death

* * * Vultures High in the cottonwood fingered wings bend the air, the swoosh of black wool robes.     * * * Day’s End, Twoloon Lane Who cooks…

Dear Carole, Today I learned that like humans, birds have four-chambered hearts. Can you imagine? In those tiny, frail-boned bodies with feathers that float right off in a healthy breeze.…

A warm, tender wind swirled inside the hollow as the rising sun shimmered over the edge of the opening. The nest felt more comfortable than I could ever remember, making…

* * * Be careful with this hurt creature that you hold: a little bird, barely breathing but gently panting, after you quieted her heartbeat in your hands The softest…

* * * The Seagull The bird is spattered with sand. Its long feathers glisten with damp and keratin. The body is still a snowy white, its wings a delicate…

I.   They had all disappeared before I arrived. Death. Distance. Disconnection. And discontent. Mother said her mum jubilated when she conceived me. But earth had taken her in, folding…

Dear Uncle R., Here’s what the stories have told me: you died in 1987 at home, not in Vietnam. I was born in 1990. My coworker—an army reserve who saw…

Too happy Time dissolves itself And leaves no remnant by – ‘Tis Anguish not a Feather hath Or too much weight to fly – —Emily Dickinson   Not long into…

My dog sees the gull before I do. She strains at the leash, pulling toward the shifting grey shape, which becomes a filthy bundle of feathers, which becomes an injured…

Text Message Exchange on December 20th: Alexandra: I think I found an actual photo of Finn cheating on you in June. Maya follows Finn on Instagram, it was not hard…

People were curious and wanted to see something rare—a great black hawk from Mexico with legs so long that it hunted squirrels by running them down. Bird lovers drove in…

I wouldn’t walk away from my mother’s dead body. After my sisters and I had washed her breasts, belly, arms, and smoothed scented cream over her soft, soft papery skin,…

Image Credit: Brett Jordan via Unsplash   One Sunday evening, I tucked myself into bed earlier than usual with the intention of getting a long night’s rest before the busy…

Image Credit: Megan Perra   You’ve probably heard this one before. When I was six years old, my father left our family. He left Virginia for Florida, weaved in and…