Even with the lights off 
in the dining room, 
a cover over his cage 
hiding moon shining in 
our yard’s dark green 
leaves and bushes, 
a small forest, like Klee’s, 
within his view but 
that he never reached. 

Alone, in the dark, 
perhaps lonely for the forest 
he knew was beyond his cage, 
Mr. Tweety only sang 
when my father 
finally arrived home, 
near midnight. 

Even before Daddy’s hand 
reached the room’s light switch 
that bird began to sing, and 
I would get out of bed 
to watch and listen 
as my dad cleaned 
the cage and fed Mr. Tweety, 
who continued to serenade 
while Daddy ate his own supper. 

I wonder if Klee also had a canary 
and if that’s why he drew a flock 
of them spread out 
in a darkened forest, each bird 
with a hopeful look on its 
tiny face, like Mr. Tweety, 
each ready to reward 
someone they love with joyous song—
perhaps each other or 
the artist who gave them life on canvas? 
Or, maybe, the song is for us, 
we who admire the painting, 
to remind us that even in the dark 
even a small bird recognizes love. 

Landscape with Yellow Birds (oil on canvas, 1923)
by Paul Klee is held in a private collection.

Publisher’s Notes:

Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a German artist who was born in Switzerland into a family of musicians. A childhood love of music influenced his art throughout his life. His inventive canvases also reflected the influence of Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism, and he is widely considered as the father of abstract painting.

Image above was accessed on 7 April 2023 via The Evergreen State College archives (Nature: Image and Object):
https://archives.evergreen.edu/webpages/curricular/2007-2008/nature/paul-klee-figure-46-landscape-with-yellow-birds-1923.html

For an interesting musical interpretation, see “No. 33 Landscape with Yellow Birds” from Paul Klee: Painted Songs composed by Jonathan Posthuma, with Yoshi Weinberg on flute; in this four-minute video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLoSLR7jOKc

Joan Leotta

plays with words on page and stage. She performs tales featuring food, family, nature, and strong women. In addition to her ten published books, her varied writings have appeared or are forthcoming in The Ekphrastic Review, Pinesong, Brass Bell, Verse Visual, anti-heroin chic, Silver Birch, Ovunquesiamo, Verse Virtual, Poetry in Plain Sight, Gargoyle, and others. Her chapbook Feathers on Stone was published by Main Street Rag in November 2022, and can be ordered from the author as well as from the publisher.

Ms. Leotta is a 2021 Pushcart nominee. Her microfiction “Magic Slippers” received the Penny Fiction 2021 award and was anthologized in From the Depths (Issue 19, Haunted Waters Press). In early 2022, she was named a runner-up in the Frost Foundation Poetry Competition. And her poem “Magritte’s Apple Explains It All” was nominated for Best of the Net 2023 by The Ekphrastic Review.