With the immediacy of an op-ed and the narrative feel of a memoir, Catbird embodies the visceral response—angst and exasperating sense of helplessness inflamed by the distance between the will of the people and our national policy, and the bewilderment we feel—to the barbaric violence and violations of human rights happening in Ukraine. Set against the background of seasonal drama in the bird world, it has the sense of a fable, while still holding all the anxiety of the contemporary events we are living through, witnessing, mourning, and opposing.
With the immediacy of an op-ed and the narrative feel of a memoir, Catbird embodies the visceral response—angst and exasperating sense of helplessness inflamed by the distance between the will of the people and our national policy, and the bewilderment we feel—to the barbaric violence and violations of human rights happening in Ukraine. Set against the background of seasonal drama in the bird world, it has the sense of a fable, while still holding all the anxiety of the contemporary events we are living through, witnessing, mourning, and opposing.