and watch orioles
whisk the jelly away—
fleeting jewels
in the brooding
sun-flicked sky.

Photo Credit: Katherine Matiko