Hope

Very nice. I particularly like the strong use of repeated past participles (prinked, blinked, lined, petitioned, caged) which are also all adjectival/descriptive/passive until the final one (released) which is a nice, telling switch, of course, into an active verb (well, of course, it is a passive but you know what I mean). I like the use of an apparently small idea to act as a metaphor for a very big one (hope), and I think there is a wonderful interplay of thoughts and ideas between the two. My worry is that I wouldn't have picked up on the budgerigar notion without what it says in the 'teaser'. If the poem were published elsewhere, it wouldn't have the help of the 'teaser', so I'm wondering if the title needs altering slightly. Maybe something that didn't refer directly to either the metaphor or the idea (the feeling) might be an idea here. I wondered about 'Caged', 'Uncaged', 'The cage'. However I am slow to pick up on verbal cues in poems, to my endless frustration, so maybe others will take a very different view. The poem is lovely though.

Yes, well, I definitely didn't want to have budgie in the title - something vaguely 'Fergie' about that, though it crossed my mind, but Caged or Uncaged might be an idea, indeed. I'll ponder and return. Thanks for comment :)