Poetry on Friday

I used to write poems, but I haven't been able to do it in a long time. A friend of mine who paints thought pregnancy was such an inspiring time. I didn't find that...

Anyway!

Here is a little poem I wrote a while ago.










Sparrows


I walk up the stairs
to my sister’s room.

On the landing
after counting
the seventeen steps
that leave me out of breath
I think I see her face

reflected on the wall
between the two oblong windows
that shattered that day
when she jumped out of bed
wanting to be someone
(not her).

I call to the sparrows
that came for her
as she lay on the grass
blood emptying slowly
until the grass had drank
all of her.

In globs,
the birds collected her in their beaks
and mounted the air
to take her away
from me,
still on the landing
screeching for them
to leave a fingernail
that I will wear on a pendant
hanging from my neck.