Author’s Note

A bird cannot stay in the sky when the sickness has spread through its entire body. And no amount of arguing over which wing is responsible will change the condition of the bird itself.

This piece is a short, sharp political metaphor about division, corruption, and the danger of treating opposing sides as separate problems when the larger system is already failing. It doesn’t linger to build an elaborate argument; it drops into the image, lets the wings beat against the ground, and leaves the reader with the sound of something collapsing.

Sometimes the question isn’t which wing is right.

Sometimes it’s whether the bird can survive at all.

— Rowan Evans


A sick bird with damaged wings lies on a cracked landscape, symbolizing division and systemic corruption.
When the whole bird is sick, arguing over its wings won’t save it.

Sick Bird
Poetry by Rowan Evans

Left wing or right wing?
I don’t give a fuck—
it doesn’t matter,
if the whole bird
is sick and corrupt—

the whole bird is going down—
flapping wild on the ground—
death rattle, our final sound—


Journey into the Hexverse

If you’re interested in more poetry, you can find it here → [The Library of Ashes]

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