I LIKE THE BIRDS ABOUT IT,
by Katherine Chiemi
I like the fragile eggs, just the size to crack between molars.
I like the Rube Goldberg of it all, the little egg engines and the rattle of the dice tray: watch me
posture and preen, a hand-fed prettybird with dark, unmoving eyes
stuck like pebbles in the socket: worm and wheat, fish and worm.
A fledgling died on the sidewalk in front of my second apartment. A featherless body
the size of a stick of bubblegum.
All I thought about was scraping it off the concrete/buying a cheap spade/how I could snap its
bones with a press of my tongue to the roof of my mouth. I play a game
where I save a bird.
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Katherine Chiemi is a movement artist, archivist, and poet. Her work has appeared in F(r)iction Literary Magazine, Psaltery & Lyre, and HAD, among others. She lives in Pennsylvania with one (1) husband and three (3) cats.
Website: http://katherinechiemi.com/
Instagram: @katherinechiemi