loss

* * * 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…

There are three things an Irishman should never do: admit that he can’t hold his liquor, fail to weave a good yarn, and confess to being down on his luck.…

It was a mourning dove in the afternoon, and it was flying much faster than they do normally. A sunny afternoon too, rare in the Highlands summer, and that bird…

July 23: six weeks of high summer still to go. A heat dome has simmered us in 110 degrees. When it breaks like a fever, we throw the windows open…

I know the poets say “bone-white,” but bones are never really so-white, and these beached bones have surely been bleached white. On approach to them, I am tilted by the…

* * * Aviary Raft, circa 1989 A portulent tuft sidling upward on dampened rocks, Tail and tucked primary bristling, stiffens; Greasy saline sweeps and splatters Penetrating barb and barbule…

It was just a pigeon. Sam found it on the doorstep, still warm despite the snow. It was covering the “L” on the welcome mat. “Dad” she said, wiping tears…

WOVEN is an Entropy series and dedicated safe space for essays by persons who engage with #MeToo, sexual assault and harassment, and #DomesticViolence, as well as their intersections with mental…

1. Origins and distributions We hear birds at night. I imagine they are cardinals but Lou argues for sparrows. We know for sure they aren’t supposed to be here. But…

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…

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…

* * * Memory of a Bird And so we rage quietly. The coffee filter clutches ache, the coarse taste of it. Your glacial gait along the halls of half…

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…

Paintings by Miriam Feldman   According to Wikipedia, a jumper (person), in police and media parlance, is a person who plans to fall or jump from a potentially deadly height, sometimes…